Hattusa, capital of the Hittite Empire

21 February 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks, UNESCO World Heritage, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  7 minutes

One of the first peace treaties of the world, between Hattushili III of Hatti and Ramesses II of Egypt © deror avi

One of the first peace treaties of the world, between Hattushili III of Hatti and Ramesses II of Egypt © deror avi

Hattusa was the capital of the Hittite Empire in the late Bronze Age. Its ruins lie near modern Boğazkale, Turkey, within the great loop of the Kızılırmak River. Hattusa was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1986.   read more…

Kuşadası on the Aegean Sea

14 November 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  5 minutes

Kuşadası © Vikimach/cc-by-3.0

Kuşadası © Vikimach/cc-by-3.0

Kuşadası is a resort town on Turkey’s Aegean coast and the center of the seaside district of the same name in Aydın Province. Kuşadası lies at a distance of 95 km (59 mi) to the south from the region’s largest metropolitan center of İzmir, and 71 km (44 mi) from the provincial seat of Aydın situated inland. Its primary industry is tourism. The district neighbours on the northeast to Germencik district, on the southeast to Söke district, on the west to the Aegean Sea, and on the north to Selçuk district.   read more…

Theme Week Turkish Riviera – Çeşme

22 August 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  7 minutes

Çeşme © Brecht/cc-by-sa-2.5

Çeşme © Brecht/cc-by-sa-2.5

Çeşme is a coastal town and the administrative centre of the district of the same name in Turkey’s westernmost end, on a promontory on the tip of the peninsula which also carries the same name and which extends inland to form a whole with the wider Karaburun Peninsula. It is a popular holiday resort and the district center, where two thirds of the district population is concentrated. Çeşme is located 85 km west of İzmir, the largest metropolitan center in Turkey’s Aegean Region. There is a six-lane highway connecting the two cities (Otoyol 32). Çeşme district has two neighboring districts, Karaburun to the north and Urla to the east, both of which are also part of İzmir Province. The name “Çeşme” means “fountain” and possibly draws reference from the many Ottoman fountains scattered across the city.   read more…

Theme Week Turkey – İzmir on the Aegean Sea

23 May 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  9 minutes

İzmir Coastline © flickr.com - Yılmaz Uğurlu/cc-by-sa-2.0

İzmir Coastline © flickr.com – Yılmaz Uğurlu/cc-by-sa-2.0

İzmir is a large metropolis in the western extremity of Anatolia and the third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. İzmir’s metropolitan area extends along the outlying waters of the Gulf of İzmir and inland to the north across Gediz River‘s delta, to the east along an alluvial plain created by several small streams and to a slightly more rugged terrain in the south. The ancient city was known as Smyrna, and the city was generally referred to as Smyrna in English, until the Turkish Postal Service Law of 28 March 1930 made “İzmir” the internationally recognized name. İzmir has almost 3,500 years of recorded urban history and possibly even longer as an advanced human settlement. Lying on an advantageous location at the head of a gulf running down in a deep indentation midway on the western Anatolian coast, the city has been one of the principal mercantile cities of the Mediterranean Sea for much of its history. Its port is Turkey’s primary port for exports in terms of the freight handled and its free zone, a Turkish-U.S. joint-venture established in 1990, is the leader among the twenty in Turkey.   read more…

Ankara, the beginning of modern Turkey

19 April 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  5 minutes

Turkish Parliament Building © T.C. Büyük Millet Meclisi

Turkish Parliament Building © T.C. Büyük Millet Meclisi

Ankara (historically known with the names Ancyra and Angora) is the capital of Turkey since the Ottoman Empire‘s fall in 1923 and the country’s second largest city, Istanbul being the largest. The city of Ankara has a population of 4,340,000 and its metropolitan municipality 4,960,000.   read more…

Istanbul Sapphire

1 January 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, House of the Month, Shopping, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  4 minutes

© Mimar77/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Mimar77/cc-by-sa-3.0

Istanbul Sapphire is a skyscraper, and as of 2011, the tallest building in Istanbul and Turkey, located in the central business district of Levent. It is the 7th tallest building in Europe. It is the country’s first ecological skyscraper. Sapphire rises 54 floors above ground level, and boasts an above-ground roof height of 238 meters. It is a shopping and luxury residence mixed-use project by Biskon Construction (a subsidiary of the Kiler Group of Companies.)   read more…

Marmaray: A tunnel connects Europe with Asia

13 November 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  6 minutes

Marmaray Project © R1410/cc-by-sa-3.0

Marmaray Project © R1410/cc-by-sa-3.0

Marmaray is a rail transport project in the Turkish city of Istanbul. It comprises an undersea rail tunnel under the Bosphorus strait, and the modernization of existing suburban railway lines along the Sea of Marmara from Halkalı on the European side to Gebze on the Asian side. The procurement of new rolling stock for suburban passenger traffic is also part of the project. Construction started in 2004, with an initial target opening date of April 2009. After multiple delays due to historical finds, the first phase of the project opened on October 29, 2013.   read more…

Theme Week Turkish Riviera – Gullet, the motor glider of the Turkish Riviera

23 August 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Tall ships, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  6 minutes

Gulet type schooners near Bodrum © Georges Jansoone/cc-by-sa-3.0

Gulet type schooners near Bodrum © Georges Jansoone/cc-by-sa-3.0

A gulet is a traditional design of a two-masted or three-masted wooden sailing vessel (the most common design has two masts) from the southwestern coast of Turkey, particularly built in the coastal towns of Bodrum and Marmaris; although similar vessels can be found all around the eastern Mediterranean. Today, this type of vessel, varying in size from 14 to 35 metres, is popular for tourist charters. For considerations of crew economy, diesel power is now almost universally used and many are not properly rigged for sailing.   read more…

Theme Week Turkish Riviera – Bodrum on the Gulf of Gökova

5 August 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  6 minutes

Castle of St. Peter in Bodrum © flickr.com - Robin & Bazylek/cc-by-2.0

Castle of St. Peter in Bodrum © flickr.com – Robin & Bazylek/cc-by-2.0

Bodrum is a district and a port city in Muğla Province, in the southwestern Aegean Region of Turkey. it has a population of 36,000 inhabitants. It is located on the southern coast of Bodrum Peninsula, at a point that checks the entry into the Gulf of Gökova, and is also the center of the eponymous district. The city was called Halicarnassus of Caria in ancient times and was famous for housing the Mausoleum of Mausolus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Bodrum Castle, built by the Crusaders in the 15th century, overlooks the harbour and the marina. The castle grounds include a Museum of Underwater Archeology and hosts several cultural festivals throughout the year. The Greek Island of Kos can be reached within 30 minutes by ship. Bodrum has an active tourist economy.   read more…

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