Turkey

Facts

1. It has one of the worlds

oldest and biggest malls.

Istanbuls Grand Bazaar, or Kapal ar, dates

to 1455 and was established shortly after the
Ottoman conquest of Constantinople. Over the
centuries it has grown into a warren of 61
streets lined by more than 3,000 shops and
currently occupies a nearly incomprehensible
333,000 square feet. Youll never possibly be
able to explore it all, but that doesnt keep
people from trying according to Travel +
Leisure, the Grand Bazaar was the worlds #1
attraction in 2014, drawing over 91 million
people.

1. It has one of the worlds

oldest and biggest malls.

2. You might find chicken in

your dessert.

The signature Ottoman treat is tavuk gs, or

chicken breast pudding. Its a strange blend of
boiled chicken, milk, and sugar, dusted with
cinnamon. And its delicious. Look for it on
menus across the country.

2. You might find chicken in

your dessert.

3. Turkey is packed with

cultural heritage.

In fact, there are 13 spots in Turkey inscribed

on UNESCOs list of World Heritage Sites, and
a whopping 62 on the tentative list. They
range from a Mesolithic temple (Gbekli Tepe)
to a Biblical city (Ephesus) to a World War One
battlefield (Gallipoli), and help make Turkey
the sixth most-visited tourist destination in the
world

3. Turkey is packed with

cultural heritage.

4. Santa Claus is from Turkey.

Saint Nicholas was born far from the North

Pole, in Patara. And hes not the only saint
with connections to Turkey the Virgin Marys
resting place could be near Ephesus, while
Saint Paul was from Tarsus in the south. Other
Biblical figures include the Prophet Abraham,
born in anlurfa. And after the deluge, Noah
may have run his ark aground at Mount
Ararat.

4. Santa Claus is from Turkey.

5. One of the Mediterraneans

primary sea turtle nesting
beaches is here.

ztuzu Beach, just west of Fethiye, is a major

breeding ground for the endangered loggerhead sea
turtle. The turtles arrive between May and October,
climbing ashore at the exact site of their birth to lay
a new generation of eggs. The beach sees around
300 nests dug each year, and government
regulations have succeeded in balancing tourism
with the need to protect and conserve this precious
natural resource. Just down the coast, Patara is the
longest beach on the Mediterranean (12 miles of
pristine white sand dunes).

5. One of the Mediterraneans

primary sea turtle nesting
beaches is here.

6. Turkey gifted tulips to the

world

Its uncertain where the first tulips were

grown, but what is known is that the Ottomans
popularized the flower and facilitated their
introduction to Europe. A simultaneous
export? Tulipmania. The seeds of the worlds
first speculative bubble were sown when a
Flemish ambassador to the 16th-century court
of Sleyman the Magnificent brought back the
bulbous flowers to Holland. Other commodities
for which Europe owes a debt of gratitude to
Turkey are coffee and cherries.

6. Turkey gifted tulips to the

world

7. More than 130 peaks

reach over 9,800 feet (3,000
meters).

Dont let the balmy coastal climate fool you.

Turkey is home to spectacular mountain
ranges, and wintertime visitors can hit the
slopes at nearly a dozen resorts. Palandken,
in the eastern province of Erzurum, is Turkeys
highest at 10,200 feet (3,125 meters) and
claims Europes longest natural ski run.

7. More than 130 peaks

reach over 9,800 feet (3,000
meters).

8. Istanbul has one of

Europes most exciting art
scenes.

The edgy Istanbul Biennial, now in its 14th

edition, is a must-see for the international art
crowd, and with more than 300,000 visitors in
2013, it ranks among the top contemporary
art shows in the world. In 2015 the show
occupied 30 venues on both sides of the
Bosphorus.

8. Istanbul has one of

Europes most exciting art
scenes.

9. You can cross continents

underground.

Istanbul may be Europes largest city, but half

of it actually extends into Asia. More than a
century after a sultan dreamed of a rail link
beneath the Bosphorus Strait, Turkey opened
the Marmaray metro line in 2013. The former
imperial city is also home to the Tnel, a short
funicular thats the second-oldest continuously
running underground railway after Londons.

9. You can cross continents

underground.

10. The seeds of agriculture

were first sown in Turkey.

