Ottoman Empire by Train

Alice starts her journey in Adana, near Syria. She visits a historic mosque and uncovers the origins of Turkish delight. Alice catches a train across the Taurus Mountains to Konya, to learn about the Ottoman leaders' elaborately decorative tombs.

In Ankara, Alice visits the tomb of Kemal Ataturk, who ended the Ottoman Empire. After a train ride to Bursa, she visits the tomb of Osman, the empire's founder, and learns about wool from a special breed of goats that made the Ottomans a fortune.

Professor Alice Roberts arrives in Istanbul, and examines the creative tactics that the Ottomans employed to wrestle the impregnable city from the Romans. She takes a boat ride on the Bosphorus to experience how the city was conquered.

In Sofia, Alice learns how the empire was controlled from Istanbul and how today the city's landscape is almost entirely Soviet. In Serbia, Alice encounters the shocking Skull Tower, which was once used as a grim warning.

Alice takes a train to the westernmost point of the Ottoman Empire, to Budapest, where she learns how close the Ottomans came to conquering all of Europe, and how it all ended. In Timisoara, Alice forensically pursues Ottoman remnants.