Turkey attractions
Istanbul
For many centuries the capital of the civilized world, Istanbul remains the heartbeat of Turkey. It's a well-worn but still glorious metropolis with about 12 million residents, an impressive setting straddling Europe and Asia, and an unchallenged place in the country's history, folklore, commerce and culture. Although it's packed, pungent and polluted, the Bosphorus Strait, which connects the Black and Marmara Seas, and the Golden Horn, a freshwater estuary, help to maintain a sense of openness and space. For several thousand years before the construction of the Bosphorus Bridge in 1973, the only way to go between the European and Asian parts of the city was by boat. A second bridge was completed in 1988, a third is planned and a metro is being developed.
Istanbul's dateline spans 3000 years, so it's worth boning up your sense of history in order to be able to distinguish a hippodrome from a harem. The Topkapi Palace, residence of the sultans from the 15th century to the early 1800s, is a must see. The palace's harem (imperial family quarters) was much like a small village, housing up to 500 people at any time, including up to 300 concubines. The imperial treasury is another palace highlight. It's stuffed with gold, silver, diamonds and other flashy bits and bobs.
Key attractions in Istanbul: click here
Aya Sofya, the Church of the Divine Wisdom, was built by Justinian in 548 when it was the greatest church in Christendom. A lot can happen to a building in 14 centuries, especially in an earthquake zone, and the church is now cluttered with buttresses, supports, kiosks and outbuildings which hug its massive walls. The interior's immense dome is still impressive, though. The Blue Mosque is a triumph of harmony, proportion and elegance: its exterior elicits the sort of eye-boggling, weak-kneed admiration which Aya Sofya's interior induces.
There's a serious danger of sightseer-overload in Istanbul but there are plenty of ways to lower the risk. Take a ferry cruise up the Bosphorus or wander the Grand Bazaar, a maze of narrow streets where you can buy a bangle, a carpet, or just browse. Uzuncarsi Caddesi is the less-touristy alternative, where you'll encounter woodturners' shops, hunting equipment and clothing merchants. In the Beyoglu area, north of the bridge, it's always fascinating to take a stroll down Istiklal Caddesi, the main drag. This was where high-class Ottomans and colonial Europeans rubbed shoulders a century ago in a fusty fiesta of frock-coats and parasols. If you squint a little (okay, a lot), you may be able to imagine this grand street in its heyday.
Sultanahmet, in the old city, is the best place to look for a bottom-end or middle-range hotel. Taksim Square has many modern middle to upper-end places. The restaurants along Sultanahmet's Divan Yolu are the most obvious places to eat, but you'll be doing your money belt a favor if you head out of the tourist zone for a meal. There are lots of little places in the Grand Bazaar where you can sit and fill up slowly on a procession of small dishes. Istiklal Caddesi is also full of small grill joints - the nicest are probably up the side streets to the south.
Ankara
Turkey's capital is a sprawling urban mass in the midst of the Central Anatolian semi-desert. It's very different from the Ottoman town of Angora which preceded it on this site, a quiet place where long-haired goats were raised and their fleece knitted into fluffy jumpers. Since 1920 when Ataturk set up his provisional government here, Ankara's main business has been government but several significant attractions make it worth a short visit.
Most visitors head straight for Hisar, the Byzantine citadel atop the hill east of the old city, and the nearby Museum of Anatolian Civilizations. A couple of km to the south is Ataturk's mausoleum, a monumental building, spare but beautiful, and echoing the architecture of several great Anatolian empires. The Presidential Mansion is preserved as Ataturk used it, with decor and furnishings of the 1930s including billiard table and cigar-and-brandy nook. There's a lot of ancient history around too. Roman Ankara was a city of some importance, and Roman ruins are dotted in amongst the mosques and monuments of Muslim Anatolia. Most of the cheaper hotels and restaurants are in old Ankara, a km or so north-east of the train station.
Ephesus
Of Turkey's hundreds of ancient cities and classical ruins, Ephesus is the grandest and best preserved. Indeed, it's the spunkiest classical city on the Mediterranean. Ephesus was Ionia, a flourishing cultural center during the Greek Empire, and a busy provincial capital during Roman times. Ionia's Temple of Diana was counted among the Seven Wonders of the World, and the city was generally renowned for its wealth and beauty. Sts Paul and John took up the quill in Ionia and the Virgin Mary is said to have spent her twilight years here. A walking tour of the ruins will take at least half a day, and if you're here in summer, start early, because it gets stinking hot by high noon. Places you'll come across include the Grotto of the Seven Sleepers in which seven persecuted youths slumbered for two centuries, then woke up and ambled down to town for a meal; the colossal Harbor Gymnasium; the grand marble-paved Arcadian Way; the impressive Temple of Hadrian and a scattering of fountains, pools, brothels, libraries and public toilets.
Selcuk, a town of 25,000 people with more than its fair share of nagging touts, is the main tourist center for the region. There's a beautiful museum in the center of town and a fair swag of Roman, Christian and Muslim sights including the St John Basilica and a Byzantine Aqueduct. Izmir is the closest transportation hub. Frequent trains and buses trundle the 1 hour trip to Selcuk which is a mere 3km (2mi) from Ephesus.
Bodrum
Bodrum is the South Aegean's prettiest resort, with a yacht harbor and a port for ferries to the Greek island of Kos. Palm-lined streets ring the bays, and white sugar-cube houses, now joined by ranks of villas, crowd the hillside. Boating, swimming, snorkelling and scuba diving are prime Bodrum activities. At night Bodrum's famous discos throb, boom and blare, keeping much of the town awake until dawn. Both Turkish and foreign visitors complain about the ear-splitting cacophony, but the local attitude seems to be, 'If you wanted peace and quiet, why did you come to Bodrum?'. If this sounds like your kind of town, you can grab a bus to Bodrum from just about anywhere - it's 4 hours to Izmir by road. There are frequent ferries to Kos in summer, and a hydrofoil to Rhodes between May and September.
Antalya
Antalya is the chief city on Turkey's central Mediterranean coast. As well as several km of pebble beaches and a historic Roman-Ottoman core, Antalya is a good base from which to explore the quieter beach towns and more spectacular ancient cities of the region. Side, 75km (47mi) east of Antalya, is the increasingly popular beach town once chosen by Mark Antony and Cleopatra for a romantic tryst. Alanya, 115km (71mi) east of Antalya, is another sea-sun-n-sand joint with a mini-Miami feel. Patara is a party town a few hundred km south-west of Antalya. The beach here is a simply splendid 20km (12mi) long and there are Roman ruins in amongst the dunes. You'll have to do your sunset-watching elsewhere, however, as the beach closes at dusk to give sea turtles access to their nests. The towns along the Mediterranean coast are all linked by bus and dolmus services (especially frequent in summer).
