Turkey - Lonely Planet

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853
Turkey
Hoş geldiniz (welcome) to the Med’s own slice of the Middle East. While many Turks see
their country as European, the nation packs in as many towering mosques and spice-trading
bazaars as neighbouring Iran, Iraq and Syria. This bridge between continents has absorbed
Europe’s modernism and sophistication, and Asia’s culture and tradition. Travellers can enjoy
historical hot spots, mountain outposts, expansive steppe and caravanserai-loads of the
exotic, without having to forego comfy beds and buses.
Turkey’s charms range from sun-splashed Mediterranean and Aegean beaches to İstanbul’s
minarets. While these gems fit its reputation as a continental meeting point, the country can’t be
easily pigeonholed. Cappadocia is a dreamscape dotted with fairy chimneys, completely unlike
anywhere else on the planet. The ethereal beauty of Mt Nemrut, littered with giant stone heads,
and Olympos, where Lycian ruins peek from the undergrowth, is quintessentially Turkish.
Such potent mixtures of natural splendour and ancient remains result from millennia of
eventful history, which saw empires including the Byzantines and the Ottomans establish capitals here. So many Turkish names are familiar from history lessons and Hollywood blockbusters
that travelling the beaches and plains is like turning the pages of a historical thriller.
When it’s time to close the book and seek worldly pleasures, Turkey still shines as brightly as
its red-and-white flag, being the land that introduced the world to the kebap (kebab). Vegetarians can tuck into meze, ideally consumed on a panoramic terrace with rakı (aniseed spirit) or
çay (tea). And that’s before you lace up your hiking boots or pull on a dive mask…
FAST FACTS
„ Capital Ankara
„ Currency Turkish lira (TL); €1=TL2.08;
UK£1=TL2.35; US$1=TL1.53; A$1=TL1.17;
¥100=TL1.59; NZ$1=TL0.91
„ Famous for Turkish delight, hammams
(Turkish baths), carpets, moustaches, ruins
„ Official language Turkish
„ Phrases merhaba (hello); tamam (OK);
teşekkürler (thank you); bu akşam olmaz (not
tonight, thanks)
„ Population 71.9 million
„ Telephone codes country code
%90;
international access code %00
„ Visas available on entry (US$20 to US$60);
see p933
TURKEY
„ Area 779,452 sq km
854 T U R K E Y • • H i g h l i g h t s
lonelyplanet.com
TURKEY
BURGAS
BULGARIA
BLACK
SEA
Edirne
Kîrklareli
Îpsala
Tekirdaÿ
Samothraki
Gallipoli
(Gelibolu)
Anzac
Cove
Yalova
Bandîrma
Safranbolu
Osmancîk
Uludaÿ
(2543m)
BALIKESÎR
Çorum
ESKΊEHÎR
Ayvalîk
KÜTAHYA
Bergama
MANÎSA
Çešme
Afyon
UŠAK
Îzmir
Chios
Selçuk
Kušadasî
Tuz
Gölü
Çivril
AYDIN
Ephesus
(Efes)
Nazilli
Pamukkale
DENÎZLÎ
Milas
Burdur
TURKEY
SEA
„
Ürgüp
Niÿde
Uncover İstanbul (p861), the glorious
one-time Byzantine and Roman capital and one of the world’s truly great
cities.
Sleep in fairy chimneys and explore
underground cities in jaw-droppingly
bizarre and beautiful Cappadocia (p914).
Pit stop at Selçuk in the best pensions on
the coast, near awesome Ephesus and the
site of St John’s tomb (p884).
Explore Turkey’s exotic east at Nemrut
Dağı (Mt Nemrut; p923), where decapitated stone heads litter a king’s burial
mound at 2150m.
Wander the Roman-Ottoman old quarter of Antalya (p903), a stylish Mediterra-
Ereÿli
Karaman
Adana
MERSIN
Uzuncaburç (ÎCEL)
Silifke
Tašucu
Kîzkalesi
(AKDENÎZ)
CYPRUS
HIGHLIGHTS
„
KAYSERÎ
Beyšehir
Lefkoša
(Nicosia)
„
Ihlara
Gorge
Konya
Îsparta
MEDITERRANEAN
CRETE
„
Yozgat
Avanos
Göreme
Uçhisar
Nevšehir
Aksaray
Yataÿan
Köprülü
Muÿla
Kanyon
Bodrum
Milli Parkî
Köyceÿiz
Marmaris
Knidos
Perge
Ortaca
Termessos
Akseki
Datça Dalyan
Göcek
Kos
Aspendos
Dalaman
Saklîkent
ANTALYA
Bozburun
Side
Fethiye
Manavgat
Gorge (Tlos)
GREECE
Pînara
Kemer
Ölüdeniz
Alanya
Xanthos Finike
Phaselis
Letoön
AEGEAN SEA
Kaš
Patara
(EGE DENÎZÎ)
Kalkan
Kale
Kastellorizo
(Demre) Olympos, Çîralî
(Meis)
Rhodes
Kekova
& the Chimaera
Megiste
Anamur
Uçaÿiz
Karpathos
Güllük
Kalimnos
„
Hattuša
KIRIKKALE
Kîršehir
Foça
Samos
Sungurlu
ANKARA
Polatlî
Lesbos
(Lesvos)
KASTAMONU
KARABÜK
ADAPAZARI
(SAKARYA)
Îznîk
Assos
Ikaria
ZONGULDAK
Bolu
Bursa
Behramkale Ayvacîk Edremit
ὄὄ
ὄὄ
ὄ
KOCAELÎ
(ÎZMÎT)
Îstanbul
Sea of Marmara Gebze
Lapseki
Çanakkale
Troy
(Truva)
Šile
Çorlu
Kešan
Înebolu
Amasra
The Bosphorus
(Boÿazîçî)
GREECE
Girne
Gazimaÿusa
nean hub located on both the ‘Turquoise
Coast’ and the ‘Turkish Riviera’.
ITINERARIES
„
„
One week Devote two or three days to
magical İstanbul, then head down the
Aegean coast, via the Gallipoli battlefields and Troy, to marvel at the ruins
of Ephesus. Squeeze in a side trip to Pamukkale’s shiny travertine formations
from Selçuk.
Two weeks From Pamukkale, head to
another sea – the Mediterranean – and
travel eastward to Roman-Ottoman
Antalya, stopping in laid-back Kaş and
checking out Olympos’ tree-houses
along the way. Return to İstanbul via