TALKING TURKEY

Happy Halloween everyone!  Flat Hawkster was hoping to have a post up on Monday but there was no wireless access:(    He hopes you enjoy the Haunted House tours today.  Watch out for those grade 7's!    I'm sure that they are doing a great job on their assignment.

Flat Hawkster’s most recent travels have taken him to the Middle East.  To be honest,  he was a bit worried about this part of his trip because many of the countries he will be visiting have been in the news a lot lately due to revolts, protests and terrorist attacks.  Fortunately his experience has been very safe and enjoyable so far.   He began in the coastal town of Alanya which is a popular beach holiday location found in southern Turkey on the Mediterranean Sea.   Tourism is now the largest industry in this town but it used to be better known for its shipbuilding.  In fact,  Alanya was like an ancient “Minit Tune and Brake” outlet that provided maintenance for ancient ships during their ocean voyages.  There were large covered spaces (arches) that ships could sail into and receive whatever care that was needed.  That shipyard still exists today as a museum and Flat Hawkster had a chance to wander around to take in the sights.

Here's Flat Hawkster in the Ancient shipyard museum.  You can see it from a distance in the picture below.  

Here is a model of the types of cranes they had used in the shipyard at one time.

This has been a very strategic port for many centuries and a number of empires ruled Alanya during that time.   At the port you can see a large fortress that greets visitors along with a tall Red Tower that helped to provide a defence during attacks.  Flat Hawkster was able to see some really cool models of large weapons that were built to help protect Alanya from invaders.

   

Here is Alanya's ancient fort with the Red Tower that overlooks the harbour and the city.

Here are some of  the cannons that protected Alanya along with the battering ram and catapult seen below.

Battering Ram.

After Alanya,  Flat Hawkster made a brief stop in another coastal city called Limassol.  This city if found in the small island of Cyprus and also relies heavily on tourism.   This country has been influenced by a number of cultures (Greek, Roman, Ottoman/Turkish) and there are many ancient ruins left for tourists to explore.  This influence continues to this day as the country’s population is divided into Greek or Turkish Cypriots (North).  This is the result of a Turkey’s invasion of Cyprus in 1975.   This island remains an issue of conflict between Greece and Turkey. 

The main boardwalk in Limassol that is being rejuvenated along with a new marina.

This is the largest church in Limassol.  The writing is in Greek which means Limassol is in southern Cyprus.