West of Istanbul,
the provinces of Thrace and Marmara
embrace the Sea of Marmara, while the towns of
Gelibolu and Çanakkale
mark the entrance to the Dardanelles,
the narrow straits leading through to the Mediterranean. This was
the site of the infamous Gallipoli landings during
World War I, which led to the deaths of nearly 250,000 British,
Anzac and Turkish troops and shot Turkish General Mustafa Kemal
(later known as Ataturk) to fame. Inland, the cities of Edirne,
in Thrace, and Bursa, in Marmara,
are both fascinating historic towns with a wide
range of outstanding architecture, such as the
Selimiye Camii in Edirne, said to be the masterwork
of Turkish imperial architect, Mimar Sinan.
Just outside Bursa, the Uludag National Park is
a magnificent forested mountain reserve, with excellent
walking in summer and skiing in winter. A short distance from the
south of Gallipoli are the ruins of ancient Troy.
Of the nine levels of the excavated settlement mound, the sixth
is supposed to be the Troy depicted in Homer's Iliad.
The superlative coast of ancient Ionia,
a crucible of western civilisation, boasts fine
beaches and many important historical sites.
The attractive tourist towns of Ayvacik,
Ayvalik and Behramkale are good
places from which to visit the magnificent Temple of Athena at Assos.
Further south lie the ruins of the great city of Pergamum
(modern Bergama), famous in antiquity for its splendid library.
It is here that you will find the Sanctuary of Asclepieion
and two fine temples, the Acropolis
and the red-brick Basilica.
Izmir,
the birthplace of Homer, is Turkey's third city
and an important port. It is a modern metropolis
set in a curving bay enclosed by terraced hillsides. As a result
of earthquakes and a great fire, there are only a few reminders
of old Smyrna - Kadifekale, the
fourth-century fortress situated on top
of Mount Pagos. The fortress affords a superb view
of the city, and of the Gulf of Izmir, the Roman
agora with some well-preserved porticos and Statues of Poseidon
and Artemis.
Çesme is one of the many well-liked resorts
in the Izmir region. It has excellent beaches,
thermal springs and a 15th-century
fortress. The port of Sigacik, the ruins of the
ancient Ionian city of Teos and the sandy beach at Akkum are all
between Izmir and Çesme. A short way inland is another fine
Graeco-Roman city, Sardis (modern
Sart), with a beautiful Marble Court, Temple
of Artemis and a first-century AD synagogue.
The remains of the Hellenistic and Roman city of Ephesus
(modern Selçuk), rumoured to have been founded in
the 13th century BC; lie at the foot of Mount Pion.
Carefully restored and now one of the most stunning ancient cities
in the world, top sights within the huge archaeological area include
the Grand Theatre, where St Paul preached to the
Ephesians, the second-century Temple of Serapi,
the elegant façades of the Temple of Hadrian
and the Library of Celsus. The site of Meryemana,
presumed to be the house of the Virgin Mary, lies
very close to Ephesus in the small vale of Mount Bulbul Dagi (Nightingale
Mountain). It has become a world-famous shrine, attracting thousands
of pilgrims each year. The nearby town of Selçuk
is home to the Ephesus Museum and Basilica
of St John, said to be the last home of John the Baptist.
The ruins of Priene, Miletus and Didyma are also of great interest
and, like Ephesus, are within easy reach of Kusadasi,
an attractive resort surrounded by sandy bays.
Inland are two more fine historic cities, the atmospheric
Heraklea ad Latmos, and Aphrodisias.
This magnificently scenic and historically mesmerizing
area, where the southern Aegean meets the Mediterranean,
is known popularly as the Turquoise Coast, due
to the intense colour of the sea. Tourism in the region is dominated
by several major beach resorts, each with a series of satellite
villages, and a great many large hotels. Rocky cliffs are interspersed
by lavish white sand beaches. Each small town and fishing harbour
has a variety of pleasure boats, fish restaurants, bars and nightlife,
while the larger hotels offer a wide range of watersports. And if
that is not enough, the area is densely packed with ancient
cities, and there is excellent walking in the hills behind
the coast. Bodrum (birthplace of Herodotus, known
as the father of history) is dominated by the magnificent
15th-century crusader Castle of St Peter, now home to a
fascinating Museum of Underwater Archaeology. Both Bodrum
and Marmaris, set in a deep fjord-like inlet, have
wild, noisy nightlife and a wide
variety of boat trips for daytime hangover cures. Destinations include
the Greek islands of Kos (from Bodrum) and Rhodes (from Marmaris).
