Things to do in Turkey

When the progressive West meets the traditionally Islamic East, it may either end up in a disaster or breed a multi-faceted construct that stuns with inherent contrasts and uniqueness. Luckily, the latter is true for Turkey, Istanbul being the ripest fruit of this dichotomy.

Things to do in Turkey by Open Travel Vacations

Top 10 Things to do in Turkey by Open Travel:
1. Sultan Ahmed Mosque
2. Pamukkale Thermal Pools
3. Whirling Dervishes
4. Goreme National Park
5. Cemberlitas Hamami
6. Hagia Sophia Museum
7. Blue Cruise
8. Ruins of Ephesus
9. Nargile Bars
10. Çoruh River Valley

Football

Turkey has risen to prominence in a number of sporting areas in recent decades. Football has seen a rapid transformation earning it third place in the coveted 2002 FIFA World Cup. Its domestic teams are dominated by Trabzonspor, Fenerbahçe, Galatasaray and Beşiktaş. Of these, Fenerbahçe’s European triumph came in the now defunct 1967 Balkans Cup. Galatasaray has seen the most success, winning the 2000 UEFA Cup and European Super Cup, as well as fielding many of the players for the international team. In recent years, Turkey has exported many of its players into top foreign teams including Inter Milan, Barcelona, Parma, AC Milan and Bayer Leverkusen, among others. As well as sending players abroad, the Turkish league has also attracted players into Turkey. World class players such as Gheorghe Hagi, Ariel Ortega, Cláudio Taffarel, Pierre Van Hooijdonk, Gheorghe Popescu, Mario Jardel, Nicolas Anelka, John Carew, Harald ‘Toni’ Schumacher, Falko Götz, Radomir Antić, Oscar Cordoba, Lincoln, Hakan Şükür, Mateja Kežman, Kleberson, Ricardinho, Roberto Carlos da Silva, Zoran Simovic, Frank De Boer, Rigobert Song and many more have played at some point, or continue to play in Turkey.

İzmir

İzmir is a province of Turkey in western Anatolia on the Aegean coast, whose capital is the city of Izmir. On the west it is surrounded by the Aegean sea, and it encloses the Gulf of İzmir. Its area is 11,973 km.2, population 3,769,000 (2007 est). The population was 3,370,866 in 2000. Neighbouring provinces are Balıkesir on the north, Manisa on the east, and Aydın on the south. Its traffic code is 35, and its capital is İzmir city. The main rivers of the province are Küçük Menderes Nehri, Koca Çay (with Güzelhisar dam), and Bakır Çay.

Regions of Turkey

The provinces of Turkey are organized into 7 census-defined regions (bölge), which were originally defined at the First Geography Congress in 1941. Regions as defined in this context is merely for statistical purposes and do not refer to an administrative division. Each region is listed below, with corresponding provinces within the region. However the official boundaries of the regions and the provinces do not overlap. Provinces, by custom, are accepted to be located in the regions where most of their territory remains.

Tourism

One of the fastest growing sectors of the economy of Turkey is tourism. Most tourists come from Germany, Russia, the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Great Britain. Receipts from tourism amount to 3.6 billion dollars. The main tourist centers are resorts on the coast of the Aegean and the Mediterranean Sea (Bodrum, Kusadasi, Antalya, Alanya), Istanbul, Cappadocia and the ancient monuments of culture: Troy, Mileta, Ephesus, Hierapolis, Pergamon, Antalya and others.

Geography

Turkey is bordered to the north-east of the Black Sea and Georgia, in the east to Iran, in the southeast of Iraq, in the south to Syria and the Mediterranean in the west to the Aegean Sea and the north-west Greece and Bulgaria. Asia Minor (or Anatolia) covers 97% of the country and lies on a large, broad peninsula from east to west and 1650 km wide from north to south, 650 km long. The Pontic mountain chain in the north and the Taurus mountains in the south enclose the central plateau of Anatolia and then go into the huge mountainous area in the east of the country. Here emerge the Euphrates and Tigris rivers.

Etymology

The name of Turkey, Türkiye in the Turkish language, can be divided into two words: Türk, which means “Strong” in Old Turkic and usually signifying the inhabitants of Turkey or a member of the Turkish or Turkic peoples, a later form of “Tu–kin”, a name given by the Chinese to the people living south of the Altay Mountains of Central Asia as early as 177 BCE; and the abstract suffix –iye (derived from the Arabic suffix –iyya, but is also associated with the Medieval Latin suffix –ia in Turchia, and the Medieval Greek suffix –ία in Τουρκία), which means “owner” or “related to”.

