Türkiye, Turkey (Turkiye)

Cities, towns, and villages

• Ankara (Ancyra) — is the capital of Turkey, central within the country on the plateau of Central Anatolia. It's a sprawling modern place around an ancient citadel, second in size to Istanbul.
• Antalya (Attalia) — is a city in Pamphylia on the Turkish Mediterranean coast, and the chief resort of the "Turkish Riviera". It's a the fifth largest city in the country.
• Bodrum (Halicarnassus) — is a fascinating place as it has a pleasing contrast between the Ancient city - where there are discernable fragments everywhere in the town -and a playground for rich Turks and an array of foreign visitors. It is one of the centres of the Turkish Tourist industry and is the market town for the Bodrum Peninsula, featuring a citadel, Roman ruins, and a number of villages surrounding the peninsula each with a different character from classy to rustic.
• Bursa (Prousa) — is a large city in the Southern Marmara region of Turkey, 20 km inland from the Marmara coast. It's the country's fourth-largest city. It's mostly modern, industrial and concrete-ridden; earning its living from textiles, agricultural produce and the automobile industry. However, it has a lot to offer for history buffs as the first capital of the Ottoman Empire and one of the end destinations of the Silk Road. It is crowded with historic mosques, tombs, caravanserais, bazaars and parks, in addition to being one of the best food cities in Western Turkey. In 2014, Bursa along with the nearby village of Cumalıkızık was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List. The city serves as a gateway to the iconic forests and ski slopes of Mount Uludağ.
• Edirne (Adrianople) — is the chief city of Eastern Thrace, in the Marmara Region of northwest Turkey. It lies on the gently rolling Thracian plains (much of the city is fairly flat, though) at the confluence of three rivers, close to the borders with Greece and Bulgaria. Most visitors crossing those borders drive straight on east, or stay on the bus or train, to reach Istanbul. Yet Edirne was for a time the capital of the Ottoman Empire, and continued to be an imperial retreat, adorned with magnificent mosques. It's definitely among the top sights of Turkey.
• Istanbul (Constantinople) — Turkey's largest city, the former capital of both the Ottoman and Byzantine Empires, is the only city in the world that straddles two continents, Europe and Asia, separated by the Bosphorus Strait. This unique location has shaped its rich cultural heritage and made it a vibrant crossroads of civilizations throughout history.
• Izmir (Smyrna) — Turkey's third-largest city
• Konya (Iconium) — a quite large city that is the heartland of the mystic Sufi order, the site of Rumi's tomb, and with some elegant Seljuq architecture, all surrounded by vast steppes
• Trabzon (Trebizond) — the wonderful Sümela Monastery is just outside the city and it is a great gateway to exploring the Turkish Northeast
• Urfa (Edessa) — a magical city with beautiful architecture and extremely friendly locals at the gates of the Eastern World; where Turkish, Kurdish, Arabic and Persian cultures mingle
• Diyarbakır (Diyarbakir) — Turkey's 9th largest city with the world's second largest walls, ancient sites, and is one of the major cities of Southeastern Anatolia.
• Cappadocia (Kapadokya) — an area in the central highlands best known for its unique moon-like landscape (the "fairy chimneys"), underground cities, cave churches and houses carved in the rocks.

Grand BazaarThe Grand Bazaar in Istanbul is one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world, with 61 covered streets and over 4,000 shops on a total area of 30,700 m2, attracting between 250,000 and 400,000 visitors daily. In 2014, it was listed No.1 among the world's most-visited tourist attractions with 91,250,000 annual visitors. The Grand Bazaar at Istanbul is often regarded as one of the first shopping malls of the world.