Turkey Travel Guide

Introduction

As a holiday destination, it also offers surprising variation. Its territory borders four different seas – the Black Sea, Mediterranean, the Sea of Marmara and Aegean Sea – while it’s also the origin of some of the most significant rivers in the Persian Gulf region, including the Euphrates and Tigris. Turkey is largely dominated by flat plains, but its mountains are some of the biggest in the region, rising up to over 5,000 metres at the country’s highest point, Mount Ararat.

Turkey has for decades remained a popular Mediterranean destination for tourists from across Europe due to the country’s hot, dry summer weather and relatively low prices. The country’s political integration into Europe also looks assured as it prepares to enter the EU, which would make it the first predominantly Muslim country to do so.

Turkey’s largest city Istanbul is one of the highlights of the Eastern Europe/Western Asia region, with its tall minarets and idyllic setting on the river Bosporus overlooking the Sea of Marmara. It is the only city in the world that overlaps two continents. Over its long history, the city has served as the capital of three of the world’s most powerful empires – the Byzantine Empire, the Latin Empire and the Ottoman Empire – the latter lasting nearly 500 years before reaching its end in 1922.

The result is a city steeped in historic architecture and artefacts that has in recent years matured into a modern financial centre equally well suited to business and leisure. Istanbul will serve as the European City of Culture in 2010, adding to its UNESCO World Heritage List status that has protected the historic areas of the city.