Vikings Return by Sea to Istanbul

Türkçe links to original Turkish article

Father Frank shows off arm-strength after rowing 3,420 km.

(Milliyet Newspaper, 19 November 2017)

Miklagaard Viking history vis-a-vis Istanbul

Danish priest Thomas Frank (48) rowed his canoe for 63 days
along the rivers of Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Romania and Bulgaria,
and then into the Black Sea, to reach Istanbul.  Frank said that he
did this to show how the Vikings came to Istanbul 1,000 years ago
and to research how Christianity came to Denmark.

Frank's 3,420-kilometer journey showed, he said, that the Vikings
had come to Istanbul not in large ships, but rather in small boats
and canoes that they rowed to Istanbul.  He reached the Bosphorus,
which the Vikings called "Miklagaard", on a Friday evening with
large waves threatening to smash him against the rocks. The weather
improved on a beautiful Fall day, though, and he went down the
Bosphorus smoothly, with people on the shore waving to him.

Frank was met at a pier near the Aya Sofia Mosque by two officials
of the Danish Consulate in Istanbul.  The priest plans to return to
Istanbul with his wife in the Spring.  


      Before the Vikings conquered Minnesota.