Anatolia

I am a big piece of land with sparkling blue water on three sides. The warm sun shines on my tall mountains and my sandy beaches where little waves splash. I am like a special bridge that holds hands with two very big lands called Asia and Europe. I love feeling the sunshine and the cool sea breeze. Hello. I am Anatolia.

I have been here for a very, very long time. So long ago, in a time called 9600 BCE, some of the very first people built amazing stone circles on my green hills. They stood tall and looked at the stars. Later, around the year 1600 BCE, brave people called the Hittites lived here. They were very smart and wrote their stories on little clay squares, like tiny block books. After them, many other friends came to live with me. They built beautiful cities with tall stone columns and big open squares where children could run and play games.

Today, I am a big part of a country called Turkey. Families come to visit me from all over the world. They bring their happy voices and splash in my warm seas. They walk through my old cities and imagine the children who played there long ago. They also taste my yummy foods, like sweet honey and juicy figs that grow in the sun. I love sharing my sunshine and all my stories. I am a bridge that connects friends from today to the amazing people of yesterday, and I will always have new stories to tell.