In the summer 2009 Ursula Kampmann travelled through Turkey – of course searching for numismatic traces as she always does. She condensed her impressions in a diary whose single parts we have gathered here.
Part 1
It’s grey, it’s cold, it’s dark. Sometimes you don’t believe that it’s ever going to be light again. Enjoy a little breeze of the Turkish summer in the dead of winter. This diary of some numismatically highly interesting but barely visited sites in Turkey was written in 2009. You can read the first part of the diary here.
Part 2
Silifke, ancient Seleucia on the Calycadnus, is a small provincial town in the middle of nowhere nearby which once Frederick Barbarossa drowned. Follow us on our way to the ancient metropolis Antioch and into the marvellous grove of Daphne, that even today is in the modern Antiochenes’ favour as an important area for recreation. You can read the second part of the diary here.
Part 3
Do you know Antep and its fabulous museum with mosaics? If not, I strongly recommend it to you. Antep is a pleasant town where you quickly feel at home. Urfa, ancient Edessa, in contrast, can’t be recommended for women traveling on their own. And if you do, you will need steady nerves. You can read the third part of the diary here.
Part 4
Only a few images stick to your mind so powerfully as the huge heads of the broken monumental statues of Nemrut Dag. During our trip there, however, we have seen many other things: marvelous rocky landscapes, a magnificent bridge from Roman Times and lots of friendly people. You can read the fourth part of the diary here.
Part 5
Caesarea Cappadocia – only few cities in the Roman provinces possessed an equally comprehensive coinage yet barely anything Roman is still extant in the city. You can read the fifth part of the diary here.
Part 6
Ankyra is a name familiar to anyone interested in the history of the Roman emperors. The Monumentum Ancyranum is a magnificent insight into the image cultivation of Emperor Augustus. Turkish Ankara, however, has much more to offer. You can read the sixth part of the diary here.
Part 7
You don’t have to introduce Istanbul. Everyone knows the beautiful city at Bosporus River. This was our last stop on our journey across Turkey. After having been to areas with barely any touristic infrastructure it was almost a civilization shock to finally get anything again a tourist would wish. You can read the seventh and last part of the diary here.