In this Tablet podcast, assistant editor Ruth Gledhill talks to Dr Natalie Watson, theologian and editor, about the coming Tablet trip to Turkey, where classical civilisation can be found alongside the sites of the earliest Christian churches along with the locations of some of the earliest and most significant events of the early Church.

We start with three nights in Istanbul, one of the world’s greatest cities, visting sites such as the grand Byzantine basilica Aya Sofya, often called Hagia Sophia, and the Ottoman sultans’ lavish Topkapı Palace. We take a guided stroll in the Grand Bazaar and have a traditional coffee tasting and ponder the spiritual adventure ahead, and enjoy the views from our Bosphorus cruise.

We then travel through the countryside visiting the sites of the Seven Churches of Revelation. These churches were real, physical congregations when the Apostle John wrote this last book of the Bible around 95 AD. While in Patmos, John was seized by the Holy Spirit and received prophetic visions from Christ instructing him to: “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea”

We will also visit the bright-white terraces of Pamukkale, the warm mineral water that flows through them being the basis for the ancient spa city of Hierapolis. Then, we finish with three nights in Cappadocia, a geological wonderland in the centre of Turkey. The history of early Christians in Anatolia comes alive at the Göreme Open-Air Museum and the other cave churches and underground cities scattered around the valley.

For more information on The Tablet trip to Turkey in September, visit McCabe Pilgrimages or email [email protected] quoting TabTurk2.

For more information on The Tablet trip to the Holy Land and Jordan in November, email [email protected].