TURKEY
: TOURIST SITES
Most
visits to Turkey start in Istanbul, the gateway to the Orient.
The city is also known under its former name of Constantinople,
the Rome of the East, and later the capital of the Ottoman Empire, the
mightiest Islamic empire of all times.
The trip then
continues alongside the sunny Mediterranean beaches, where Homers Troy
lies, but also Ephesus, the New York of the Greek-Roman
world. There are more ancient ruins here than in continental Greece
and their beauty matches everything else that can be found in the
ancient world. Furthermore, most of these ruins are scarcely visited
so that it is still possible to enjoy and admire them without having
to share them with herds of tourists. There are more tourists on the western
coast, but deserted and idyllic beaches and bays abound
everywhere. In the virtually unspoiled mountain areas there are
no tourists at all. During the springtime it is even possible to ski
in the mountains during the morning and to swim in the warm water of
the Mediterranean in the afternoon.
Those who decide
to go inland will discover a landscape of vast plains and salt
deserts that can be found nowhere else in Europe. Perhaps one of the
greatest wonders of nature in Turkey is the very surrealistic turf
stone landscape of Cappadocia with its thousands of cave
dwellings and hundreds of churches in the rocks. And of course, no one
should miss the beautiful (but very busy with tourists) calcium
terraces of Pamukkale.
And
then there is the adventurous Eastern Turkey. No lack in nomads
tents here ! Everywhere in the wilderness are scattered the remains of
lost civilizations. A beautiful example is the Nemrut mountain
(2.150 m) with its mysterious idols or the ghost city of Ani close to
the border with the former Soviet Union. The blue-green waters of the Van
lake, surrounded by snowcapped mountains and grazing herds of
cattle, are reminiscent of Central Asia, the true land of birth of the
Turks. When crossing the Kars-Erzurum line, one arrives in the area of
the little Caucasus or the Pontic Alps, a region which is
almost never visited and which is never mentioned in tour guides. The
mountains are covered with dense forest and with Balkan-like little
villages and long forgotten basilicas. A visit to Turkey can then be
closed off by a beautiful boat trip on the Black Sea.
Already after a
few days, it should be possible to answer the question that every Turk
will ask "How do you like Turkey ?" - "Turkiye ? Çok Güzel
!" " Turkey ? Very beautiful !".
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