Turkey is a dazzling destination to visit because they packed it with the most beautiful and unique leftover ancient monuments from several conquerors. It is filled with showcase scenery that one cannot impress. It has a vibrant culture, famous food, and vast history to make the visitors go wow. Its glorious landscapes from the sun-soaked Mediterranean to the mighty mountains and arid steppe are highlights in themselves.
Turkey is filled with many kinds of tourists attractions such as you can go for the historical Byzantine and Ottoman glories of Istanbul, delve into history wandering through ruins such as Ephesus, enjoy the beautiful beaches, or see some of the world’s most surreal panoramas in Pamukkale and Cappadocia, this country looks like a beautiful gallery to visit. For more information, read my page to go through some beautiful must-visit places in Turkey.
Hagia Sophia
The most famous and spellbinding place to visit in Turkey is the Byzantine glory of the Hagia Sophia in the city of Istanbul. It is renowned as one of the most beautiful buildings in the world. It is not only one of the top things to do in Istanbul, but also in Turkey. The delicate minarets rim the staggering bulk of its exterior added after the Ottoman conquest, while the sumptuous and cavernous frescoed interior is a grand reminder of old Constantinople’s might and power. This extraordinary monument is a must-visit for every tourist visiting the country.
Ephesus
Another must-visit place in Turkey is the mighty ruin of Ephesus. It is an ancient city in Turkey’s Central Aegean region, near modern-day Selçuk. It is one of the most complete and still-standing Roman cities in the Mediterranean region. The remains of this amazing monument reflect what life could have been from classical Greece to the Roman Empire. They built the Temple of Hadrian before 138 A.D. for Emperor Hadrian’s visit.
Before visiting, plan your trip so that you miss nothing and you don’t feel rushed. If you want to explore, then a sightseeing trip here will take at least half a day to cover the major highlights and longer.
Cappadocia
Cappadocia is an extremely beautiful place with surreal, swooping rock valleys, tall fairy chimneys, cone-shaped rock formations clustered in Monks Valley, Göreme, and elsewhere. Cliff ridges and hill crests are home to rippling panoramas of wave-like rock or wacky-shaped pinnacles that millennia of wind and water action have formed. This is one of the world’s top destinations to take a hot-air balloon ride. This place is also nestled where valleys are the frescoed rock-cut churches of the Byzantine era when this area was an important ancient Christian site.
Topkapi Palace
Sumptuous beyond belief, The Topkapi Palace, also means Cannon Gate Palace. It once served as the chief residence and administrative headquarters of the powerful sultans of the Ottoman Empire during the 15th century. They started to build Topkapı Palace in 1460 after the conquer of Constantinople by Fatih Sultan Mehmed and completed in the year 1478. Topkapı Palace is in between Golden Horn and Bosphorus on the 700.000 square meters area which is in the peninsula of Istanbul. The Topkapi Palace was walled off from the city to provide security and privacy itself. This gorgeous building was being used by so many important people ranging from Fatih Sultan Mehmet to Sultan Abdulmecid for 400 years long.
They used Topkapı Palace as a museum after the announcement of the Republic of Turkey, which is on 3 April 1924. Another important feature of Topkapı Palace is that it is the first museum of the Turkish Republic. The Topkapi Palace takes you into the fantastical, opulent world of the sultans. It was from here that the sultans of the Ottoman Era carved out an empire that would extend up into Europe and down through the Middle East and into Africa.
The interiors of this extraordinarily beautiful palace are known for decadently exuberant tiling and lavish jeweled decor. it is an unforgettable peek into the Ottoman power base. The surrounding public gardens were once the sole domain of the Royal Court but were now open to the public and provided a tranquil, green respite from the city streets.
Pamukkale
One of Turkey’s most famous natural wonders, the pure white travertine terraces of Pamukkale (“Cotton Castle” in English). It is a dramatic hillside location comprising hot springs and travertine terraces. This stunning natural phenomenon of Pamukkale has been used as a spa for thousands of years.
