Journey through Turkey
Dr. Tyler R. Tichelaar is an author, editor, book reviewer, and aspiring world traveler. He began his prolific writing career by publishing a series of novels set in his hometown of Marquette, Michigan that depict the history of the area and its significant role in American history, resulting in it becoming known as “The Queen City of the North.” The series consists of The Marquette Trilogy: Iron Pioneers, The Queen City, and Superior Heritage; Narrow Lives (winner of the 2009 Best Historical Fiction Reader Views Literary Award), The Only Thing That Lasts, and his newly published novel Spirit of the North: a paranormal romance. His interests have also led him to writing two non-fiction books King Arthur’s Children: A Study in Fiction and Tradition and The Gothic Wanderer: From Transgression to Redemption. Tyler is currently working on a historical fantasy series about King Arthur, the Fairy Melusine, and other medieval legends. He has visited many places in England and France that will be featured in his novels. Most recently, he journeyed to Turkey and was kind enough to answer some questions for us about his Turkish adventures.
Author Dr. Tyler Tichelaar at Ephesus
Out of all the places in the world where you could have traveled, what made you choose Turkey?
I’ve always been fascinated by the Byzantine Empire, and I can claim descent from some of the emperors including Basil I and Alexios III. Also, Turkey is the second Holy Land. The Virgin Mary lived there in Ephesus as did St. John, and the Seven Churches of the Revelation are there, St. Paul journeyed through Turkey, as did Saints Basil and George, and many other early Christians have connections or origins there.
You joined a tour with Insight Vacations in Istanbul to venture around Turkey. What were the benefits of touring with a group like that rather than on your own?
I prefer to go on a tour the first time I visit a country, especially if I don’t speak the language there. Our tour guide was amazing and showed us all the highlights. Someday, I may go back to Istanbul to explore it on my own, now that I know the lay of the land better. Many people in Turkey speak English so it would not be difficult. But taking a tour is an excellent way to be introduced to a country without the frustrations of trying to figure out how to get to places on your own.
Were there people on the tour from other parts of the world or were they all American?
We were quite an international group actually. Of the 28 of us, there were two men from South Africa, two women from Sri Lanka, a couple from England, a couple from Canada, and then while the rest of us resided in the United States, one couple was originally from Germany, another were Indian, and another were from Taiwan.
Traveling with people from other cultures really makes for a more interesting journey. I imagine you visited at least one palace in Istanbul.
Yes, I visited the Topkapi Palace. It was quite different from what expected a palace to be. I’ve been to palaces like Versailles and Buckingham, but this palace was much less ornate and considerably smaller. It was built by the Ottoman Sultans, soon after the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, and it’s very open air, like a bunch of buildings built around a courtyard. Most of the buildings are only one, or at most two floors. A lot of it consisted of buildings or rooms joined by covered porches—the porches were ornately decorated and quite beautiful, but otherwise it didn’t strike me as looking like a palace. It did have a harem and also a large display of jewels, the Topkapi dagger and other items. I didn’t get to tour the Dolmabahce Palace, which was built much later and modeled after Versailles, although I drove by it and saw it when we went on a boat tour on the Bosphorus.
One of the many porches of Topkapi Palace
With all the mosques in Turkey, it must have been difficult to decide which ones you wanted to visit.
You’ve got that right! Everywhere you go in Turkey, there are mosques. The palaces could not compare, in my opinion, to the mosques. There are more in Turkey than all the other Muslim countries combined. It seemed like you can always see about a half dozen minarets rising up into the skyline, and they are all decorated in a variety of colors—blue, green, pink, gold, silver. The major mosque I visited was the 17th century Blue Mosque , which is the place that most took my breath away when I walked into it. And of course I visited the Hagia Sophia, which was originally a Christian church in the year 532, then converted into a mosque. Then after Turkey became a republic in the 1920s, it became a museum.
Interior domes of the Blue Mosque
The dome in the Blue Mosque is actually prettier—more ornately decorated than the Hagia Sophia, but it is not as big. Hagia Sophia is impressive as well and has second-floor balconies that allow you to get closer to the dome, although it’s still way up there. The church is dark inside but still glorious. When the Emperor Justinian built it, he said he had surpassed the beauty of Solomon’s Temple, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he had.
For me, Hagia Sophia was the most exciting place to visit because of its rich history and the fact that I discovered that some of my ancestors actually worshipped there. There are beautiful mosaics and the balconies upstairs are more like gigantic galleries. During Holy Week, the services would go on for days and the royal family would basically camp out up there.
Grand exterior of the Hagia Sophia
I also love the legend about how the people hid in Hagia Sophia during the taking of the city in 1453 and how the Turks broke into the church and the priests disappeared into the wall with the holy relics. The legend says they will return when the city is again Christian. Similarly, the last emperor, Constantine XI, is said not to have died but been saved so he can someday return. I wrote a blog about Constantine XI that you can read about here. If you’re interested in King Arthur, you might also be interested in my guest blog post about the Turkey-King Arthur connection.
Interior of the domes at Hagia Sophia
Surely you explored some ancient ruins while in Turkey. What was that like?
Yes, I visited Pergamon, dating back to 281 BC, Troy, and Ephesus both dating back to 3000 BC. I did not know about Pergamon before, but it was quite interesting—basically a sanitarium where people went to be cured. Troy was a bit disappointing because the ruins are fairly insubstantial, mostly small walls and rocks. It was difficult to imagine the place as home to Homer’s Troy, although I was surprised by how green the landscape was—not at all the desert look in the Brad Pitt film, which I love, but was filmed in Spain actually.
