Turkey, known officially as the Republic of Turkey, is an Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe.

Ephesus was an ancient Greek city, and later a major Roman city, on the west coast of Asia Minor, near present-day Selcuk. It had a population of more than 250,000 in the 1st century BC, which also made it the second largest city in the world. Today, the ruins of Ephesus are a major tourist attraction, especially for travelers on Mediterranean cruises.

The city was famed for the Temple of Artemis (completed around 550 BC), one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The temple was destroyed in 401 AD by a mob and was again partially destroyed by an earthquake in 614 AD.

Pamukkale, meaning “cotton castle” in Turkish, is a natural site in Denizli Province in southwestern Turkey. The city contains hot springs and travertines, terraces of carbonate minerals left by the flowing water. It is located in Turkey’s Inner Aegean region, in the River Menderes valley, which has a temperate climate for most of the year.

Pamukkale, an unusual natural and historical site with the sparkling white castle -like cascades, Pamukkale is one of the most important highlights of Turkey, unique in the world. The dazzling white calcareous castles are formed by limestone-laden thermal springs, creating the unbelievable formation of stalactites, potholes and cataracts.

Pamukkale has been a spa since the Romans built the spa city of Hierapolis around a sacred warm-water spring. The Sacred Pool is still there, littered with marble columns from the Roman Temple of Apollo. You can swim in it for a fee.Tourism is and has been a major industry. People have bathed in its pools for thousands of years. As recently as the mid-20th century, hotels were built over the ruins of Heropolis, causing considerable damage.

Cappadocia is a miraculous wonder of nature as wind and rain have eroded the brittle volcanic rock and formed rock cones, capped pinnacles and fretted ravines in colors that range from warm reds and golds to cool greens and grays. In the Valley of the Fairy Chimneys huge boulders balance precariously atop spindly cones of volcanic tuff.

The most famous sight in the region, Goreme National Park, is one of those rare places where the works of humans blend unobtrusively into natural surroundings; labyrinthine underground cities like Derinkuyu and Kaymakli were carved into soft volcanic stone over 1,000 years ago.

Nemrut is a 2,134 m (7,001 ft) high mountain in southeastern Turkey, notable for the summit where a number of large statues is erected around what is assumed to be a royal tomb from the 1st century BCE.

The mountain lies 40 km (25 mi) north of Kahta, near Adıyaman. In 62 BC, King Antiochus I Theos of Commagene built on the mountain top a tomb-sanctuary flanked by huge statues (30 ft high) of himself, two lions, two eagles and various Greek, Armenian, and Iranian gods.

The heads of the statues have at some stage been removed from their bodies, and they are now scattered throughout the site.



Fethiye is a city and district in the Aegean region of Turkey. Modern Fethiye is located on the site of Telmessos, the most important city of Lycia, with a recorded history starting in the 5th century BC.

Fethiye is one of Turkey’s well-known tourist centres and is especially popular during the summer.

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