It is approximately 400,000 years ago, modern Asia Minor experienced a series of devastating earthquakes. This resulted in the shifting in the valley of the Menderes River (historically the Maeander or Meander) and caused the thermal waters to lash out to the surface. The hot springs which were created, because of this phenomenon, flowed down to the surface of the plateau with incredible speeds (hundreds of liters per second). While these flowed, they simultaneously evaporated in the sun, thus resulting in the formation of travertine terraces and fancy slopes, which were filled with turquoise water. Because the water was saturated with carbonated calcium, the sediments, when solidified, resulted in the formation of white crystalline surfaces, terraces, stalactites, and pools.
Pamukkale (pronounced pah-mook-kah-leh) is called the cotton castle by the literal translation of the word ‘Pamukkale’ in Turkish. The Turks call it the cotton castle because of the similarities that these white mountain slopes have with the cotton plantations that are cultivated in central Turkey. It cascades down the slope, looking like an out-of-place snowfield amid the green landscape. Although the travertines are themselves a highlight of a Turkey trip, the vast and rambling ruins of Roman Hierapolis, an ancient spa town, lie on the top of this calcite hill, providing another reason to visit.
Sumela Monastery
The Sumela Monastery is a Greek Orthodox monastery dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It is on Melá Mountain within the Pontic Mountains in the Trabzon Province in northeast modern-day Turkey. They built it in the 4th century and the monastery is one of the oldest monasteries in the Christian world. Although it is no longer in a Christian country.
The Sumela Monastery is sitting at the foot of a cliff facing the Altindere Valley in Maçka, in the Trabzon province. We know it to locals as ‘Meryem Ana‘ (The Virgin Mary). The origins of its name are uncertain. Some sources say it comes from ‘Melas,’ which means black, or from the mountains on which it stands, called the Karabağlar (Black Mountains). Other experts believe the name comes from the black color of the icon of the Virgin Mary, a likely hypothesis, as a Black Madonna in the region is a very common sight.
They build it with its stunning and lonely setting into a cliff face. Sumela Monastery (Monastery of the Virgin Mary) is the star attraction for visitors along the Black Sea Coast. This place is wandering around this abandoned religious complex. Its church interiors crammed with dazzling and vibrant frescoes are a must for anyone who makes the long journey to Turkey’s northeast region.
The monastery first opened during the Byzantine era and was only closed in 1923. Today, wandering its empty cells, it’s easy to imagine the isolated lives of the monks who once lived here.
Mount Nemrut
Mount Nemrut, is one of the strongest attractions in the historical region, which is known as the Eighth Wonder of the World with its 2000-year-old giant statues of gods.
It belongs to the Hellenistic period in ancient Anatolia, Mount Nemrut houses the most majestic place of worship. According to the inscriptions, Antiochus I (69-34 BC) had a monumental tomb, a tumulus of cut stones over the tomb, and terraces along the three edges of the tumulus built to show his gratitude to the gods and his ancestors.
It is the top sightseeing drawcard for Eastern Turkey. Mount Nemrut’s summit funerary mound and is scattered with the broken remnants of once mammoth statues, which guarded it. This weird and lonely place has to be one of Turkey’s most peculiar archaeological sites. These giant stone heads of long-forgotten gods stare out from the summit, casting an eerie atmosphere over the barren mountaintop. The best time to come is at sunrise, so you can watch the statues as they loom out of the dark.
Ani
It is on the eastern border of Turkey, across the Akhuryan River from Armenia. It lies in the empty, crumbling site of the once-great metropolis of Ani, known as “the city of a thousand and one churches.” It was founded over 1,600 years ago. Ani was on several trade routes and grew to become a walled city of over 100,000 residents by the 11th century. Byzantine emperors conquered ani and the surrounding region hundreds of times, Ottoman Turks, Armenians, nomadic Kurds, Georgians, and Russians claimed and reclaimed the area, repeatedly attacking and chasing out residents, in the centuries that followed. By the 1300s, Ani was in steep decline, and the 1700s completely abandoned it. Rediscovered and romanticized in the 19th century, the city and had a moment of fame, only to be closed off by World War I and the later events of the Armenian Genocide that left the region an empty, militarised no-man's-land. The ruins crumbled at the hands of many looters, vandals, Turks who tried to eliminate Armenian history from the area, clumsy archaeological digs, well-intentioned people who made poor attempts at restoration, and Mother Nature herself. Restrictions on travel to Ani have eased in the past decade, allowing the following photos to be taken.
