Turkish holidays

Hagia Sophia

The extraordinary Hagia Sophia, built in 537 AD, for 1,000 years the world’s largest cathedral, later a mosque, now a museum. 

It’s been a couple of weeks since I posted a blog. We’ve been away in Turkey for a family wedding, and then a bit of sightseeing while we were there. Tragically so much of what one hears about Islam these days is in connection to terrorism. In Turkey we saw quite intimately the other side of Islam: extraordinary reaching out to create loving bonds between people, irrespective of differences across religion, language and culture. Personally I’m delighted by the growing cultural diversity within my own extended family and proud of the integrity all the individuals within it.

After the wedding our sightseeing took us to the ruins of Ephesus, to Selcuk, Milas and to Istanbul. We found the Turkish people very warm and welcoming, and very keen for tourists to come. Given the political problems over the last few months they naturally want political calm and economic recovery. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a rich mix of archaeological and architectural treasures. Ephesus, the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque were all extraordinary.

As this blog is usually about climate Change and energy issues it’s only fitting that I give them a mention. We saw lots of rooftop solar water heating systems, but plenty of scope for more. We saw remarkably few photovoltaic panels, but these are apparently just starting to take off in Turkey, and in 2013 Turkey opened its first small concentrating solar power station. Carbon emissions in Turkey are 4.4 tonnes per capita, but as this a county with huge solar potential this figure could be rapidly and beneficially reduced, but for that to happen Turkey needs peace. Many Turks are currently looking to neighbouring Syria with a sense of fear and dread that all that chaos and bloodshed could only too easily spread to Turkey. We share their desire for peace, for a calm evolution of democracy and a revived economy, ideally powered by the sun, and accessible to us via sustainable flight!

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