Many famous writers throughout history have traveled extensively around Turkey. Mark Twain and Evliya Çelebi are two examples.

The third most prolific example is Freya Stark who was a British woman with a burning passion and love for the Middle East.

She was born in 1893 in Paris and for a childhood birthday, received the famous book “One Thousand and One Nights”

The book was most certainly the beginning of her chosen path in life and could have been the reason for her persistence to learn Arabic and Persian.

As an adult, she travelled into areas that no other female traveller would go including Iran, Iraq, and Baghdad.

After the Second World War, she chose to focus on Turkey and spent much time in the country, traveling extensively to explore historic sites, meet people, and learn about culture and traditions.

In 1993, she died aged one hundred but left behind an extensive collection of travel books. Described by other great writers as the “poet of the century” and a “remarkable women” her books are considered full of spirit and a good read because of her naivety and fearlessness.

Many writers have called her the best female writer about the Middle East.

Freya Starks Books about Turkey

Ionia: A Quest

Published in 1954, this book was one of Freya’s first about Turkey. She describes her journey to explore history through ancient sites while observing local people deal with the after effects of the Greek population exchange 30 years earlier.

During her tour of ancient sites, she met just one tourist, which is a big difference to the hundreds of tourists that now descended on the ruins of Ephesus daily.

The Lycian Shore: A Turkish odyssey

Published in 1956, the emphasis of this book is purely on the history of the Lycian kingdom and the remains they left behind in Turkey.

Running along the southwest coast, travellers today can explore the Lycian way on foot while Freya Stark did it traveling by boat along the coastline.

Her lasting words about the Lycian remains were “There are not so many places left where magic reigns without interruption and of all those I know, the coast of Lycia was the most magical.’

Alexander’s Path

Published in 1958, this book recalls her experiences as Freya travels alone on a horse following the footsteps of the brave conqueror Alexander the Great.

Once again, she did not encounter places succumbing to the trappings of mass tourism. Instead, this is a hard-core look at the normal lives of people in a time when a woman traveling alone was unheard of.

Riding to the Tigris

This book was published in 1959 and it tells about Freya’s travels through south eastern Turkey, an area which even today is not high on any list of touristic places. She travelled alone with help from muleteers provided by the Turkish government.

She talks about chance meetings with a schoolmaster and a police escort who were excited to see the first western woman in their area. While she normally focuses on history, her tales in this book are mainly of the local people, culture, and traditions.

Rome on the Euphrates: The Story of a Frontier

Many have classed this book as one of Freya’s greatest works. Published in 1966, it is an exploration into history of the Roman Empire in the Euphrates area of Turkey

Turkey:A Sketch of Turkish History (1971)

This is a collection of Freya’s favourite places in Turkey including the diverse city of Istanbul. Written in her retirement years, she also collaborated with an Italian photographer to bring photographs to the inspiring tales of her travels.

Turkey Tours

Retrace the footsteps of Freya Stark on our tours of Turkey. From the East to the West, we explore culture, history and local traditions. Find out more…