TURKEY

A uniquely varied and beautiful country, Turkey spans the continents of Europe and Asia. Shaped like a peninsula, the Asian landmass of Turkey is surrounded by the Black, Aegean and Mediterranean Seas, giving the country a memorable diversity of lush and sometimes rugged coastline. The inland Sea of Marmara links the Black Sea to the Aegean and the Mediterranean through the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus, creating one of the most coveted waterways in history.

Turkey covers a much vaster region than many people realize, its 70 plus million people spread over an enormous swatch from the borders of Greece and Bulgaria through to Mt. Ararat where our borders of Georgia, Armenia and Iran merge a distance of more than 1,600 kms or 1,000 miles. In this huge territory can be found the remnants of so many civilizations. The great English historian Lord Kinross once quipped that; one can hardly stump one’s toe in Anatolia without uncovering a shard of antiquity.

The Turkish landscape is one of great contrasts. The sparkling seas of the gentle coastline surround fertile lands and the stark, mountainous interior. The vibrant colors of the land and water are reflected in the rugs, embroideries, ceramics and other works of art for which Turkey is famous. The Anatolian countryside is loaded with historical architectural riches stretching back to the beginning of recorded history through antiquity, and the Roman, Byzantine, Seljuk and Ottoman eras.

For thousand of years Anatolia, the crossroads of history, the link between Orient and Occident, has witnessed the mass migrations of diverse peoples shaping the course of history. The home to countless civilizations, Anatolia has developed a unique synthesis of cultures, each with its own distinct identity, yet each linked to its predecessors through insoluble threads.

An old land, a modern nation…

Turkey is both, the inheritor and conservator of the universal heritage of mankind. In Anatolia, we witness the emergence of Western civilization from the Stone Age to the present, from cave dwellers with their wall drawings, crude deities and first attempts at urban planning to the powerful presence of the Hittites and the grand city-states of the Greco-Roman era; from the empire of the Byzantines to the daring and creativity of the Seljuks the first Turkish rulers of Anatolia; from the imperial grandeur of the Ottomans to the pride and accomplishments of the Republic of Turkey.

In that part of the world people has been travelling for decades. Much earlier on the Silk Road travelers were staying at hans and caravanserais if not in tents!. Still you can find these caravanserais in Anatolia, some in ruins, some restored, some converted to shopping malls and some turned into beautiful boutique hotels…..
Matching with traditional Turkish hospitality the hotel situation in the Turkey has improved to an extraordinary level. Today you can find stylish, comfortable hotels even in such distant places as Van, Trabzon and Kars.