Alahan Monastery

via recepmemik @ Flickr.com

While Alahan Monastery is too old for me to use in my circa 11th century inspired MS, it is worth taking note of the beautiful architecture. The 5th century building was made by Isaurian stonemasons and is a key structure of early Byzantine architecture.

Technically, I should use the monastery of Trazarg, except I haven't found a trace of it anywhere. Anyone know anything about Trazarg? When I Google it, a bunch of images from my own site pop up. Hmm...

Alahan Monastery is in Mersin's backyard and worth the day trip. Sigh. This is where I shoot the tour guide (Sorry honey, I'm still mad at you.) for skipping it. Did you notice the list of things I did not see in my own neighborhood is getting longer the more I research? Probably not good for my marriage. Again: Hmm..

Anyway, lovely arches don't you agree? Wait till you see the view from the outside. Who cares if you have to walk (an hour?) from Alahan to get there. It's amazing and how many views are there like this? OK - DH objects. There are lots of places in Turkey with an amazing view -that you can drive to- but I wanted to see this one. :(

via kaliteliresimler.com

It's even a UNESCO World Heritage,Tentative Site. See? I'm not the only one who wants to head off the beaten path to find cool stuff. Who's coming with me?

And....last week in my rush to go on vacation, I totally forgot to post the contest results for Tracy Marchini's new e-book: PUB SPEAK: A WRITER’S DICTIONARY OF PUBLISHING TERMS. So without further ado, the winner is......


Jules!

I loved the all answers about what to do with the exquisite corpse, morticians and ebay auctions alike, but here's the official answer from Tracy's book:

exquisite corpse – A technique for creating art where several collaborators create a piece, but can only see so much of the previous contributor‟s work. For example, one author writes a chapter and gives it to the next. The second author writes a chapter and gives only the second chapter to the third author, who gives only the third chapter to the fourth author, etc.

Now, iff you've got a few minutes, check out this clip of Alahan.


Alahan Monastry Mut-Mersin-Türkiye from umut cor on Vimeo.

Krak des Chevaliers

Image via WikipediaTurkey is an awesome place to live if you think castles are cool. The Knights Hospitaller (more on them later) and other crusaders sprinkled the Mediterranean coast with them in various shapes and sizes. There are so many that after a while, you think you've seen enough and they even fade to the background.  Don't make the same mistake I did - drag yourself into every one you come across! I missed some interesting things. (Granted, I was very tired and climbing around ruins is exhausting. I opted for the beach.)

For this week's field trip, we'll go farther along the pilgrimage route into Syria, near the border of Lebanon. There's no chance of missing the main base of the Knights Hospitaller, Krak des Chevaliers, there. The fortress is one of the most important preserved military castles in the world. 

Never heard of it, right? Me neither, until I started researching. (It was my wallpaper for a while because just looking at the impressive structure inspires me.) The castle is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and if it weren't for the location, I think it would be mobbed with tourists.

Krak des Chevaliers is the largest crusader castle in the Holy Land.  When the original inner castle was given to the Knights Hospitaller in 1142, they expanded it into a concentric castle.  The outer walls are at least 10 feet thick, even up to 100 feet thick at the base of the south side.  Numerous guard towers are as wide as 30 feet.

The Knights also built a gothic-style inner ward, along with stables for 1,000 horses and quarters for 2,000 soldiers.  Not only is the fortress strong, there is storage dug into the cliff underneath it.  That strategic planning meant the castle could withstand seige for up to 5 years. It was never taken by force, only through trickery and finally, because of the decline of the Knights' importance.

Other castles were built to emulate the style of Krak des Chevaliers, but none as large or effective.

Impenetrable castle + Crusader knights = Chapter 11!


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• History today: Syria & Lebanon (audleytravel.com)

Watch this video clip for an idea of the scale.