The first recorded use of the term “Türk” or “Türük” as an autonym is contained in the Orkhon inscriptions of the Göktürks (Sky Turks) of Central Asia (c. 8th century CE). The English word “Turkey” is derived from the Medieval Latin “Turchia” (c. 1369).

Aya Sofya

Emperor Justinian (527-65) had the Aya Sofya (known as Haghia Sofia in Greek and also called Church of the Divine Wisdom) built as part of his effort to restore the greatness of the Roman Empire. Recognised until 1453 as the greatest church in Christendom, Mehmet the Conqueror had it converted into a mosque until 1935, when Atatürk proclaimed it a museum.

On entering his great creation for the first time almost 1500 years ago, Justinian exclaimed, ‘Glory to God that I have been judged worthy of such a work. Oh Solomon! I have outdone you!’ Entering the building today, it is easy to excuse his self-congratulatory tone. The interior, with its magnificent domed ceiling soaring heavenward, is so sublimely beautiful that many seeing it for the first time are quite literally stunned into silence.

Traditionally, every mosque had a hamam (bath) included in or around its complex of buildings. Aya Sofya was no exception and this elegant symmetrical building known as the Haseki Hürrem Hamamı (Baths of Lady Hürrem), was designed by Sinan in 1556-57 and built just across the road from the great mosque. The hamam was one of 32 designed by Sinan and is widely thought to be his best. It operated until 1910 and now houses a carpet shop run by the Ministry of Culture.

When to Go

Spring and autumn are the best times to visit, since the climate will be perfect in İstanbul and on the Aegean and Mediterranean coasts. It will be cool in central Anatolia, but not unpleasantly so. Visiting before mid-June or after August may also help you avoid mosquitoes. The Black Sea coast is best visited between April and September; there will still be rain but not so much of it. With the exception of İstanbul, Turkey doesn’t really have a winter tourism season. Places catering to backpackers usually see Anzac Day as the official start of the season; those catering to package holiday-makers get going in early May. Peak season is from July to mid-September, when most Turks take their holidays. The best time to visit eastern Turkey is from late June to September. Don’t plan to venture east before May or after mid-October unless you’re prepared for snow. Try to avoid travelling during Kurban Bayramı, Turkey’s most popular public holiday.

Ankara

Ankara is the capital of Turkey and the country’s second largest city after İstanbul. The city has a mean elevation of 850 m (2800 ft), and as of 2007 the city had a population of 3,901,201, which includes eight districts under the city’s administration. Ankara also serves as the capital of the Province of Ankara, whose population stood at 4,466,756 in 2007.

As with many ancient cities, Ankara has gone by several names over the ages: The Hittites gave it the name Ankuwash before 1200 BC.^[2][3] The Galatians and Romans called it Ancyra. In the classical, Hellenistic, and Byzantine periods it was known as Ἄγκυρα Ánkyra. It was also known as Angora after it fell to the Seljuks in 1073, and was so known up until 1930.^[4]

Centrally located in Anatolia, Ankara is an important commercial and industrial city. It is the center of the Turkish Government, and houses all foreign embassies. It is an important crossroads of trade, strategically located at the center of Turkey’s highway and railway networks, and serves as the marketing center for the surrounding agricultural area. The city was famous for its long-haired Angora goat and its prized wool (mohair), a unique breed of cat (Angora cat), white rabbits and their prized wool (Angora wool), pears, honey, and the region’s muscat grapes.

Ankara is situated upon a steep and rocky hill, which rises 150 m above the plain on the left bank of the Enguri Su, a tributary of the Sakarya (Sangarius) river. The city is located at 39°52′30″ North, 32°52′ East (39.875° N 32.8333° E), about 351 kilometres (218 mi) to the southeast of Istanbul, the country’s largest city. Ankara is one of the driest places in Turkey and is surrounded by a barren steppe vegetation, with various Hittite, Phrygian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman archaeological sites. It has a harsh, dry continental climate with cold, snowy winters and hot, dry summers. Rainfall occurs mostly during the spring and autumn.

The hill which overlooks the city is crowned by the ruins of the old castle, which adds to the picturesqueness of the view, but only a few historic structures surrounding the old citadel have survived to our date. There are, however, many finely preserved remains of Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine architecture, the most remarkable being the Temple of Augustus and Rome (20 BC) which is also known as the Monumentum Ancyranum