From Marmaris, you can also reach the charming fishing village of
Datça, the ruins of Knidos,
and the reedy ruins of Kaunos, near the small resort
of Dalyan.
Further along the Mediterranean coast are the small port
town of Fethiye, with its imposing Lycian rock
tombs, and Ölü Deniz, a dazzling
crystal-clear lagoon with a beautiful beach, surrounded
by pine-covered mountains. The lagoon is protected from rampant
commercial development by its status as a national park, although
the surrounding valley is completely overwhelmed by tourist development.
Continuing east along the coast, there are several relatively small
and charming resorts such as Patara,
with its 18km (11 mile) beach; charming little
Kalkan; Kas, one of the most upmarket resorts on
the Turkish coast; Olympos, a backpacker's
paradise and home of the chimaera, a living flame erupting
eerily from rock; and Kemer, where mass-market
all-inclusive hotels hold sway. Between them are a wide
range of historic sights, including the ancient cities
of Patara, Xanthos, Myra
and Phaselis.
Inland, there is excellent walking at Saklikent
and in the Olympos National Park. Further away,
other worth visiting stops include the pretty old town
of Mugla, the carpet-making centre of Milas;
and Pamukkale, near Denizli, famous
for its spectacular calcified waterfall and thermal waters,
used since Roman times for their therapeutic powers. Pamukkale
also has ruins of the Roman city of Hierapolis.
With sunshine for most of the year and a magnificent coastline,
the western Mediterranean Coast is a popular holiday area. It is
also a region steeped in history and legend, dotted with important
attractions and great medieval castles. Situated on a cliff promontory,
Antalya is a popular resort, boasting
a charming walled old town and harbour,
Kaleiçi, the monumental
Hadrian's Gate, Kesik
Minare and Yivli Minare
mosques and Hidirlik Kulesi, the
round Roman tower, and a superb Archaeological Museum.
With its mix of charming small guest houses and modern hotels, it
is the ideal starting point for tours to the outlying Roman cities
of dramatic Termessos, in the mountains behind
the city; Perge, a well-preserved and atmospheric
place with tall Hellenistic walls and streets which still bear the
marks of chariot wheels; and Aspendos, home to
a remarkable second-century AD amphitheatre, still used for live
performances during the annual festival. Turkey's finest Roman channel
lies to the north of the city. Belek, 30km (19
miles) east of Antalya, has two championship golf courses,
is the habitat of hundreds of species of birds, and one of several
local breeding grounds for the rare leatherback turtle. In Side,
now a thriving seaside resort, the Greek enclosure walls are still
virtually undamaged. The town also boasts an exquisite fountain,
a theatre, two agoras and Roman baths, great beaches and lively
nightlife.
Nestling at the foot of a rocky cape and crowned by a Selçuk
fortress, the town of Alanya has some fine beaches and a great many
large resort hotels. A spectacularly scenic road connects Anamur,
striking for its wave-swept Selçuk castle and ancient
city, and Silifke, dominated by yet another
vast fortress. The museum in ancient Silifke contains finds from
the many archaeological sites in the vicinity. Mersin,
built on a site dating back to Paleolithic times, is a major
port. Nearby, parts of Tarsus date back to biblical times,
when St Paul was a child here and Anthony met Cleopatra in the main
square. The prosperous city of Adana,
in the middle of the flat Cukurova plain, is the centre of Turkey's
cotton industry, and home to an imposingly huge modern mosque. The
enormous Taskopru Bridge, built by Hadrian in the
second century, the ancient covered bazaar and nearby Crusader castles
and Hittite settlements are all interesting sites. The road from
heavily polluted Iskenderun leads through the Belen Pass
to Antakya, the biblical city of Antioch,
where St Peter founded the first Christian community. The grotto
where he preached can be seen just outside the town.
