Cornucopia’s online guide
Turkey
Our Destinations pages aim to give a hint of the great diversity of the country and its neighbours. Divided by area, they cover the main cities and sights, museums and galleries and suggest hotels and restaurants. They venture off the beaten track to discover wilderness, curiosities and half-forgotten ruins in the footsteps of Cornucopia’s intrepid correspondents. And readers are invited to offer their own suggestions by writing to feedback@cornucopia.net.
1 Istanbul
Istanbul is Turkey’s most populous city, and its cultural and financial centre. Located on both shores of the Bosphorus, the narrow strait between the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara, it bridges Asia and Europe physically and culturally.
2 Thrace
Istanbul’s European hinterland is full of surprises: Edirne’s Renaissance architecture, Gallipoli’s historic beaches, Kırklareli’s wonderful weekly market, fish restaurants on the Black Sea and the Dardanelles – and exciting new wines.
3 The Sea of Marmara
Take a drive around the Sea of Marmara. From Thrace across the Dardanelles to Bursa, the former Ottoman capital, and Iznik, renowned for its ceramics, this was the Ottoman heartland.
4 The Aegean
Turkey’s Aegean coast takes on many guises as you head south from the cool waters of the Dardanelles, across the Troad peninsula to classical Ephesus and Labraunda, with popular Bodrum – ancient Halicarnassus – as your final port of call.
5 Western Anatolia
The coast of Western Anatolia was easily accessible to the ancient maritime peoples, but mountain ranges cut them off from much of the inland terrain.
6 The Mediterranean
The Mediterranean coast, littered with archaeological sights, is in two halves: to the west the Taurus mountains dramatise the Turquoise coast. To the east the plains stretch towards less visited Tarsus and Antakya.
7 Central Anatolia
Turkey’s heartland, with the capital at Ankara, is home to some of the world’s earliest civilisations. From the majestic Lakes District to the stony wastes of fairytale Cappadocia, the scene is dotted with monuments.
8 The Black Sea
The Black Sea retains its mystique, thousands of years after Xenophon’s men retreated towards it shouting, ‘The sea! the sea!’ From Amasra to Trabzon, a wildly hostile coast conceals emerald mountains, rain forests and tea gardens.
9 Eastern Anatolia
‘The Wild East’ is how it was described in the special 30-page feature in Cornucopia 24, with beautiful photographs by Manuel Çitak. The author was Min Hogg, who returned for Cornucopia 44 to write about this epic landscape.
10 Turkey’s Neighbours
Cornucopia knows no frontiers and explores all the countries around the eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea – the Aegean, the Balkans, the Levant and the Caucasus. Top of the list is the new 100-page portrait of Crimea.
11 Around the World
Anatolian, Ottoman and Turkic cultures have left their marks across the world – from mighty mosques in Samarkand to small museums in Germany, country houses in Britain and art galleries and shops in the USA. Scattered, too, are relics of antiquity, mosaics of Byzantium, exquisitely woven carpets and bulbs of the brilliant Turkish tulip.
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