Turkey Traveller

Kaleiçi is the old historic centre of Antalya built around a picturesque old Roman harbour, lined with restaurants & cafes. From the harbour a maze of narrow streets filled with restored Ottoman houses stretch upwards towards the walls of the once fortified old city. Exploring Kaleiçi you find a fantastic selection of boutiques, restaurants, pensions, medreses, hamams, ancient mosques, antiquated churches, Turkish rugs and some beautifully restored Ottoman style boutique hotels.The courtyards and streets are lined with palm fronds and fine fruit trees under which you will often find a man shading from the sun who will polish your shoes for a small price.The winding streets and hidden courtyards of Kaleiçi will quickly have those of a curious nature peeking and peering into private gardens, windows and speculating on the price of doing your own restoration. Kaleiçi is a protected area and was awarded the Golden Apple of Tourism in 1984,you will still see the odd dilapidated Ottoma...

The ruins of Troy (referred to by one writer as the ruins of ruins) are not going to be the most impressive archaeological site you will have the opportunity to see in your time in Turkey. However they will be one of the oldest, and their immortalisation by Homer accounts for a lot of interest. The site is actually much more than just the ruins of Troy (Truia, Truva) in the location are the archaeological remains of 9 cities all layered one on top of the other, this in itself makes it all but impossible to get a proper feeling about how any of these cities would have looked because all the ruins are intermingled with each other. The first excavation of Troy in 1870 was carried out by a German called H. Schlieman, sadly his obsession with discovering the Troy of Homer’s Iliad and the treasures of King Priam were to prove destructive and much of the archaeological evidence on the upper layers was destroyed, lost and looted. However up until this point the Homeric Troy was largely consid...

Çanakkale (pot fortress) is a small seaside town in the Çanakkale province; the town is located on the Asian side of the Dardanelles straits that connect the Sea of Marmara to the Aegean. Çanakkale's most famous landmark is the nearby ruined city of Troy (Truva) because of this you will see a large wooden horse as you walk along the promenade originally used for the film version of Troy and later donated to the town.The promenade is pleasant for a stroll and there are many cafes and restaurants in which you can sit and watch nautical traffic meandering up and down the Dardanelles, which is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. The Dardanelles straits have always been of huge strategic importance as it provides the only access to the black sea. You can get frequent ferries from Çanakkale to the Gallipoli peninsular (Gelibolu) on the opposite side of the straits, the site of the tragic battle of Gallipoli in WWI. The town’s hotels fill up around April the 25th every year ...

Without doubt the one thing you should not miss on any trip to Istanbul is the opportunity to grab a bite to eat as Eminönü quayside. The quayside & the adjacent Galata bridge is lined with anglers catching fresh fish which is quickly grilled and sold by the vendors who have parked their barbecues in a line behind the anglers. The grilled fish is served in a crusty bread roll with a little salad and is very reasonably priced. Unless you eat it raw this is about as fresh as fresh fish can get. You may have to stand as it’s often difficult to find a seat amongst all the hustle and bustle, but it’s normally easy enough to find a comfortable place to lean. If fish is not your thing there is also a kiosk there that sells the most fantastic to die for doner kebab in a bread roll with salad, the kiosk has some plastic tables and chairs so there is even an opportunity to eat sitting down. For those who want to take their time and eat in a more relaxing environment the base of the Galata ...

The Basilica Cistern (known in Turkish as Yerebatan Sarnıcı or sunken cistern) is located near the Hagia Sophia in the Sultanahmet district of Istanbul. It is a popular tourist destination but is easy to miss due to its underground location. However we found it fairly easily due to the tout who kindly showed us the entrance, albeit after he took us to his leather warehouse and showed us some jackets whilst we imbibed in some free apple tea. Once there we paid 10 YTL entrance fee and then descended the steps into the darkness. The Basilica Cistern is sometimes referred to as The Sunken Palace and it’s easy to see why. As you walk down the stairs you will see a large reservoir stretching further than you can see in the darkness, between the water and the ceiling there is a forest of 336 30ft high marble columns stretching up to a brick made domed ceiling, the columns are arranged in 12 rows each 28 columns long. The air is cool and damp (perfect respite from the hot sun outside) and eac...

Sivrihisar (meaning pointed castle) is a charming little town in Eskişehir Province, the name is derived from the ruins of Sivrihisar castle and the pointed rocky granite hills that surround the town on three sides.The town has a long history and has been occupied by the Hittites, Phrygians, Seljuks and Ottomans. Sivrihisar has many beautiful (and some decaying) Ottoman houses and haphazard twisty roads. Like many other parts of Eskişehir Province recent times have allowed for some renovations so some of the Ottoman house have been recently restored to very high standard. The town is quiet and has an air of sleepiness about it as if no one is in much of a hurry, the centre usually has a few locals hanging around swopping pleasantries who are likely to show friendly curiosity in any visiting strangers. Sivrihisar is famed for its beautiful kilim rugs although you are unlikely to be able to buy one in the town, although I understand it is possible to buy new ones in one of the nearby vi...

The Yazılıkaya Platform also known as Midas city is in the county of Eskişehir in the Yazılıkaya (written rock) village, maps of the area marked with all the areas of cultural and historical interest in Eskişehir are available at the Eskişehir tourist information centre. The Yazılıkaya platform was first occupied by man in the early Bronze Age, there are considerable archaeological remains from the Hittite period and the whole platform is like a preserved Phrygian settlement. The Phrygians occupied the area after the decline of the Hittite empire and the Yazılıkaya Platform is thought to be the 7th century BC religious centre of the Phrygian culture. On the site there are approximately 33 ruins from the Phrygian period including the Midas monument (a monument built to the goddess Cybele at the behest of King Midas), Phrygian rock tombs, altars, ancient roads, fountains, gigantic underground cisterns, rock thrones, Phrygian monuments, inscriptions and a massive stone fortress. The Mi...