Original subtitles

NARRATOR: This is Turkey...

as it’s never been seen before.

From above, we will reveal Europe’s eastern frontier,

where ancient ways meet modern wonders,

in a landscape that’s as diverse as its people.

♪♪

In this series,

we’ll take an aerial tour across Europe.

Filmed over the course of a single year,

and through the changing seasons,

we will uncover the culture, history and engineering

that built the great European nations we see today.

Turkey is a colossal land mass

that bridges Europe to the west,

and Asia to the east.

It’s flanked by three historic bodies of water:

the Aegean, Black,

and Mediterranean Seas.

Western Turkey is dominated by Istanbul,

a bustling metropolis,

and a melting pot of European and Asian cultures.

Eastern Turkey is mountainous and remote,

and between these extremes

lie dry, central highlands.

Here, the last traces of winter melt away

to reveal an otherworldly landscape,

with the arrival of spring.

Nine million years ago,

Turkey was a seething pit of volcanic activity.

Today, most of these volcanoes are extinct or dormant,

but the landscapes they left behind

appear straight out of science fiction.

This is Cappadocia.

This intricately sculpted landscape

has captivated travelers for millennia.

It’s even mentioned in the Bible.

But how did it form?

And what are the strange, dark holes that pepper its tall pillars?

For most visitors, the answer is revealed from the air.

Vural Demircioglu

is one of Cappadocia’s 200 hot air balloon pilots.

This stunning region holds a very special place in his heart.

VURAL DEMIRCIOGLU: I was born here, I grew up here.

I was already seeing all the balloons

flying around the area when I was a little boy.

NARRATOR: Every year,

Vural takes almost 2,000 tourists up to the skies,

each hoping to view this fantastical landscape

from a unique aerial perspective.

These incredible capped pillars

are called "fairy chimneys."

They form when hard, volcanic rock

layers over softer rock,

made from volcanic ash.

The hard cap protects the soft rock below,

like an umbrella,

and stops the wind and rain from eroding it away.

As Vural drifts deeper into the valley,

dark holes appear in the largest pillars.

They are doorways and windows.

Over thousands of years,

civilizations carved their homes into the soft rock here,

to create the world’s most unusual high rise neighborhood.

DEMIRCIOGLU: The view in the area is amazingly beautiful,

Seeing the caves and the valleys from above is

the best thing about my job.

NARRATOR: As the balloon continues its journey,

the landscape changes once again,

from towers, to deep tunnels.

A vast network of labyrinthine passageways

sprawls for kilometers beneath the earth here.

The area has 200 underground cities like this one,

that once housed tens of thousands of people.

Many were home to early Christians

fleeing persecution in the early half of the first millennium.

♪♪

Vural guides the balloon back down to Earth.

DEMIRCIOGLU: Even though I’m living here,

I’m seeing all these beautiful things every day,

it’s somehow still magical.

NARRATOR: In the space of an hour,

the balloon has traversed

thousands of years of human history,

and treated visitors to an aerial sight

that's unique to Turkey.

Turkey is dominated by two great cities.

Ankara, in its center,

home to over five million people,

is the nation’s capital.

But it’s Istanbul to the west

that’s most famous as the country’s cultural center.

Istanbul is a huge city

that straddles Europe and Asia,

and is home to over 15 million people.

A closer look at its heart

reveals two enormous domed buildings

sitting side by side.

These famous neighbors are the Hagia Sophia,

the largest cathedral in the Christian world

for a thousand years,

and the Sultan Ahmed Mosque,

also known as the Blue Mosque,

after the color of its spectacular interior tiles.

This masterpiece of the Ottoman Empire

was completed in 1616,

and was momentous as the only six-minaret mosque

outside Mecca at the time.

(man reciting prayer over speaker)

But over the past 400 years,

storms, earthquakes, and millions of worshipers

have taken their toll on the Sultan Ahmed Mosque,

and this stunning building is starting to show its age.

