Some little known amazing things in Turkey

* Garden of Eden, Adam & Eve (according to some Bible scholars)
* Goddes Artemis Statue - EphesusFemale deities dominated Central Anatolian for thousands of years before being transferred to male gods
* About 20,000 more animal species than Europe
* Number of flora species is about 9,000 of which 3,000 are endemic
* Noah's Ark is believed to have landed on Mount Ararat
* Abraham's and St. Paul's birthplace
* First beauty pageant (Helene of Troy)
* Trojan horse
* Artifacts taken from Troy are now found in over 40 museums around the world plus an unknown number of private collections.
  Unfortunately this is true for many other sites,   examples: Zeus Altar, Gateway to the Sanctuary of Athena, Statues from Priene,
  Market Gate from Miletus, Temple of Artemis from Ephesus, Mausoleum of Halicarnassus and Xanthos Tomb.
* Amazon women warriors
* Alexander the Great cut the Gordian knot near Ankara
* Two of the Seven Wonders of the World: Temple of Artemis at Ephesus and Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
* Julius Caesar's famous words I came, I saw, I conquered: "Veni, vidi, vici"
* Oldest church, St. Peter's Cave Church
* The term "Christian" was first coined in Anatolia
* The first church dedicated to Virgin Mary and her house
* One of the oldest synagogues
* The Seven Churches of Revelation
* The Seven Ecumenical Councils (325 - 787)
* Early Christians hid from Roman persecution and Arab raiders in Cappadocia for centuries
* St. Nicholas (Santa Claus) was born in Patara and was Bishop of Myra
* Mehter, oldest and possibly the first military band, 8th century
* First coffee houses and introduction of coffee to Europe
* Piri Reis compiled a world map in the early 16th century with Antartica on it. However Antarctica was not "discovered" for another 300 years.
* First man ever to fly is Hazarefen Celebi. He flew off the Galata Tower (built in 1348) and over the Bosphorous (from Europe to Asia)
* At the entrance of the Golden Horn, Constantinople was protected by a huge forged iron chain in the water.
* Fatih the Conqueror commanding ships over the hills. Mehmet the Conqueror decided to bypass the chain by dragging 70 ships over steep
  narrow land and captured Constantinople in 1453.
* Home to Greek Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch and Armenian Patriarch
* Smallpox vaccination was introduced to Europe by Lady Montagu after Turkish physicians saved her son's life.
* The heaviest chandelier weighing 4.5 tons with 750 bulbs is at Dolmabahce Palace (see page 1)
* In 1863, Robert College became the first American college outside the United States
* In 1934, women were granted suffrage (right to elect and be elected)
* Turkey was one of few countries giving refuge to Jews, including Albert Einstein, escaping the Nazis
* In 1983, Turkey joined the World Heritage Convention, its goal is to preserve cultural and natural heritages.
   These locations are on the World Heritage List: Historic areas of Istanbul,  Safranbolu, attusas, Mt. Nimrod, Xanthos-Letoon,
   Divrigi Great Mosque and hospital,
   Pamukkale-Hierapolis, Goreme, and Troy. A few candidates for the list include: Sumela Monastery, Churches of St. Nicholas and St Paul,
   Konya, Harran, Termessos and, Kekova.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Turkish Delight~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Turkish Delight or rahat loukoum, "rest for the throat" in Turkish, is a very sweet confection, made of corn starch, sugar, honey,
and fruit juice or jelly. When the mixture becomes firm, it is cut into small cubes and coated with icing sugar to prevent it from sticking.
The sweet is often flavoured with rosewater or lemon, giving it the characteristic pale pink colour. Some variations include chopped pistachio,
hazelnut or walnut. Turkish Delight has a sticky consistency and tastes best freshly-made. Thanks to the simple ingredients, it is a vegan-friendly candy.
  The history of Turkish Delight dates back 230 years, making it one of the oldest sweets in the world. According to legend, the sweet was developed
when a Sultan called on his confectionery experts to develop a special dessert to quell the quarrels in his harem. This rubbery-textured candy is nowadays
extremely popular throughout the Middle East and beyond.
Thanks to C.S.Lewis, the author of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, Turkish Delight is also linked to themes
of temptation and gluttony. In the story, the evil White Witch offers Edmund Pevensie some Turkish Delights and the kid goes crazy.
"At first Edmund tried to remember that it was rude to speak with one’s mouth full, but soon he forgot about this and thought only of trying
to shovel down as much Turkish Delight as he could, and the more he ate the more he wanted to eat..."

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