Turkey
About Turkey
Turkey is a nation straddling eastern Europe and western Asia with cultural connections to ancient Greek, Persian, Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman empires. Cosmopolitan Istanbul, on the Bosphorus Strait, is home to the iconic Hagia Sophia, with its soaring dome and Christian mosaics, the massive 17th-century Blue Mosque, and the circa-1460 Topkapı Palace, former home of sultans. Ankara is Turkey’s modern capital. Major resorts include Antalya, a gateway to the southern Mediterranean area known as both the Turkish Riviera and the Turquoise Coast, and the Bodrum and Çesme peninsulas, both on the Aegean. Archaeological sites include the remnants of Troy and Pergamon, the Roman ruins at Hierapolis, and, more extensively, the ancient city of Ephesus. The semi-arid central region of Cappadocia, especially Göreme, is known for “fairy chimneys”, Bronze Age cave dwellings that became early Christian churches, and the Derinkuyu and Kaymakli underground cities. Pamukkale is known for its travertine hot springs.
Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia, officially the Hagia Sophia Holy Grand Mosque and formerly the Church of Hagia Sophia, is a late antique place of worship in Istanbul, designed by the Greek geometers Isidore of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site built by the eastern Roman emperor Justinian I as the Christian cathedral of Constantinople for the state church of the Roman Empire between 532 and 537, the church was then the world's largest interior space and among the first to employ a full pendentive dome. It is considered the epitome of Byzantine architecture and is said to have changed the history of architecture. In 1453, after the Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire, it was converted into a mosque.
Sultan Ahmed Mosque
Sultan Ahmed Mosque, also known as the Blue Mosque, is an Ottoman-era Friday mosque located in Istanbul. Its Külliye contains Ahmed's tomb, a madrasah, and a hospice. The hand-painted blue tiles adorn the mosque’s interior walls, and at night the mosque is bathed in blue as lights frame the mosque’s five main domes, six minarets, and eight secondary domes. It incorporates many Byzantine elements of the neighboring Hagia Sophia with traditional Islamic architecture and is considered to be the last great mosque of the classical period and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Topkapı Palace
Topkapı Palace or the Seraglio is a large museum in the east of the Fatih district of Istanbul. During the 15th and 16th century, it served as the main residence and administrative headquarters of the Ottoman sultans. Topkapi Palace was walled off from the city to provide the necessary security and privacy of itself. The palace was used by many important people such as Fatih Sultan Mehmet to Sultan Abdulmecid for 400 years long. The richness of Topkapi Palace makes it an attractive place for visitors and is one of the biggest palace museums.
Pamukkale
Pamukkale meaning cotton castle in Turkish is a town in western Turkey known for the mineral-rich thermal waters flowing down white travertine terraces on a nearby hillside. Dripping slowly down the mountainside, mineral-rich waters collect in and cascade down the mineral terraces, into pools below and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Grand Bazaar
Grand Bazaar in Istanbul is one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world, with 61 covered streets and over 4,000 shops. The Grand Bazaar in Istanbul is often regarded as one of the first shopping malls in the world. There are numerous charming shops to explore for local as well as luxury shopping and you can buy a wide range of Turkish delights and spices, kilim rugs, silver, and gold jewelry.
Basilica Cistern
Basilica Cistern or Cisterna Basilica is the largest of several hundred ancient cisterns that lie beneath the city of Istanbul. It was built in the 6th century during the reign of Byzantine Emperor Justinian I and today it is kept with little water, for public access inside the space. The cistern was used as a location for the 1963 James Bond film From Russia with Love.
Dolmabahçe Palace
Dolmabahçe Palace located in the Beşiktaş district of Istanbul served as the main administrative center of the Ottoman Empire from 1856 to 1887 and from 1909 to 1922. The Palace was ordered by the Empire's 31st Sultan, Abdülmecid I, and built between the years 1843 and 1856. The design contains eclectic elements from the Baroque, Rococo, and Neoclassical styles, blended with traditional Ottoman architecture to create a new synthesis. The Dolmabahçe Palace is extensively decorated with gold and crystal.
