Turkey is Asia's foothold in Europe, a melting pot of cultures and a bridge between continents. Here the contemporary and the ancient, the cosmopolitan and the bucolic, the spiritual and the hedonistic come together to create a vibrant, diverse and exciting whole.
The Turkish Republic is modernizing rapidly - sometimes so fast you'd swear you can actually see it happening in front of you. It's secular and Western-oriented and boasts a vigorous free-enterprise economy. The Turkish people have an unrivaled reputation for hospitality, which the touts haven't managed to vanquish, try as they may. The cuisine is to die for, the coastline a dream, and many Turkish cities are dotted with spectacular old mosques and castles. To top it off, while costs are certainly rising, Turkey remains the Mediterranean coast's bargain-basement travel destination.
Anatolia, the Turkish mainland, has a long, colorful and complex history, and it helps to know a little of it before you arrive. The world's oldest "city", dating from c.7500 BCE, was discovered at Catal Hoyuk near Konya. Then came the Hittite Empire (mentioned in the Bible but little known in the West), which rivalled that of ancient Egypt and left behind captivating works of art.
The Turkish landmass was then the stage upon which countless empires and kingdoms flourished and declined. Many of the most famous sites from classical Greek culture are not in Greece at all but in Turkey, including the ruins of cities such as Troy, Pergamum, Ephesus, Miletus and Halicarnassus (Bodrum). Most modern Turkish cities boast a Roman past and several crop up in the Bible.
With the coming of the Seljuks in the 11th century, Turkey began to take on a truly "Turkish" identity, and the great mosques and medreses (seminaries) of Konya are a reminder of that early glory.
The Ottoman Empire that arose in the early 14th century expanded to rule the entire eastern Mediterranean, much of Eastern Europe and North Africa for six centuries. The myriad customs, cultures, languages and religions of the sultans' vast domains came together in the imperial capital, Istanbul, surely one of the world's most fascinating and romantic cities - you need days there to do it justice.
However, Turkey is much more than its history. With over 7000km of coastline it's an excellent destination for water sports, especially along the Mediterranean, which basks in an average 300 sunny days a year. There's trekking in the pine-clad alpine Kackar Mountains of the eastern Black Sea coast, mountaineering on biblical Mt Ararat (5137m) and tandem paragliding at Oludeniz. Then there's Cappadocia with its spectacular scenery created by the outpourings of Mts Erciyes and Hasan in prehistory. The underground cities and rock-cut churches with their colorful frescoes will take your breath away.
Come to Turkey, too, to hike the 509km Lycian Way, a waymarked path along the coves and headlands of the southern Mediterranean. And who could resist a Blue Voyage, a chance to spend a few days cruising along the azure coast, dropping in at hidden bays, on a gulet (wooden yacht)?
Turkey is vast and you need lots of time to see it all, but, thanks to an excellent network of buses, travelling about is a doddle.
Hos geldiniz! (Welcome!) You're in Turkey. Sit down, have a glass of cay (tea), listen to the call to prayer, enjoy the energy and color, and prepare for a wonderful time.