Ephesus was the most amazing ruin I could imagine. The entire main downtown section has been excavated, and it must go on for well over a mile. You can really envision what this marvelous city must have looked like at the time of St. Paul and Anthony and Cleopatra, all of whom visited there. The library’s ruins are still beautiful and the coliseum there held thousands of people. It’s amazing to think these people had running water—fountains, public restrooms. Until the time machine is invented, I think a visit there is the closest we will ever come to envisioning what it was like to live in an ancient city. At one time the Temple of Artemis stood here – one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
Ruins of Ephesus
I must commend our tour guide, Rashid Ergener, who was absolutely amazing—a true expert on Turkey in every sense of the word; there wasn’t a question you could ask him that he could not answer. He told us that Turkey has more Greek ruins than Greece and more Roman ruins than Italy. I am amazed more people don’t go to Ephesus, simply because it is so fascinating.
What kind of food did you eat there, and what was your favorite dish?
We ate lots of olives—even for breakfast—and kabobs. I really didn’t know what most of the food was called, but it was all very good. Probably my favorite dish were the figs drenched in honey. We also had some cheese pancakes that were good. I wasn’t crazy about the Turkish pizza—it was pretty bland compared to our pizza here. Of course, I ate a lot of traditional candy known as Turkish delight. I just had to try Burger King there to see what it was like, and the food was exactly the same as here! The Coke, however, was less sweet and less fizzy. The tour company had us stay at marvelous five-star hotels, but I suspect the food there was perhaps geared toward tourists, so not as authentic. That said, it was all delicious, and I can’t recall anything I had that I didn’t finish. I never felt squeamish about eating anything there, and yes, we ate buffets, so I’d frequently have three plates full, plus dessert.
Delicious cheese pancakes
Yum! What was the most interesting or surprising fact you learned about Turkey while you were there?
The history of the founding of the Turkish republic and the character of the republic’s first leader and President, Ataturk (in office from 1923-1938) is really fascinating. I had heard his name but knew nothing about him. He was an amazing man who believed in democracy for his people. Once when interviewed by an American reporter, he was asked whether or not he was a dictator and he replied, “Yes, I dictate democracy.” You might say he forced democracy upon his people for their own good, and the Turkish people revere him for it to this day. His mausoleum in the capital of Ankara and the museum there to the founding of the republic, could rival our monuments in Washington D.C. When you drive through Ankara, there are giant banners of him, several stories high that hang off many of the buildings, and all featuring different pictures of him. I would like to read a full-length biography of his life. We could use a few good, strong men like Ataturk today. He ranks up there with Winston Churchill and George Washington in my book, as an example of a man who did what was best for his country when the times called for it.
The Turkish people are very proud to be living in a democracy, proud to be a secular country freed from the problems that exist in the more religious Muslim countries, and the entire country is very Westernized – while at the same time retaining its Turkish identity that makes it so charming and fascinating to visit. Before I went I found things on line that said there was no toilet paper in many places and other misconceptions. I found none of that to be true. It is a very modern country and any Westerner would feel comfortable there. I was thoroughly impressed with the country and the people.
Many buildings in Ankara display images of revered former President Ataturk
Can you tell us more about the people of Turkey?
The people were wonderful. At the hotels the waiters and all the staff were super polite. They treated us like royalty. One of my traveling companions liked to try out speaking Turkish so he kept stopping people on the street to talk to them, and on those occasions, we found the people always to be friendly. Locals continually asked us where we were from and when we said we were American, they would say, “Oh, I went to school at the University of Michigan,” or “I have a sister who lives in Florida,” or my favorite, “My wife is from Seattle. She came to Turkey as a flamenco dancer, and we got married.” I felt nothing but good will from the people of Turkey and that it really is a small world.
If people get nothing else out of reading this interview, I want it to be clear that the Turkish people are a lot like us. They might be Muslim and speak a different language, but they are wonderful people and have far more in common with most Americans than they do differences. I always felt safe. I encourage everyone to travel because it breaks down barriers. If anything, I was a bit embarrassed because people felt alarmed by our current Republican candidates who want war with Iran. They said to me things like, “Have those people ever traveled outside the country? Are they crazy?” I had to apologize and tell them that most Americans didn’t want war. I was also impressed that there is no homeless population in Turkey. They take care of their people. We could learn a lot from this much younger democracy.
That really is great information for all us. Are you planning to use Turkey as a setting in a future novel?
Yes, as I mentioned, I’m fascinated with Byzantine history, so I wanted to see what remains of Byzantine architecture and the Byzantine city of Constantinople. I hope to set part of my historical fantasy Arthurian series around the Fall of Constantinople in 1453. I didn’t do significant research yet, but brought home many books to help my research, and most importantly, I wanted to be there, to see what the city looked like, to understand the lay of the land you can’t get just from reading books and looking at maps. I tried to block out the modern buildings and see what it would have felt like to live in Constantinople in the 15th century. We’ll see after I write those scenes in the novels, whether or not I succeeded! It’ll probably be a few years before I finish writing those books.
Where in the world would you like to go next?
I would love to go to Spain to see the fabulous monastery at Montserrat—rumored to have housed the Holy Grail, and consequently another location in a future novel—as well as other great places in Spain like the Alcazar and Alhambra. And I would also like to go back to France because I never got to Brittany, where I would like to see the Arthurian locations. These include the Forest of Broceliande where Merlin was supposedly hidden away in a cave, and I also would like to visit Lusignan where the fairy Melusine once lived. If I had the time and money, I’d also add in trips to the Netherlands, Germany, Egypt, Israel, India—and that’s my short list.
Tyler, thank you so much for sharing your experience and giving us insight into all things Turkish. I look so forward to reading your next novel and all that come after that! Readers, for more information about Dr. Tyler Tichelaar, check out www.MarquetteFiction.com and www.ChildrenofArthur.com.
