Position: 36°12’29″N 36°10’06″E Tourism in eastern Turkey dropped off sharply 10 years ago. The conflict in Syria, the rise and fall of ISIS, and long-standing internal struggles between the Kurds and the Turkish government meant Southeastern Anatolia was broadly off …
The real joys of travel are found in the margins. No matter where you’re headed, a national park, an ancient monument, a museum displaying the pedestrian origins of civilisation, the things you take away are the things that engage you …
Position: 37°08’54″N 38°47’20″E Hiking down Rose Canyon just outside Göreme took us along its arroyo’s tortured course to an open plain five kilometres distant. In a heavy rainstorm it would be deadly. Water must cascade over the huge boulders then …
Position: 38°38’37″N 34°49’53″E Yep. Kapadokya. You’ve been saying it wrong ever since you learned the word. It’s not your fault. Some nameless Latin scholar with a speech impediment back in the dusts of time transliterated the Turkish word and forgot …
Stretching a thousand kilometres along its southwestern edge, the Turkish Riviera is one of the world’s great natural attractions. Popularly known as the Turquoise Coast for its radiant blue waters, every great Mediterranean civilization since the Stone Age has lived …
Position: 36°49’11″N 28°18’25″E Wild boars aren’t the first animals one thinks of as pets. In Europe they’re more comestible than companion. Turkey, however, is 99% Muslim and pork simply isn’t on the menu. (One wonders how ex-pat Germans survive – …
POSITION: 36°45’23N 28°15’56″E “Turkish isn’t a particularly difficult language once you’ve mastered the alphabet”, our waiter advised, in lightly accented English. Diving into Google Translate and YouTube later yielded some practical advice on pronunciation. After two weeks our vocabulary now …
Position: 36°49’11″N 28°18’25″E Given all their history, it’s easy to forget that Greece and Turkey are a mere discus throw apart. Zooming in on our chart plotter, the red line separating the two countries comes with a note: “This boundary …
POSITION: 36°26’55″N 28°13’37″E I had a psychic reading once. Just before I drove from London to Ulan Baatar, Mongolia, in a decade-old Suzuki Swift (a Geo Metro to you Yanks). My seer told me I would be successful, but to …
