Sailing To Byzantium (via Turkish Airlines)

Sailing to Byzantium

THAT is no country for old men. The young
In one another's arms, birds in the trees
- Those dying generations - at their song,
The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas,
Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long
Whatever is begotten, born, and dies.
Caught in that sensual music all neglect
Monuments of unageing intellect.

An aged man is but a paltry thing,
A tattered coat upon a stick, unless
Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing
For every tatter in its mortal dress,
Nor is there singing school but studying
Monuments of its own magnificence;
And therefore I have sailed the seas and come
To the holy city of Byzantium.

O sages standing in God's holy fire
As in the gold mosaic of a wall,
Come from the holy fire, perne in a gyre,
And be the singing-masters of my soul.
Consume my heart away; sick with desire
And fastened to a dying animal
It knows not what it is; and gather me
Into the artifice of eternity.

Once out of nature I shall never take
My bodily form from any natural thing,
But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make
Of hammered gold and gold enamelling
To keep a drowsy Emperor awake;
Or set upon a golden bough to sing
To lords and ladies of Byzantium
Of what is past, or passing, or to come.

-William Butler Yeats travel, vlogTurkey, Ankara, Trebzon, Trabzon, Trebizond, Ottoman, travel, Sumela Monestary, Byzantine Empire, Byzantium, Hagia, Aya, Black Sea, Roman, Emperor, Architecture, Imperial Rome, Alexios, Theodosius, Irene, Komnenos, Turkish Airlines, Yeats

Category:

Education

Tags:

• travel
• vlog
• Turkey
• Ankara
• Trebzon
• Trabzon
• Trebizond
• Ottoman
• Sumela Monestary
• Byzantine Empire
• Byzantium
• Hagia
• Aya
• Black Sea
• Roman
• Emperor
• Architecture
• Imperial Rome
• Alexios
• Theodosius
• Irene
• Komnenos
• Turkish Airlines
• Yeats

[Flare400]

Thanks for the tour!

It's amazing how these places are so saturated with historical landmarks that there's no upkeep on some of them and anyone can come and explore. Makes me want to go there too!

[TheEditorialist]

@Flare400

Turkey is the most saturated of them all.

I went to Sinope and saw a the ruins of a church built in the 660's.

The walls were 8 feet thick, classic Late Roman through and through. It occurred to me that this may be the only remaining structure on Earth built in that century.

An imposing and monumental edifice. On the grandiosity scale it rates a perfect 10.

And it was so completely abandoned. I had it all to myself.

If you want the grandeur of Rome, don't go to Rome go to Turkey.

[kellylynn9999]

So gorgeous....I had no idea! Thank you for sharing!

[TheEditorialist]

@kellylynn9999

*

The pleasure was all mine.

Thanks for watching and commenting, kelly.

[x0TheJackal0x]

that was awesome. i wanna live in turkey for awhile at some point. if you dont mind my asking, what do you do that allows you to travel so much? (international diamond thief right?)

[TheEditorialist]

@x0TheJackal0x

"if you dont mind my asking, what do you do that allows you to travel so much? (international diamond thief right?)"

*

No, I'm a speculator in much less tangible things than diamonds.

Though if I'm having a really good week, I do feel like a bit of a thief.

[aykutkutkutkut]

nice trip. thanks for sharing.