Our cameras have exclusive aerial access

to an 11.5 million Euro project

to restore the mosque to its former glory,

using all the original materials where possible.

Omer Kara and Hülya Aktas

are the architects at the helm of this historic restoration.

OMER KARA: It is very exciting

to be part of such a project,

and to have such responsibility.

There’s the pressure that comes with that, but also happiness.

HÜLYA AKTAS: It is the biggest project

that I have ever been part of.

NARRATOR: The centerpiece of the mosque

is a large dome, surrounded by four semi-domes,

where workers are replacing the lead paneling.

Next to them is a large, open courtyard,

where the team repair and reinstate each floor tile.

Six minarets tower over the complex.

Today, these minarets

are where much of the restoration work is focused.

Our aerial cameras reveal the dizzying heights

workers must climb to repair the minarets by hand.

Hülya’s team starts to dismantle the minaret,

beginning an 18-month restoration period.

On another minaret on the opposite side,

the team are further along with the process.

Block by block, they repair any damaged parts,

and realign the structure as they build it back up again.

They use an electric winch to haul

one-ton stone blocks

45 meters back up to the top of the structure,

where the team wait patiently to guide them into place.

AKTAS: The biggest challenge is the height

we are working at, and the weight of the stones.

NARRATOR: The minaret is 12 months away from completion,

but another major milestone is nearly finished.

The team have been replacing

the waterproof leading around the mosque’s domes,

and today, Omer is overseeing the last few pieces

being hammered into place.

After months of careful and patient work,

the leaded domes regain their former splendor.

For Omer and Hülya,

this is a career-defining moment.

AKTAS: It is a project

I have wanted to work on all of my life.

KARA: To successfully finish this restoration

might be the most important work in our lives.

NARRATOR: At the end of this monumental

six-year restoration,

Sultan Ahmed Mosque will once again have returned

to its original grandeur,

as one of Istanbul’s greatest architectural treasures.

Outside Turkey’s great cities,

agriculture dominates the coastline and interior,

from sprawling olive groves,

to vast wheat fields.

And, as the days lengthen, spring blossoms fade.

It’s finally time for harvest...

...as summer comes to Turkey.

Much of central Turkey

is a sun-beaten, flat, and dry expanse.

But at its center is a tributary of the Euphrates River

that feeds a bright green oasis.

These are the orchards of Malatya.

Row after row of identical trees

crisscross the landscape from horizon to horizon,

and each of these eight million trees

is dedicated to a single, very special crop.

Malatya is apricot country.

Orhan Alkaya's family

have been harvesting apricots

in this area for decades.

ORHAN ALKAYA: I grew up in the apricot gardens

on the skirts of the Baydar Mountain,

sleeping out under the stars.

♪♪

NARRATOR: Orhan and the farms that surround him

produce eighty percent of the world’s supply of dried apricots,

and summer is their busiest time of year.

Every day through the harvest,

workers have to shake the branches by hand,

rather than by machine,

so as not to damage the trees.

It’s sweltering work in the 40 degree heat,

but the hot Turkish sun is crucial

to the next stage of the harvest.

♪♪

ALKAYA: Apricots are not hardy fruit.

When the time comes, they have to be harvested,

and laid out to dry within a day.

There is no room for tiredness or excuses.

NARRATOR: Each day, they carry three tons of apricots

down from the groves, and lay them out to dry.

From above, it’s an incredible sight.

Millions of apricots of all different shades

line the ground.

ALKAYA: For a farmer,

summer is a culmination of one year’s effort.

Summer reveals whether or not you'll earn enough

to get your family by.

NARRATOR: After three days in the sun,

workers split each apricot and remove the stone,

then lay the pieces out for another three days.

It’s a time-consuming and delicate process

that’s been honed through the generations.

Malatya exports dried apricots

to over 100 countries worldwide,

generation hundreds of millions of Euros each year.

ALKAYA: Despite working in this trade

for 35 years,

each year I feel a new sense of passion and excitement.

