After Elazig, next stop of my Grand Tour through the Anatolian Highlands is Sivas. Located at the junction of two important medieval caravan trade routes from Persia and Baghdad respectively, Sivas has been an important trade centre since the Middle Ages. It is also an important centre of learning during the Selcuk rules, and several medrese have been built in the 13th century, including the Gok Medrese, the most famous of them in Sivas.
Too bad the Gok Medrese was undergoing major restoration while I was there, hence only the photo of its two beautiful minarets.
Most of the Seljuk architectures and historical sights of Sivas centred around the Hukumet Meydani and nearby alleys in downtown Sivas. There is also a former han on the square, which has now been converted into a beautfiul tea house surrounded with some shops selling local handicrafts, silverwares and jewelleries. On a sunny autumn morning, locals and visitors alike gather at this place to have their favourite glass of tea amid historical settings.
Sivas is best known in modern history as the place where the Sivas Congress took place in 1919. The meeting of Turkish nationalists between 4-11 September 1919 was an important turning point in the history of modern Turkey, as the event confirmed Mustafa Kemal Ataturk's leadership position within the nationalist camp and voted in favour of the military campaign which came to be known as the Turkish War of Independence 1919-1922. The building, a former school located right across the Hukumet Meydani, in which the 1919 Congress was held, is now a museum.
All in all, Sivas is a pleasant city worth a stop if you are looking for a place to stop over on the way to Amasya. Prices are reasonable, and the village of Kangal, about 60km outside of Sivas, is a tourist attraction on its own right, famous for its purebreed Kangal sheepdogs and the little thermal doctor fish at the Kangal Fish spa that are believed to cure psoriasis.
Copyrights@2010. All text and photos by YC Cheng. All Rights Reserved.
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