Visiting for the first time? Your answer may be “yes” or “no;” but in either case you want to get to know this country very well. Join me in an historical and mythological tour that will allow you to get to know this country, and know it very well indeed. As you first start traveling east from the Alexander the Great's birthplace, you reach Thrace, the northwestern part of Turkey, and here you are welcomed by the magical music of Orpheus. As you approach Asia by crossing the choppy waters of the Dardanelles Strait, you look about to get a glimpse of Leander who is said to swim across the strait every night to meet his beloved. Not far distant the Achaeans are building the phenomenal Trojan horse, and over the city walls, Paris and Hector are sadly watching the bay where King Agamemnon’s ships are anchored. Nearby, the Amazonian Queen Pantelia and the hero Achilles are engaged in a swift battle.

As you travel south you feel the Aeolian winds, these same winds that are blowing against the roof of Plato's school in Assos, and you start dreaming as you hear the echoes of Sappho's poems coming from Lesbos. You travel further south and when you reach lonia, you give your greetings to the founders of Marseilles, the people of Phocaea. As you watch the seals dance to the evocative cry of the sirens, you gather gold powder from the floor of the Paktolos river... As you pluck some of the famous seedless grapes of Izmir, the city founded by Smyrna, the Queen of the Amazons, you remember that this city was also the birthplace of Homer. Then you reach Teos: as Plato and Apellikon skim philosophical articles, they cast angry looks your way: "Obnoxious tourists!" Undaunted you continue on your journey, and find that you are gazing on one of the seven wonders of the world -- The Temple of Artemis in Ephesus.

You're just in time to enter the Odeon and listen to one of Heraclitus's speeches; you are witness St. Paul's efforts to spread Christianity at the world's largest ancient amphitheater. After paying a visit with the Virgin Mary at her humble home on top of Mount Croesus, you again descend to Ephesus again and visit Apostle John as he works on his Gospel of the New Testament. You continue on your trip down the ancient road and come to the city of Miletus, surely one of the most important centers for positive sciences, to meet the philosophers Thales, Pythagoras, Anaximander, At Prynne you see the world's first urban grid plan, conceived of by the temple to listen to Goddess Athena and you take question in Didymium and ask him: "When will we have universal peace?" You reach Caria as you continue further south: here it is, another one of the Seven Wonders of the world standing in front of you, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, i.e. the memorial grave of the Persian King Mausoleum. As you stop by Nyssa, you visit geographer Strabo, then a student, at his school.

You take a look the students of sculpture at Aphrodisias, these young people are the ones who will sculptures during the golden age of the Roman Empire. You stop to visit Santa Claus, our dear old Saint Nicholas, in Myra and again light a candle. Then you reach Phaselis: this place must be paradise! It is obvious why Alexander the Great chose this spot to spend one whole winder here and why this was the site of the famous trysts between Cleopatra and Marc Antony. Don't tarry for the famous Zenon is waiting to show you his masterpiece, the best preserved amphitheater of ancient times, Aspendos. You continue on your journey and come to Tarsus and the house where St. Paul was born; you then move on to Antioch and cool down in the shade of the cave where St. Peter was born . Visit the world's second most popular mosaic museum ... Then, as you cross the Euphrates and reach Mesopotamia, climb up to Mt. Nemrut and witness the unbelievable result of the Commagene King Antiochus' crazed passion: huge sculptures of gods and tumulus are waiting for you. Go down to Urfa, for a cold sip of water in the cave of the Prophet Abraham.

Harran is close by: won't you take a look at the Sim Temple? Welcome to Turkey! With its area of 780,000 km 2 and population of 65 million, Turkey is one of the most interesting places of our ancient world. Its unique geographic location made it an ideal spot for settling and so countless civilizations grew up and developed on these lands, and many leaving their marks as they passed though time and history. It is for this reason, then, that almost all historians agree that Turkey is the "world's largest open air museum." A bridge between East and West, North and South, and Asia and Europe , it is truly one of the world's most interesting places to visit. It is a "Cradle of Civilizations" where thousands of artifacts can be seen in hundreds of museums and in ancient cities from the first settlements around 8,000 B.C during the Paleolithic era, to Neolithic and Calcolithic eras, then to Bronze and Iron Ages and to one of the first civilizations, Hittites, from Phrygians to Urartions, from Lydians to Persians, from Achaeans to Hellens and to the large civilizations thereafter... It is a large country having all the characteristics of the Mediterranean bowl and more.

It is a country of warm and hospitable people who are ready to sacrifice the last chicken in their cup to serve to a stranger who is their guest ("a guest sent by God") for the sake of love and friendship. It is a country of loving people who carried thousands of years of tradition and culture with them on their trek from Central Asia and who then blended their heritage with that which they inherited from the civilizations of this soil. This is Turkey! Welcome to Turkey.