NARRATOR: Turkey is a land of mega-structures,

ancient and new.

From Zilkale,

a soaring medieval castle

perched high on the cliffs of the Pontic Mountains,

to the Eastern Express,

a 1,300 kilometer railway line

that spans much of the country,

now a record-breaking new engineering wonder

is rising up out of the water to join them.

Turkey sits at the crossroads

of Asia and Europe.

Dividing these continents are two major straits.

To the north, the Bosporus bisects Istanbul,

but further south lies a long, windy strait of water

called the "Dardanelles,"

and it’s a shipping superhighway.

Each year, 44,000 vessels

run the length of this narrow strait.

The only way for the locals to cross between its banks

is a slow ferry.

But that’s all about to change.

Here in the province of Çanakkale,

Turkey is racing to build the world’s longest

mid-span suspension bridge,

connecting Europe and Asia.

Our unique bird’s eye view reveals the mighty building blocks

of a 2.3 billion Euro project.

Two towers support the bridge.

Each tower leg is made up of 32 blocks,

stacked on top of one another.

Each block weighs up to 800 tons,

and is comprised of four flat panels.

When the towers are complete,

steel cables will suspend

the almost five kilometer bridge deck over the strait.

The bridge will have a record-breaking mid-span

of 2,023 meters.

This number commemorates the centenary

of the Turkish Republic.

Overseeing part of the Çanakkale Bridge’s

tower construction is engineer Erdal Gedik.

ERDAL GEDIK: I am hugely proud of this job.

In my 18 years of work,

I’ve worked on some very strange and amazing projects,

but this bridge’s place in my life is like no other.

NARRATOR: Today, our aerial cameras

will capture a crucial milestone

in this mammoth engineering project.

Erdal’s team are constructing the final stacked blocks,

topping out one of the supporting tower legs

as it reaches its full height,

taller than the Eiffel Tower.

This isn’t a job for the faint-hearted,

as the team position themselves at dizzying heights.

The crane slowly and carefully lifts

the final steel panel up the tower.

It’s a tense moment.

The panel is the size of a three-story house.

If winds pick up and catch it as it rises,

it could smash into the pillars.

GEDIK: We have to make incredibly delicate

adjustments when lifting the blocks.

Small increases in wind can cause the parts to spin

in an uncontrolled manner in the air,

and cause difficulties.

NARRATOR: But luckily, today,

the conditions are perfect.

As the panel reaches a height of over 300 meters,

the engineers on the platform rotate it into position.

A mighty thump

signals the panel is in place,

and the first of the bridge’s legs is finished.

GEDIK: Today, as a team,

we’ve completed an incredible structure.

NARRATOR: Over the next two years,

Erdal and his team

will finish constructing this historic bridge,

and its command over the strait will be complete.

Moving south towards Antalya,

the landscape gives way to a checkerboard of arable fields

and almond groves.

As summer progresses here,

an area the size of Monaco

undergoes an incredible transformation

that’s best seen from the air.

Each year, as wheat farmers finish their harvests,

a new and unexpected industry moves into town.

The farm buildings fill with carpets from across Turkey.

Workers wash and trim them,

then do something extraordinary.

They transform the fields...

into a riot of color.

♪♪

♪♪

Locals here use the empty fields to lay out,

dry, and sun-bleach thousands of carpets each summer.

Raziye Topkara

has been working in the carpet fields for over 30 years.

RAZIYE TOPKARA: Growing up,

there was lots of carpet weaving in the area,

so I have woven carpets since I was a child.

I never had another job.

I got married and started working in the carpet business.

NARRATOR: Today, Raziye’s team

have 150 carpets to bleach.

They unload the carpets off the trailer and into the fields,

and leave the sun to work its magic.

As the early morning dew evaporates

through the rugs,

it takes any excess dye along with it.

This process softens the garish colors

into gentler, subtler tones,

and leaves the carpets gleaming.