Bodrum Castle
Bodrum Castle is a historical fortification located in the port city of Bodrum, built from 1402 onwards, by the Knights of St John as the Castle of St. Peter or Petronium. It has four towers known as the English, French, German, and Italian towers, bearing the names of the nations responsible for their construction. Today the castle has become the home for the award-winning Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology along with a collection of amphoras, ancient glass, bronze, clay, and iron items.
Taksim Square
Taksim Square situated in Beyoğlu in the European part of Istanbul is a major tourist and leisure district famed for its restaurants, shops, and hotels. Taksim is the main transportation hub and a popular destination for both tourists and residents of Istanbul. İstiklal Caddesi the Independence Avenue, along the pedestrian shopping street, ends at this square.
Mount Nemrut
Nemrut or Nemrud is a 2,134-metre-high mountain notable for the summit where a number of large statues are erected around what is assumed to be a royal tomb from the 1st century BC. It is one of the highest peaks in the east of the Taurus Mountains and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Built on the mountain top is a tomb-sanctuary flanked by huge statues 8 to 9-meters high of King Antiochus I Theos of Commagene, two lions, two eagles, and various Greek and Iranian gods, such as Heracles-Artagnes-Ares, Zeus-Oromasdes, and Apollo-Mithras-Helios-Hermes.
Istanbul
Istanbul is a major city in Turkey that straddles Europe and Asia across the Bosphorus Strait. Its Old City reflects the cultural influences of the many empires that once ruled here. In the Sultanahmet district, the open-air, Roman-era Hippodrome was for centuries the site of chariot races, and Egyptian obelisks also remain. The iconic Byzantine Hagia Sophia features a soaring 6th-century dome and rare Christian mosaics.
Antalya
Antalya is a Turkish resort city with a yacht-filled Old Harbor and beaches flanked by large hotels. It's a gateway to Turkey's southern Mediterranean region, known as the Turquoise Coast for its blue waters. Remnants remain from Antalya's time as a major Roman port. These include Hadrian’s Gate, built to honor the Roman emperor’s visit in 130 A.D and 2nd-century Hidirlik Tower, with harbor views.
Pamukkale
Pamukkale is a town in western Turkey known for the mineral-rich thermal waters flowing down white travertine terraces on a nearby hillside. It neighbors Hierapolis, an ancient Roman spa city founded around 190 B.C. Ruins there include a well-preserved theater and a necropolis with sarcophagi that stretch for 2km.
Kusadasi
Kuşadası is a beach resort town on Turkey’s western Aegean coast. A jumping-off point for visiting the classical ruins at nearby Ephesus or Efes, it is a major cruise ship destination. Its seafront promenade, marina, and harbor are lined with hotels and restaurants. Just offshore on Pigeon Island is a walled Byzantine castle that once guarded the town, connected to the mainland via a causeway.
Izmir
Izmir is a city on Turkey’s Aegean coast. Known as Smyrna in antiquity, it was founded by the Greeks, taken over by the Romans and rebuilt by Alexander the Great before becoming part of the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century. Today, its expansive archaeological sites include the Roman Agora of Smyrna, now an open-air museum. The hilltop Kadifekale, or Velvet Castle, built during Alexander’s reign, overlooks the city.
Ankara
Ankara, Turkey’s cosmopolitan capital, sits in the country’s central Anatolia region. It’s a center for the performing arts, home to the State Opera and Ballet, the Presidential Symphony Orchestra and several national theater companies. Overlooking the city is Anitkabir, the enormous hilltop mausoleum of Kemal Atatürk, modern Turkey’s first president, who declared Ankara the capital in 1923.
Best Time To Visit Turkey
Many visitors visit Turkey when many visitors arrive is from July to August when calm, hot weather makes it a prime time for beachgoing. The peak season for Istanbul and Cappadocia is from March to June and from September to October when the weather is milder. Away from the coast, the winter season from November to February is cold and often snowy.
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