First stop: Edirne
via Istanbul, approx. 3 hours drive time
“The area around Edirne has been the site of numerous major battles and sieges, from the days of the Roman Empire. The vagaries of the border region between Asia and Europe gives rise to Edirne's historic claim to be the most frequently contested spot on the globe”.
“Edirne served as the third capital city of the Ottoman Empire from 1369 to 1453”.
Architecture
“Edirne is famed for its many mosques, domes, minarets, and palaces from the Ottoman period. The Selimiye Mosque, built in 1575 and designed by Turkey's greatest master architect, Mimar Sinan (c. 1489/1490–1588), is one of the most important monuments in the city. It has the highest minarets in Turkey, at 70.90 m (232.6 ft)”.
“Edirne has several historic arch bridges crossing over the rivers Meriç and Tundzha, which flow around west and south of the city. There are caravansaries, like the Rustem Pasha and Ekmekcioglu Ahmet Pasha caravansaries, which were designed to host travelers, in the 16th century”
Shopping
“Edirne has three historic covered bazaars: Arasta, next to Selimiye Mosque, Bedesten next to Eski Cami and Ali Paşa Çarşısı (Ali Pasha Bazaar)”.
Food and drinks
“Edirne is well known for local dishes. "Ciğer tava" (breaded and deep-fried liver) is often served with a side of cacık, a cool dish of diluted strained yogurt with chopped cucumber. Also, locally-made marzipan, which has a different recipe from standard marzipan, is one of traditional desserts of Edirne.”.
Second stop: Çanakkale
via Edirne, approx. 3 hours 30 minutes drive time
“In 1915, during the First World War, British Empire and France attempted to secure the waterway through the Straits and ultimately capture Constantinople. Known as The Gallipoli Campaign, or the Dardanelles Campaign, in Turkey it is referred to as the Battle of Çanakkale (Turkish: Çanakkale Savaşı), during March 1915 when the Royal Navy failed to force the Dardanelles and suffered severe losses. During a series of operations, HMS Triumph, HMS Ocean, HMS Goliath, HMS Irresistible and the French battleship Bouvet were all sunk. The French submarine Q84 Joule and the Australian submarine AE2 were also destroyed and several other important ships were crippled too”.
“The city is the nearest major town to the site of ancient Troy. The wooden horse from the 2004 movie Troy is exhibited on the seafront”.
Architecture
“According to the UNESCO site on Troy, its historical significance was gained because the site displays some of the "first contact between...Anatolia and the Mediterranean world". The site's cultural significance is gained from the multitudes of literature regarding the famed city and history over centuries. Many of the structures dating to the Bronze Age and the Roman and Greek periods are still standing at Hisarlik”.
“A monument commemorating the soldiers and officers of the famous 57th Regiment of the 19th Division, who all were killed in action, was opened in 1992. It is a three-story tower with a relief inscription of Staff Lieutenant-Colonel Mustafa Kemal's famous command to his soldiers who ran out of ammunition and had nothing left but bayonets, on the morning of 25 April 1915 to meet the ANZACs on the slopes leading up from the beach to the heights of Chunuk Bair (Conkbayırı):
I do not order you to attack, I order you to die.
Food and drinks special; stop 2A in Ayvalik
via Çanakkale, approx. 2 hours 30 minutes drive time
toast bread, kaşar, cocktail sausage, sucuk, tomato, pickled cucumber, olive oil, Russian salad
Third stop: İzmir
via Ayvalik, approx. 2 hours drive time
“İzmir has over 3000 years of recorded urban history and up to 8500 years of history as a human settlement since the Neolithic period. Set in an advantageous location at the head of a gulf in a deep indentation midway along the western Anatolian coast, the city has been one of the principal mercantile cities of the Mediterranean Sea for much of its history. Modern İzmir also incorporates the nearby ancient cities of Ephesus, Pergamon, Sardis and Klazomenai, and centers of international tourism such as Kuşadası, Çeşme, Mordoğan and Foça”.
Architecture
“Standing on Mount Yamanlar, the tomb of Tantalus was excavated by Charles Texier in 1835 and is an example of the historic traces in the region prior to the Hellenistic Age, along with those found in nearby Kemalpaşa and Mount Sipylus. The Agora of Smyrna is well preserved, and is arranged into the Agora Open Air Museum of İzmir”.
“One of the more pronounced elements of İzmir's harbor is the Clock Tower, a marble tower in the middle of the Konak district, standing 25 m (82 ft) in height. It was designed by Levantine French architect Raymond Charles Père in 1901 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the ascension of Abdülhamid II to the Ottoman throne in 1876”.
Shopping
Foods and drinks
“Some of the common dishes found here are the tarhana soup (made from dried yoghurt and tomatoes), "İzmir" köfte, sulu köfte, keşkek (boiled wheat with meat), zerde (sweetened rice with saffron) and mücver (made from zucchine and eggs). A Sephardic contribution to the Turkish cuisine, boyoz and lokma are pastries associated with İzmir. Kumru is a special kind of sandwich that is associated particularly with the Çeşme district and features cheese and tomato in its basics, with sucuk also added sometimes”
History special, stop 3A in Ephesus
via Izmir, approx. 1 hour drive time
“Ephesus was an ancient Greek city on the coast of Ionia, three kilometres southwest of present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built in the 10th century BC on the site of the former Arzawan capital by Attic and Ionian Greek colonists. During the Classical Greek era it was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League. The city flourished after it came under the control of the Roman Republic in 129 BC. The city was famed for the nearby Temple of Artemis (completed around 550 BC), one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.[6] Among many other monumental buildings are the Library of Celsus, and a theatre capable of holding 25,000 spectators”.