There are over 7,000 carpets in these fields,

and no two are the same.

It takes Raziye’s expert eye

to discern when each individual rug

has reached its peak color,

and can then be flipped.

TOPKARA: It depends on the colors people prefer.

Some like them bright, some like them shiny,

some like the colors more natural.

Just as we can tell whether watermelons or melons are ripe,

we know when the carpets are ready.

NARRATOR: The stakes are high.

These carpets can fetch thousands of Euros.

Keep them under the harsh sun to fade for too long,

and they could lose their value.

In the warehouse,

the workers prepare the sun-bleached carpets for shipment.

Turkey has been exporting carpets since the Middle Ages,

and now it’s an industry that's worth

over 2 billion Euros a year,

and keeps Raziye and her family busy,

watching over the carpets day and night.

TOPKARA: I come here each evening

with my husband and my sons.

We eat dinner here and sleep in the fields.

I think this is the most beautiful place

in Dosemealti.

NARRATOR: In September,

this fabric wonderland disappears,

and the carpets are parceled

and scattered across living rooms around the world.

The farmers can once again prepare the fields

for next year’s crop.

It’s the end of summer,

and as the beach resorts

on the Black and Aegean Seas empty,

the forests around Bolu

explode in an array of amber,

crimson, and sepia tones.

Autumn is here.

From Turkey’s rugged northern coastline

to its pristine southern beaches,

from rolling pastures,

to jagged mountain tops,

Turkish people have learned to adapt to its vast

and varied landscapes,

and during early autumn

on one of Turkey’s great mountain ranges,

our exclusive aerial view reveals an ancient way of life

that’s remained unchanged for over a millennium.

In Turkey’s south,

a mighty crescent of rocky peaks

rises abruptly from the Mediterranean coast.

These are the Taurus Mountains.

Before winter falls, the high slopes of the mountains

provide a cool oasis for thousands of grazing goats.

They belong to one of Europe’s last remaining nomadic tribes.

Mahmut and Songül and their children

are Sarikeçili Yörük,

a tribe of nomads, who, along with their goats,

have pitched their tents on these slopes

for over a thousand years.

SONGÜL UÇAR: We have always done this.

My mom looked after animals. My father looked after animals.

Their parents looked after animals.

NARRATOR: The Sarikeçili Yörük

have no permanent home.

Instead, they use these mountains

as their hot weather base,

and move all their belongings to the lowlands

once the cold of winter

makes life at this altitude impossible.

Twice each day,

Mahmut heads out from his base with his shepherd dogs...

(speaking in foreign language)

...to find new grazing land

for his 600 goats.

Mahmut whistles commands

as the dogs run around, keeping the animals together.

They herd the goats over steep and uneven passages.

-(whistling) -(goats bleating)

Our aerial cameras reveal

this unique way of life

as it’s never been seen before.

MAHMUT UÇAR: Each morning, we take the goats

up the mountains to pasture.

After three or four hours,

we then return home.

NARRATOR: The animals are the family’s

most valuable commodity,

so Mahmut can’t afford to take his eyes off them.

He must protect them day and night

from the wolves and wild dogs

that lurk in the mountains here.

MAHMUT UÇAR: You're sulking.

(bleats)

I understand the animals somehow,

and the animals understand what I am saying very well.

(whistling)

SONGÜL UÇAR: From morning to night,

we’re together with the animals.

Wherever the animals go, I go.

NARRATOR: After four hours of grazing,

Mahmut arrives back home with his contented goats.

The nomadic culture is a dying way of life.

Fewer than 100 families remain who preserve this lifestyle.

But Mahmut and Songül have no plans to settle anytime soon.

MAHMUT UÇAR: To live in the mountains is hard,

but because this is all we know,

this is how we grew up, it's simple for us.

SONGÜL UÇAR: I have never considered settling.

Maybe when I get old and can no longer run alongside the goats.

(laughs)

Being a Yörük, for me, is to be free.

