This country with its rare combination of moderate climate, natural variety and historical background, offers splendid opportunities not only for summer but also for winter vacations. In any of both selections, don’t forget to taste their raki and mezes!
With thousands of tourists visiting them every summer, the most popular resorts are Istanbul, Izmir, Bodrum, Marmaris, Cappadocia and Antalya…
Istanbul is decorated with small parks and gardens. Tourist attractions include the Blue Mosque, the only mosque in the world with six minarets; the palace of the Ottoman sultans Topkapi, with its view over the Marmara Sea and the Bosphorus; the St. Sophia, once a Byzantine cathedral, later a mosque and now a museum, and the Byzantine underground cistern supported by 336 Corinthian columns. Across the Golden Horn, up to Pera, is where you’ll be able to find larger hotels. Make sure you buy a Handmade Turkish Rug while you are at Sultanahmet. Or, if you prefer you can buy your rugs at this Etsy Shop for Handmade Rugs.
Izmir is the birthplace of Homer and one the important ports in Turkey. Situated in a curving bay with terraced hillsides around this modern metropolis has only few reminders of old Smyrna, the fourth-century fortress on top of Mountain Pagos a s a result of earthquakes and a great fire. The fortress has an enchanting view of the city and Gulf of Izmir. Cesme is one of the popular resorts in this region. It has beautiful beaches, some thermal springs and a 15th century fortress.
Bodrum, known for its most lively nightlife on the cost of the Aegean Sea, is located on the peninsula between Kusadasi and Marmaris. Now a popular seaside town and birthplace to the father of history Herodotus, once was dominated by the magnificent 15th-century Castle of St Peter.
Not far lies Fethiye and Olu Deniz, a amazing crystal clear lagoon with a beautiful beach, surrounded by pine covered mountains. Protected from rampant commercial development, its status is set to ‘national park’. Famous with spectacular calcified waterfalls and thermal waters used since Roman times for therapeutic purposes, Pamukkale near Denizli also contains the ruins Hierapolis.
Cappadocia is has a spectacular landscape consisting of rock and cones, capped pinnacles and fretted ravines. Since 400 BC Dwellings have been hewn from the soft, volcanic rock, and the cave systems have sheltered generations of settlers. Some villages are still inhabited but most have been evacuated owing to the persistent threat of rock falls. At Goereme and Zelve there are magnificent rock churches with Byzantine frescoes. Villages Ortahisar and Uchisar offer a good view to rock pinnacles and citadels around them. Worth seeing are also the underground cities of Kaymakli and Derinkuyu and the Ihlara canyon. It is possible to find various hostels and campsites around Cappadocia, but the best hotels are located in the towns of Urgup or Nevsehir. Now a ski resort, the ancient settlements of Karum, Kanes and Fraktin near Kayseri is also a place not to be missed.
The vast Anatolia differs from the rest of the country with a desolate beauty of a landscape, red plains and fertile valleys, waterfalls and lakes, snowcapped peaks and some hidden mosques, palaces and monuments.
It is impossible to stay indifferent to a beauty of nature, enchanted landscapes and the colorful people a vacation in Turkey. You will never forget this holiday.
