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|
full country name |
|
Republic of Turkey |
| capital |
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Ankara |
| population |
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67.6 million (as of 2001) |
| surface area |
|
774800 sq km |
| currency |
|
Turkish lira |
| exchange rate |
|
US$ 1 = lira 1450000 (as of June 2002) |
| language |
|
Turkish |
| main religion |
|
99.8% Muslim |
| Internet users |
|
3.0% (as of 2000) |
|
| Turkish Delights |
| If I had to pick two things which I would not want to miss out on during a visit to Turkey, they would be lokum and elma çay. Lokum is a sweet called Turkish Delight in English which comes in ... (more) |
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| Sometimes You Just Don't Know Until You Get There |
The things that I did not know about Turkey:
that ½ of İstanbul is in Europe and ½ is in Asia, the halves being divided by the Bosphorus
that İstanbul is more like Europe and ... (more) |
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Our couchette train from Braşov in Romania to İstanbul via Bulgaria left May 25th, 2002. We arrived in İstanbul in the morning of May 26th and stayed in Turkey for three weeks. We continued our journey from Egypt to Greece on June 16th, 2002.
We spent five days in İstanbul, the largest city of the country. İstanbul is replete with world-class attractions: Topkapı Palace, Aya Sofya, the Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmet Camii), and the Chora Church (Kariye Camii). The Grand Bazaar (Kapalı Çarşı), the Egyptian Spice Bazaar (Mısır Çarşısı), and the Sunken Cistern (Yerebatan Sarnıçı) also make fine destinations. After İstanbul, we stayed nine days in Cappadocia, the fairy-tale landscape of rock-cut houses, frescoed churches carved from rock, tuff cones, and underground cities in Central Anatolia. Three days at the travertine pools in Pamukkale followed. The remaining time was filled with visits of the ancient cities Pergamum, Troy, and Ephesus, and a trip to the World War I battlefields of Gallipoli.
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