NARRATOR: Along Turkey’s northern coastline,

cliff top monasteries

and traditional stone mansions lace the soaring landscape.

This warm, wet climate

creates the ideal conditions

to produce one of the world’s most widely consumed drinks.

In Turkey’s northeast,

the Kaçkar Mountains dive sharply into the Black Sea.

Here, in Çamlihemsin, fast-flowing rivers

cut deep valleys into the landscape,

and lush vegetation paints the steep slopes a deep green.

A bird’s eye view

reveals hundreds of tightly packed gardens,

filled with the same plant:

tea.

The tea industry

is normally associated with China and India,

but Turkey’s plantations

produce over a quarter of a million tons of tea each year.

But amazingly, almost all of it stays in the country.

Turks drink more tea than anywhere else in the world,

at an amazing three kilos of tea leaves

per person each year.

Each house here has its own tea garden,

and they’re passed from generation to generation.

Firdevs Çolak and her sisters

have harvested tea in this region

for most of their lives.

FIRDEVS ÇOLAK: Everything you see here,

we planted ourselves.

Our lands and our gardens are very special to us.

Working with the land is a beautiful thing.

Working on the land helps relieve stress.

Ah!

NARRATOR: Picking the finest tea

takes years of experience.

The sisters work quickly with shears,

choosing only the youngest leaves at the top of the plants.

They must collect as many as they can in the early morning,

while the shoots are still young and tender.

ÇOLAK: You can’t delay the harvest.

If you do, the tea will go bad.

There will be nothing left of it.

You have to pick it when it’s just right;

otherwise it’s all over.

NARRATOR: Our unique aerial view

shows Firdevs and her family

spread out amongst six hectares of tea shrubs.

The women fill their bags with tea leaves as they go,

until they can take no more.

They then load the 40 kilogram sacks onto their backs,

and begin the challenging clamber across the sheer slopes.

At the bottom of the valley,

they weigh the fresh tea,

and prepare the leaves for sale to large distributors.

It’s the end of a long day.

Firdevs and her family have done their part

to satisfy Turkey’s incredible thirst for tea.

ÇOLAK: The most valuable,

the most precious tea, is grown right here in Çamlihemsin.

We love it. We are proud of it. It gives back to our people.

It is a wonderful thing.

NARRATOR: As autumn retreats,

a blistering cold takes hold of the land.

Rolling hills, rocky heathlands,

and deep blue lakes

transform into deserts of ice and snow.

Winter has come.

In Turkey’s far northeast,

the sharp seasonal changes force the locals

to adopt different ways of living.

In some places, people take this to extreme lengths.

Turkey’s frontier to the east

is bordered by its largest and most mountainous region,

Eastern Anatolia.

A closer look

reveals one of Turkey’s highest bodies of water.

Sitting well over a mile above sea level,

this is Lake Çildir.

People have relied on fish from Lake Çildir

for 6,000 years.

But as winter’s grip tightens,

the lake succumbs to a thick layer of ice,

and the region’s fishermen swap their boats

for horses and sleighs.

Among the fishermen here

are husband and wife team, Atanur and Songül Dursun.

ATANUR DURSUN: I’ve been fishing for more than 40 years.

I first started fishing while I was at primary school.

I’d go all the time with my Dad.

SONGÜL DURSUN: When I was a girl,

I didn’t know anything about fishing.

I learned everything from my husband,

and now I can say that I’m a better fisherman than him.

NARRATOR: For eight months of the year,

Atanur and Songül are expert ice fishers.

A week ago, they bored through the ice

and cast their nets into the water below.

Then, they built a mound of snow

over the nets to mark the location.

Today, they need to hack the ice to check their nets for fish.

Our unique aerial view reveals the careful path

they must navigate, dodging thin ice.

Falling into the waters at this time of year

would be deadly.

ATANUR DURSUN: In some parts of the lake,

there are dark waters.

Waters that don’t freeze.

