The moment Kenneth Harl first saw Sema Tekgul, everything changed. “I was instantly struck with love at first sight,” Kenneth tells CNN Travel . “This was very strange for me because I had been single all my life, very much dedicated to my teaching and my research, and never really thought I was ever going to get married.
” Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today Kenneth and Sema crossed paths on June 15, 2011, in Malatya, Turkey. Kenneth, then a 60-year-old professor of classical and Byzantine history at Tulane University in New Orleans, was travelling with his former graduate student turned close friend, Jason, and their mutual acquaintance Yasmine, another Tulane professor with links to the country. The trio planned to spend several weeks exploring, with Kenneth focused on tracking Roman military routes and researching his next history book.
The group was especially excited to marvel at the imposing, mysterious stone faces carved into the rock at Nemrut Dağ, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In the lead-up to the trip, Yasmine mentioned the plan to an old friend — Sema Tekgul, a teacher from Izmit, Turkey. When Sema expressed interest in Nemrut Dağ, Yasmine invited her to join the excursion.
Kenneth welcomed this suggestion, despite knowing next to nothing about Sema. “I agreed because four is an ideal travel group,” he recalls today. Kenneth’s attention was on Nemrut, his book proposal and his research.
Nothing could have prepared him for the momen.