Exploring Turkey

Holidays at the beach
lonely mountains and lakes
relics from thousands of years of history
From the North to the South the roads lead across the forest-covered Taurus Mountains from the Black Sea, across the huge Anatolian steppes and the lunar landscape of Kappadokkia, before reaching the beaches of the southern Mediterranean coast. 

For thousands of years Anatolia alternated between eastern and western civilisations always coming and going with different leaders, different religions and different political ideas: Hethiter, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Seldjuks, Mongolians, Knights of the Cross and Osman people have all left their traces which can still be seen today. Sultans once led an empire stretching from Hungary to Algiers.
  
Turkey is able to offer something special to all of its visitors:
Holiday at one of the beaches of the Aegean or Mediterranean coasts with their still quiet and empty bays on more than 1.500 km of coastline;
Fans of nature will enjoy the huge variety of different plants and animals all across Turkey. At the national park of “Kuþ Cenneti” (Birds Paradise) on the Marmara Sea, there is a resting area for different species of pelicans and herons on their way to their winter resorts. Other national parks allow really rare animals to survive, for instance, the Anatolian cheetah or the wild horses. At some places on the Mediterranean the last survivors of the sea turtle, Caretta Caretta, are still breeding.

Sports fans will also find a huge variety of activities on offer. There are mountains up to 5000 metres in height for backpackers, lots of well equipped ski resorts for winter sports and picturesque areas on the Mediterranean for divers. For the adventurous sportsmen there is wild water rafting, para-gliding or canyoning (walking through wild canyons).
For seaside fans there are lots of five-star hotels and even golf in Turkey is getting more and more well-known around the world. The beautiful places around Belek are becoming more famous than even the places in Portugal.
More independent travellers can find small villages in the Anatolian mountains or valleys that no stranger would expect to find. They will find lovely, friendly people living simple and poor lives still keeping to strict traditions and very religious. If you accept them, you will always have real friends.
In some of the lonely mountain valleys you will meet nomads and their flocks. They are the last real, original Turkish people because they came from the steppes of Central Asia during the tenth century as far as the Black Sea coast.

For people who are interested in history and like to visit ancient places, Turkey could be called the biggest open-air museum in the world. Even Greece cannot offer more proof of the past than Turkey. Troja, Pergamon, Sardis, Aspendos and the ancient world capital Ephesus are the most well-known places, built by the first Greeks as settlers on the western coast about 1200 BC. Apart from these places, there are lots of churches, palaces and castles of the Byzantine kings (4th to 15th century) and all the really beautiful relics of the Islamic and Osman periods (16th to 19th century), like the fabulous mosques built by the Sultan’s architect, Sinan, in Istanbul and Edirne, or the religious schools in Konya. Apart from Israel, there is no country in the world which offers so many different things to religious pilgrims or people interested in the history of religion as Turkey: in Antakia (Antioch) next to the Syrian border, the followers of Jesus started to use the name “Christ” and Saint Paul started his mission. Mary and the apostle John died in Ephesus.
Also, because of discrimination and torture, lots of Christians escaped to Kappadokkia when they were attacked by the Romans.

Today Turkey is more linked to Europe than ever before, even though just 3% of its land is actually in Europe. The main credit for this goes back to Mustafa Kemal “Atatürk” (Father of all Turks). It was him who introduced the Latin alphabet, European laws and the right for woman to take part in elections. Again, it was him who separated religion from the business of the state. Modern Turkish politicians have planned new aims for the future: The Southern Anatolian Project, GAP (Güneydogu Anadolu Projesi), wants to build 22 dams along the Euphrates River for restoring the water to the lands there, an area larger than Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg together. All Turkish citizens are very deeply connected to their land. They are open-minded, friendly to their neighbours and have a really strong belief in the relationships of family life as well as a respect for their traditions. You can be sure that you will lose many of your prejudices once you are here. You will quickly find out that Turkish men are “macho”. But do you know that half of all universities in the land are run by women! You will always be a little surprised when travelling through Turkey, but simply enjoy it.