Interesting Places in Turkey

Ankara

The capital city of Turkey, located in the western part of the Anatolian peninsula, attracts tourists from the whole world thanks to its monuments like the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations which has the biggest collection of the Hittite art in the world. However, Ankara has also the second face. It is a modern capital city of the Republic of Turkey where the subway, theatres, parks, attractive shopping locations like Ulus and Hisar districts, successfully co-exist with a secular tradition and the relicts of the international culture and art. A leading monument in the modern part of Ankara is the Mausoleum of Atatürk which is a symbol of the united ancient and modern thoughts.

If we enter Ankara from the west, the winding road leads us through the flat grassland. There is also Gordion in the neighborhood - a capital city of the ancient kingdom of Phrygia and the seat of the legendary King Midas. As far as the landscape is concerned, the road running from Ankara in the north- west direction among mineral waters of the national park in Kizilcahamam is more interesting. The region between Eşkişehir and Afyon is wild and doesn’t attract any visitors. A very different region with an oasis full of birds living among reeds in swamps is a land of lakes called Eğirdir where visitors may relax in the open.

Kutahya

Due to its rich tradition of ceramic tile production, thanks to which the inhabitants of the town have earned their living over centuries, the town can still exist.

Konya

The cultural cradle of the western Anatolian peninsula. The Seljuk architecture and the Museum of Mevlân with the record of an activity of dancing dervish are among the biggest attractions in Turkey. Moreover, in the Konya Karatay Museum there is a valuable collection of ceramic tiles. The town in known in the whole Turkey for its pious inhabitants and their strong ties to Islam.

Istanbul

Its rich history dates back to the ancient times. Istanbul- former Byzantium- was a capital city of the Byzantine Empire and the former East-Roman Empire which was founded by Constantine the Great and called Constantinople in 324. Nowadays, it is Turkey’s biggest city and at the same time the biggest metropolitan area in Europe with 10 million inhabitants. The Bosporus strait divides the city into the European and the Asian part.

Saray Burnu (Palace Point)

It is a wooded headland where the Bosporus meets The Marmara Sea which is called Saray Burnu (Palace Point). In the Byzantine times monasteries and public buildings used to stand in this unusual place. Nowadays, the leading building of the cape is a monumental group of buildings of the Topkapi Palace which used to be a residence of Ottoman sultans for 400 years. The palace, which is now open for tourists as a museum, delights with its luxurious interior decorations, great collections of jewels and other treasures. The palace with its gardens and its buildings used to occupy almost the whole cape. After some time, part of its area was turned into a park. The Archeological Museum with a valuable collection from Turkey and Near East is located next to it .

The Archeological Museum

Its collection has been gathered systematically only since the middle of the 19th century. Nevertheless, this museum has one of the biggest archeological collections in the world which comprise also pre-classical works of art.

Sultanahmet

Two biggest monuments of Istanbul: the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia are situated opposite each other and the park area between them belongs to the Sultanahmet Palace. Hagia Sophia is a remarkable work of Byzantine architecture and one of the biggest churches in the word at the same time. An oblong square next to the Blue Mosque is a place of an hippodrome which was built by Romans about 200 AD to organize chariot races. There are also a couple of museums like the Mosaic Museum as well as the Turkish and Islamic Art Museum in this fascinating antique area . On the other side of the Blue Mosque, the winding alleys lead visitors in the direction of the Marmara Sea. At the place of the former Great Palace of the Byzantine emperors, there are traditional wooden houses.

Hagia Sophia (Aya Sofya)

The Church of the Holy Wisdom is one of the biggest achievements of international architecture. A temple, which is more than 1,400 years old and is an evidence of the high level of Byzantine civilization , had a great influence on the development of architecture. Ottomans turned the Christian temple into a mosque in the 15th century, and according to the Islamic requirements, they additionally built minarets, mausoleums and fountains. The interior of the Hagia Sophia temple, which was designed as a reflection of the sky on the Earth, delights its visitors. The most interesting are shimmering gold-plated mosaics with a figural presentation which is a small remain of the decoration which used to cover the upper parts of the basilica’s walls.

The Blue Mosque

It owes it name to the decoration of blue and green ceramic tills from Iznik and is one of the most famous sacral buildings in the world. The mosque was erected by Sultan Ahmed I in the 17th century.

Bazaar District

Trade has always played a great role in the city lying on the border between two continents. It will be enough to have a look at the arcades between the shops to notice some busy craftsman’s shops which are hidden in yards. In the heart of this trade province lies the Great Bazaar with a great number of products. The Spice Market, also called the Egyptian Bazaar, is also picturesque but smaller. On the hill, next to the university, there is the Mosque of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent (Süleymaniye) which is a magnificent example of the Ottoman architecture from the16th century and one of the numerous and beautiful mosques in this district of Istanbul.

Narrow alleys surrounding the Spice Market preserved the atmosphere of old Istanbul. In the shadow of trees growing in the courtyard, tourists can relax and have a cup of tea. On the other side, there are the domes of the New Mosque. Next to one of the merchant alleys, which surround the mosque, behind a inconspicuous gate there is a hidden stairway going upwards to the terrace decorated with ceramic tills from the Rüstem Pasha Mosque.

Beyoğlu

It is a lively merchant district where foreign residents have been living for centuries.

Along the street, which was once called Grande Rue de Pera, there are tenements from the 19th century and the buildings of European embassies, but their huge gates and great facades seem to be too pompous as for the consular function of Ankara held since 1923 after becoming a capital city of Turkey. Next to backstreets, there are churches which served the national and religious minorities in Perga (the former name of this district). In some of them are still crowds of people while others are only a reminder of the previous era. Backstreets of Beyoğlu starting in İstiklal Caddesi, which were once neglected, revived. It is also a place full of fashionable jazz clubs, shops as well as of cinemas and numerous restaurants.