Fourth stop: Denizli
via Ephesus, approx. 2 hours 30 minutes drive time
“Known as Pamukkale (Cotton Castle) or ancient Hierapolis (Holy City), this area has been drawing the weary to its thermal springs since the time of Classical antiquity. The Turkish name refers to the surface of the shimmering, snow-white limestone, shaped over millennia by calcium-rich springs. Dripping slowly down the vast mountainside, mineral-rich waters foam and collect in terraces, spilling over cascades of stalactites into milky pools below. Legend has it that the formations are solidified cotton (the area's principal crop) that giants left out to dry”.
Architecture
“Hierapolis was an ancient Greek city located on hot springs in classical Phrygia in southwestern Anatolia. Its ruins are adjacent to modern Pamukkale in Turkey and currently comprise an archaeological museum designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The site has the Tomb of Philip the Apostle”.
“The Seljuq caravanserai Akhan, which is 6 km (4 mi) from Denizli City on the Ankara highway, and a great part of which still remains, was constructed by Karasungur bin Abdullah in 1253-54 when he was acting as the commander of Ladik”.
Food and drinks
“The nearby village of Goncalı, which is on the railway line, is another excursion. People come to eat the charcoal-grilled thinly-cut kebab called çöp şiş, preferably with the local süzme yoghurt and a glass of rakı”.
Fifth stop: Eskişehir
via Pamukkale, approx. 3 hours 30 minutes drive time
“The city has a significant population of Turkic Crimean Tatars. It also attracted ethnic Turks emigrating from Balkan countries such as Bulgaria, Romania, Bosnia, Macedonia and the Sandžak region of Serbia, who contributed to the development of the city's metalworking industries. Eskişehir also hosted the inaugural Turkvision Song Contest in 2013, which aims to highlight music and artists from various Turkic-speaking regions. The city is also home to the Dünya Müzeleri Müzesi or Museum of World Museums.
Other museums in the city are Eti Archaeology Museum, Aviation Museum, Meerschaum Museum, Museum of Independence, Museum of Modern Glass Art, Tayfun Talipoğlu Typewriter Museum, Yılmaz Büyükerşen Wax Museum and the Odunpazarı Modern Museum”.
Architecture
Architectural style of Odunpazari houses, which is developed peculiar to the local geographical circumstances, also carries the characteristics of traditional Turkish housing architecture. Not only individual structures but also harmony of the houses with each other and with their surroundings is a remarkable aspect within the site. Alongside with the architectural characteristics of a certain period observed in Odunpazari, social and cultural values of the period are represented in the side. In addition, materials, techniques and workmanship used in Odunpazari houses are the components of a technology which is not used today.
History special: Midas Monument
“Yazılıkaya is a village in Eskişehir Province, Turkey known for its Phrygian archaeological remains and inscription mentioning Midas. The ancient remains are sometimes called the Midas Monument or Midas City and were formerly identified as the tomb of Midas”.
Sixth stop: Ankara
via Eskişehir, approx. 2 hours 45 minutes drive time
“Ankara is a very old city with various Hittite, Phrygian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman archaeological sites. The historical centre of town is a rocky hill rising 150 m (500 ft) over the left bank of the Ankara Çayı, a tributary of the Sakarya River, the ancient Sangarius. The hill remains crowned by the ruins of the old citadel. Although few of its outworks have survived, there are well-preserved examples of Roman and Ottoman architecture throughout the city, the most remarkable being the 20 bc Temple of Augustus and Rome that boasts the Monumentum Ancyranum, the inscription recording the Res Gestae Divi Augusti”.
Architecture
“The foundations of the Ankara castle and citadel were laid by the Galatians on a prominent lava outcrop (39.941°N 32.864°E), and the rest was completed by the Romans. The Byzantines and Seljuks further made restorations and additions. The area around and inside the citadel, being the oldest part of Ankara, contains many fine examples of traditional architecture. There are also recreational areas to relax. Many restored traditional Turkish houses inside the citadel area have found new life as restaurants, serving local cuisine”.
“Yeni Mosque is the largest Ottoman mosque in Ankara and was built by the famous architect Sinan in the 16th century. The mimber (pulpit) and mihrap (prayer niche) are of white marble, and the mosque itself is of Ankara stone, an example of very fine workmanship.”
Shopping
“Foreign visitors to Ankara usually like to visit the old shops in Çıkrıkçılar Yokuşu (Weavers' Road) near Ulus, where myriad things ranging from traditional fabrics, hand-woven carpets and leather products can be found at bargain prices. Bakırcılar Çarşısı (Bazaar of Coppersmiths) is particularly popular, and many interesting items, not just of copper, can be found here like jewelry, carpets, costumes, antiques and embroidery. Up the hill to the castle gate, there are many shops selling a huge and fresh collection of spices, dried fruits, nuts, and other produce”.
Extras
“Anıtkabir is located on an imposing hill, which forms the Anıttepe quarter of the city, where the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of the Republic of Turkey, stands. An adjacent museum houses a wax statue of Atatürk, his writings, letters and personal items, as well as an exhibition of photographs recording important moments in his life and during the establishment of the Republic.
The Presidential Library is the largest library in Turkey, with a collection of over 4 million books in 134 different languages, and 120 million articles and reports.