The derelict buildings of the powerful Silk Road city of Ani sit abandoned on the plains close to Turkey’s modern border with Armenia. The beautiful red-brick buildings still crumbling away amid the steppe grass have a mesmerizing effect on all who visit. Don’t miss the Church of the Redeemer or the Church of St. Gregory, with their elaborate stone masonry and fresco remnants still visible.
Aspendos
Aspendos’ theatre is one of the largest ever built by the Romans in Asia Minor. Today, it is one of the best-preserved examples of Roman theatre architecture. They built the theatre in the 2nd century AD during Marcus Aurelius’ reign in the lower town area of the site. The mammoth seating plan could fit an audience of between 15,000 and 20,000. It has been thoroughly restored and is now used for music and drama festivals, including Turkey’s famous annual Aspendos Opera Festival.
It has a semi-circular auditorium, divided into two sections by a broad passage halfway up, has 20 tiers of seating, with 10 staircases in the lower half and 19 tiers with 21 staircases in the upper part. Round the top runs a barrel-vaulted colonnade.
At either end of the stage are vaulted passages giving access to the orchestra. Slender double columns articulated the two-story stage wall with Ionic capitals on the lower order and Corinthian capitals on the upper one. The double-column flanking the central entrance to the stage had a commonly broken pediment. The stage itself had a wooden roof suspended by ropes, and the auditorium, too, was probably covered by an awning.
Pergamum
The Roman Greeks have built many beautiful buildings, which are now the ruins of modern-day Turkey. One of the most beautiful and romantically placed as ancient Pergamum in modern-day Bergama. Pergamon or Pergamum, which was also referred to by its modern Greek form Pergamos. It was a rich and most powerful Greek city. It is located 26 kilometers from the modern coastline of the Aegean Sea, which is on a promontory on the north side of the river Caicus and northwest of the modern city of Bergama, Turkey. It was once home to the ancient world's most important libraries. Its remains lie dramatically on a hilltop of the remaining of Pergamum. This is a great place to visit because it has an incredibly atmospheric place with an Acropolis area and a theatre cut into the hillside with sweeping panoramic views from its top seating tiers.
Antalya
Antalya is one beautiful place to visit when you are visiting Turkey. They filled this city with fun, adventure, and much more. It is also a resort city with a yacht-filled Old Harbour and beaches flanked by large hotels. This fun-filled place has something for everyone. The two beaches outside of town are sun-sloth heaven in summer and attract holidaymakers from across Europe. You can experience the thrills of a quad bike tour on a ride through the magnificent and ever-changing dunes of the Taurus Mountains, or you can enjoy a full day at Pamukkale. You can also start your day with a Viking boat tour on the beautiful bays of Kemer or you can go on a 2-hour drive to the Koprulu Canyon National Park for a wonderful adventurous experience of canyoning, rafting, and zip line adventure. You can also go for Kemer's full-day scuba diving adventure of the waters off Turkey’s southern Mediterranean coast which provides an excellent opportunity for an underwater adventure. Sandy beaches, soaring mountains, and picturesque waterfalls surround Antalya. You can also enjoy a 2-hour session at a Turkish bath (Hamam) in Antalya and experience a traditional cleansing and relaxation method.
Safranbolu
Safranbolu is a beautiful place that lies in the Black Sea region of northern Turkey. It was once a stop to trade between Europe and the Orient. Its beautiful Ottoman architect includes the old Çarşı district, with hundreds of preserved, red-roofed Ottoman houses on cobblestone streets. Safranbolu comprises three distinct historic districts; the marketplace area of the inner city, known as Çukur, the area of Kıranköy, and Bağlar (the Vineyards). Its layout shows the organic growth of the town in response to economic expansion. Safranbolu is a brief detour off the usual tourist routes but is well worth the visit – it might even end up being the highlight of your trip. Saffron is cultured commonly in Safranbolu province in Turkey and annually 30 kg of saffron spices are produced in Turkey. You can stroll along Safranbolu’s cobbled streets and visit its graceful, well-preserved half-timbered houses, many of which have huge water pools in them to cool the air on warm summer days.
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