Turkey [antikvár]

Turkey - Land of Many Faces From the shimmering Aegean in the west to the remote slopes of Mount Ararat in the east, Turkey's enormous variety of landscape is matched only by its rich historical and cultural heritage. Astride the watery border between Europe and Asia, east and west, Turkey has always been a major player in world history. In Turkey, Alexander the Great defeated the Persians. Through Turkey, St Paul spread the Christian word. And after the division of the Roman Empire, Constantinople was the centre of civilisation for 1,000 years. Sights ancient and modern are dotted the length and breadth of the country, providing constant reminders of the events witnessed here - of the civilisations that came and went, and of those that came and stayed. To travel through Turkey is to travel through time, from the Stone Age in Central Anatolia to the Bronze Age in Troy; from the heights of Greek and Roman civilisation at Perga-mon and Ephesus to the depths of 7th-century undergound cities in Capaddocia. And, more recently, Islam, whose magnificent mosques and palaces dominate the skyline of Turkey's cities. Atattirk brought the 20th century to Turkey, but the past is ever present, making this giant country a fascinating place to explore. Position and landscape The huge Asia Minor peninsula represents by far the largest part of Turkish territory. Only the triangle of eastern Thrace - a region about the same size as Wales - lies on the western side of the Bosphorus. Anatolian Turkey covers an area roughly the same as France. Turkey is washed by the sea on three sides. The coasts are typically an abrupt juxtaposition of mountain and sea. Only a narrow strip of land separates the Black Sea from a mountain chain which in places rises to a height of nearly 4,000m (13,000ft). Similarly, in the south, the Taurus Mountains abut the Mediterranean, where fertile alluvial plains are found only at the mouths of the rivers near Antalya and further east around Adana. R0MSN In eastern Anatolia, the two mountain ranges meet. Extinct volcanoes, such as Mount Ararat (5,137m/ 16,850ft), dominate the landscape. The waters of Lake Van are trapped in the mountains with all natural drainage channels blocked by lava flows. In southeastern Anatolia the highlands run down to the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and to the plain in the south which extends across into Syria. North of the Taurus, the highlands of central Anatolia (800-1,300m/2,600-4,250ft) are crossed by mountain ranges and watercourses. Over to the