This rugged, mountainous region of Turkey has a wild beauty, but
lacks the wealth of historical and climatic attractions of the rest
of the country, while the thunderous main road leading west from
the CIS destroys much of the local atmosphere. Despite the variable
weather, there are several coastal resorts
with good, sandy beaches. These include, from west to east, Kilyos,
Sile, Akcakoca, Sinop (also very interesting historically), Unye,
Ordu and Giresun, many of which are sadly tacky, catering to the
poorer end of the home-grown tourist market. There are also several
fascinating historic towns such as Safranbolu,
a short distance inland, whose traditional Ottoman architecture
has been deemed worthy of UNESCO World Heritage Status;
coastal Amasra with Hellenistic walls,
Roman ruins, Byzantine churches,
and 14th-century Genoese fortresses; and Amasya,
a dramatically sited town which was capital of
the short-lived Pontic Kingdom (founded in 120 BC) and has a wide
range of ancient, Byzantine and Ottoman buildings, including the
rock tombs of the Pontic kings.
Keep to the side
roads if you want charm, between the two regional centres
of Samsun and Trabzon. Samsun
has an important place in modern history as the War of Independence
began here in 1919, which is reflected by one of the finest monuments
in Turkey, though little remains to testify to its ancient origins.
In Trabzon (the sadly shabby Trebizond of history),
the ruins of a Byzantine fortress can still be seen, together with
many fine buildings including the Fatih Camii, built as a cathedral
during the 200-year rule of the Comnene family (11th-century upstarts
who overthrew Byzantine rule and carved themselves a small kingdom).
The spectacular 14th-century Monastery of the Black Virgin
at Sumala, 54km (34 miles) from Trabzon, is set into the
face of a sheer cliff, 300m (1000ft) above the valley floor, and
contains some magnificent frescoes.
East of Trabzon, there are few large towns and tourism concentrates
on the fascinating lifestyle of the small Laz and Hopa peoples,
hiking in the remote, beautiful Kaçkar Mountains
and the region of Artvin, once the centre of Turkish
Armenian culture and home to several magnificent century churches
dating from the ninth to the 11th centuries.
The hub of this vast, central plateau - the cradle of the ancient
Hittite and Phrygian civilisations - is the modern metropolis
of Ankara. Kemal Atatürk supervised the construction
of Ankara, a capital to replace Istanbul, in this hitherto under
populated region during the 1920s and 1930s. Since then, it has
grown into a thriving, trendy city with a population of nearly three
million that has grown to rival Istanbul's sophistication, and is
much more fascinating than is often imagined. The Anitkabir,
Atatürk's solemnly imposing mausoleum, dominates the new city.
Ankara was, however, built on the site of more ancient settlements
and it is fitting that the Museum of Anatolian Civilisations, built
under the ramparts of the Citadel, should house a magnificent collection
of Neolithic and Hittite artefacts. There are also reminders of
the area's more recent past as part of the Roman and Selçuk
empires. More modern additions to the cityscape include the huge,
elegant Kocatepe Mosque and the
Atakule, a high tower with a sightseeing platform
and restaurant.
Southwest of Ankara are Afyon, centre of the legal
opium industry, and a fine old Ottoman town;
Yazilikaya (Midassehir), home of the legendary
golden king and his giant mausoleum; Kutahya,
an attractive old city at the centre of the Turkish
ceramic trade; and the 'lake district', a pretty, green area of
interlocking fresh and brackish lakes that are an excellent birding
habitat There are a number of interesting small towns
along the lake shores, such as Isparta, famous
for its roses, and Egirdir, founded by the Hittites,
but with a fine collection of Ottoman and Greek houses. Ruined cities
of note in the area include Antioch ad Pisidia,
the recently reconstructed Sagalassos and Kremna,
where the earthworks built by the Roman siege are still clearly
visible. Due south of Ankara, past the vast salt lake
of Tuz Gölü, Konya is
a former Selçuk capital and one of the great religious
centres of Turkey, home of the Mevlana Tekkesi, the monastery
and mausoleum of Mevlana Celâddin
Rumi, one of Islam's most celebrated mystics and founder
of the Order of Whirling Dervishes. Other places
of interest include the 13th-century Alâeddin Mosque,
the Karatay Medrese (now an excellent Ceramics
and Tile Museum) and the Iplikci Mosque, Konya's
oldest structure.
South of the city, Catalhöyük is the
2nd oldest town in the world, dating back to the 6th millennium
BC, while to the east, Binbirkilise is an area
stuffed with '1001' Byzantine chapels and churches,
most now sadly in a desperate state of repair. East of Ankara, the
Hittite state archives were found in Bogazkale
(Hattusas) in 1906, and contained within the Bogazkale-Alacahöyük-Yazilikaya
triangle are the most important sites of
the Hittite Empire. Sungurlu is
a good base for visitors to this fascinating but
underdeveloped region. |