You need to have drawn a map of the ice in your head.

It’s a dangerous job.

NARRATOR: Finally, they arrive at their nets.

It takes all of Atanur’s might and skill

to break through almost half a meter of ice.

ATANUR DURSUN: The toughest part of the job

is breaking the ice.

Sometimes we’re so cold, it feels like we’re going to freeze.

NARRATOR: Once open,

the reach into the hole, and pull out the first net.

This one is empty.

But Atanur and Songül know that multiple nets

are the key to success in this environment.

Atanur and Songül

pull out the final net with baited breath.

Their skills and knowledge of the lake

pay off.

This net is full of fresh fish.

To an outsider,

life on Turkey’s mile-high lake may appear tough.

But for Atanur and Songül,

it’s much more than a job.

It’s a part of their culture

that they wouldn’t trade for anything.

ATANUR DURSUN: The day after I met my wife,

we eloped together on a boat on the lake.

SONGÜL DURSUN: The first time we held hands

was on a boat.

ATANUR DURSUN: On a boat.

SONGÜL DURSUN: That’s why we love fishing so much.

NARRATOR: The Turkish landscape

is scattered with the remnants of its ancient past.

The Greco-Persian wonders of Mount Nemrut,

where the winters are harsh.

Further west, the rock tombs of Lycia,

and the Ancient Greek site of Ephesus

see sun all year long.

Of all these places,

one ancient site stands out

as perhaps the strangest in all of Europe.

In western Turkey,

mysterious splashes of bright white

break up the winter landscape,

but this isn’t snow.

A closer view reveals an ancient town

nestled close to one of the largest white patches.

This is the Ancient Greek town of Hierapolis.

Our aerial view reveals on one side communal baths,

a lavish theater,

and thousands of elaborate tombs.

On the other, an otherworldly landscape

of pure white mineral pools,

brimming with warm, volcanic springs.

What was this strange, two-sided city?

Archaeologist Coskun Dasbacak

has studied Turkey’s ancient past for over 30 years.

He and his colleague, Arif,

are uncovering the secrets of this mysterious ancient site.

COSKUN DASBACAK: It’s completely unique

and enchanting to find two wonders,

side-by-side,

one man made,

one a feat of nature.

NARRATOR: Locals named the bright white hillside

"Pamukkale," meaning "cotton fortress."

Hot, mineral-rich water emerges from the Earth here

in 17 volcanic springs.

They leave behind a bright white deposit called "travertine,"

the scale of which can only be truly appreciated from above.

A sky-high view of Pamukkale

reveals petrified waterfalls,

and entire buildings frozen in time

by this powerful force of nature.

But Pamukkale isn’t the site’s only natural wonder.

There’s another, much darker secret hidden here.

These are the Gates of Hell,

perhaps the world’s most unusual site of animal sacrifice.

DASBACAK: People held religious ceremonies here

in honor of Pluto, god of the underworld.

NARRATOR: The founders of Hierapolis

built this temple over a steaming volcanic vent

in the 2nd century BC.

A grotto inside the temple

would fill with toxic gases,

and eager crowds would watch on as priests led bulls inside it.

The bulls would drop dead from the fumes,

whilst the priests emerged unscathed,

by holding their breath.

Even today,

the gases that fill this grotto

are visible on the surface of the water

that now seeps out of it.

This apparent miracle made Hierapolis famous,

and the city grew rich from it.

Today, visitors from all over the world

come here to catch a glimpse of this ancient land,

where natural phenomena have given rise

to the seemingly magical.

DASBACAK: The view takes my breath away

every time I look up.

My children and my grandchildren

will continue to be mesmerized by the sight.

NARRATOR: Turkey is Europe’s window to the east,

a land that bridges not only continents,

but also time,

where ancient practices and modern innovation combine,

across fantastical landscapes and diverse cultures,

looking proudly back to its past,

and eagerly towards its future,

to create the great nation

that we see today.