Tag Archives: Suleiman the Magnificent

a happy home

The inner and residential part of the Seraglio was called the House of Happiness. It was hard to imagine who was happy there. Certainly not the fifteen hundred women of the harem. For most of them life was like that … Continue reading

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dinner is served: lonely at the top in the HMS Sultan

The social life in the Grand Seraglio was not all it had been cracked up to be. The power exercised there by the Sultan was absolute to be sure. But did it bring bliss? … When the Sultan got back … Continue reading

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suspicious minds

Good to walk around with a mirror just to see who may be sneaking up on you. Hard to find a Sultan who wasn’t suspicious and didn’t keep a food tester on the payroll. And lets not talk about the … Continue reading

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rocks of ages and sages

Christian monks burrowed like worms into porous stone from, giant cones which wind and weather carved. These are the rock monasteries of Cappadocia and in the days of Byzantium the monks tuned these giant cones into a city of cells, … Continue reading

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