Historians believe agriculture began in these

lands some 11,000 years ago. At sites like
atalhyk, in south-central Turkey, theres
evidence that the residents of this proto-city
added crops like wheat and barley to their
diet, and wild grasses genetically identical to
those first domesticated grains still grow in
southeastern Turkey. Even today, the country
is the worlds 10th-biggest grain producer.

10. The seeds of agriculture

were first sown in Turkey.

11. Its home to some of the

most important sites in
Christendom.

Turkeys population may be 99% Muslim, but these

lands draw tens of thousands of Christian pilgrims each
year. The Ecumenical Patriarch, spiritual leader of the
worlds 300 million Orthodox, lives in Istanbul, a vestige
of the Byzantine Empire. The grotto dug by the Apostle
Peter in Antioch was the first Christian house of worship,
while a 1st-century patriarchal church is said to have
been located underground in todays unprepossessing
Istanbul district of Fndkl. Istanbul is also home to the
1,500-year-old Hagia Sophia cathedral, now a museum.
And the Armenian Apostolic Church was founded 1,700
years ago in whats today the city of Kayseri.

11. Its home to some of the

most important sites in
Christendom.

12. Oil wrestling is the

national sport.

The spectacle of two bulky men stripped to

the waist, doused with olive oil, and grappling
under the hot Thracian sun is a 654-year-old
sporting tradition and sight to behold. Camel
wrestling tournaments, held throughout the
Aegean region in the winter, and bull wrestling
near the Black Sea, are also popular.

12. Oil wrestling is the

national sport.

13. People were building

temples here back in the huntergatherer era.

Prior to the mid-1990s, it was assumed that

large-scale human constructions werent
undertaken until early peoples mastered
agriculture
and
established
permanent
settlements. But then the archaeological site
of Gbekli Tepe was discovered in southern
Turkey,
with
evidence
of
monumental
construction taking place at least 2,000 years
before the accepted timeframe of the
agricultural revolution. Building at Gbekli
Tepe also predated the inventions of pottery,
written language, and the wheel.

13. People were building

temples here back in the huntergatherer era.

14. Turkeys film industry is

booming.

When director Nuri Bilge Ceylans Winter Sleep

won the Palme dOr at the Cannes Film
Festival in 2014, it crowned a decade-long
revival in Turkish cinema thats seen
productions rise five-fold to about 100 films
per year. Turkey is one of the few countries
where domestic films rake in more at the box
office than Hollywoods offerings, and its
movies and television series are a major softpower export in the Middle East

14. Turkeys film industry is

booming.

15. A new type of plant is

discovered every 10 days.

And Turkeys 10,000 plant and 80,000 animal

species help rank the country among the
worlds 35 biodiversity hotspots. Twitchers can
visit more than a half-dozen bird sanctuaries
for sightings of some of the countrys 475
aves, or 5% of the global variety. Its a great
place for flower lovers, too see highlights
like the native Fritillaria imperialis, above.

15. A new type of plant is

discovered every 10 days.

16. Turkey really is the center

of the world.

You can fly to just about everywhere from

Istanbul Atatrk Airport, thanks to flag carrier
Turkish
Airlines
260-and-counting
destinations. A modern fleet of aircraft served
by kid-friendly crew has helped the fastgrowing airline win Best Airline in Europe for
four years running.

16. Turkey really is the center

of the world.

17. Despite appearances,

Turkish is surprisingly easy to
learn.

The
tongue-twisting,
70-letter
Muvaffakiyetsizletiriciletiriveremeyebileceklerimi
zdenmisinizcesine, or as if you are from those
we may not be able to easily make a maker of
unsuccessful ones, is thought to be the longest
word in Turkish, an agglutinative tongue whose
dialects are spoken across a swath of Asia all the
way to western China. Yet Turkish is pretty easy to
pick up, following a language reform in the 1920s
that simplified the vocabulary and moved from the
Arabic script to the Latin alphabet.


Muvaffakiyetsizletiriciletiriv
eremeyebileceklerimizdenmi
sinizcesine.

Or as if you are from those we

may not be able to easily make a
maker of unsuccessful ones

17. Despite appearances,

Turkish is surprisingly easy to
learn.