Istanbul is a major city in Turkey that straddles Europe and Asia across the Bosphorus Strait. Its Old City reflects cultural influences of the many empires that once ruled here. In the Sultanahmet district, the open-air, Roman-era Hippodrome was for centuries the site of chariot races, and Egyptian obelisks also remain. The iconic Byzantine Hagia…
The famous valleys of Cappadocia. It is a unique location in the world with one of a kind natural rock formation. A very long time ago, volcanic eruptions caused the lava flow that dried above the Earth’s crust and formed tufa rocks. Erosion shaped them into famous formations called “fairy chimneys,” but it is not…
Kuşadası is a beach resort town on Turkey’s western Aegean coast. A jumping-off point for visiting the classical ruins at nearby Ephesus (or Efes), it’s also a major cruise ship destination. Its seafront promenade, marina, and harbor are lined with hotels and restaurants. Just offshore on Pigeon Island is a walled Byzantine castle that once…
Pamukkale, meaning “cotton castle” in Turkish, is a natural site in Denizli in southwestern Turkey. The area is famous for a carbonate mineral left by the flowing water. It is located in Turkey’s Inner Aegean region, in the River Menderes valley, which has a temperate climate for most of the year.
Antioch on the Orontes was an ancient Greek city on the eastern side of the Orontes River. Its ruins lie near the modern city of Antakya, Turkey, to which the ancient city lends its name. Antioch was founded near the end of the fourth century BC by Seleucus I Nicator, one of Alexander the Great’s…
Şanlıurfa, formerly Urfa or Edessa, Arabic Al-Ruhā, city, southeastern Turkey. It lies in a fertile plain and is ringed by limestone hills on three sides. The city, of great age, controls a strategic pass to the south through which runs a road used since antiquity to travel between Anatolia and northern Mesopotamia.
