Turkey

Turkey is the rare country that belongs to two continents at once. Straddling the Bosphorus strait, with one foot in Europe and one in Asia, it has spent millennia as a meeting point of trade routes, faiths and empires. The result is a place of astonishing depth — where Greek and Roman ruins stand beside Byzantine churches and soaring Ottoman mosques, and where the call to prayer drifts over markets that have hummed for five hundred years.

Istanbul is the obvious place to begin. Once Constantinople, capital of two great empires, it is a city of layered wonders: the vast dome of Hagia Sophia, the cascading domes and slender minarets of the great mosques, the labyrinth of the Grand Bazaar, and ferries criss-crossing the water between continents. Beyond the city, Turkey opens into landscapes of pure imagination — the surreal "fairy chimneys" and cave dwellings of Cappadocia, the white travertine terraces of Pamukkale, and the warm, pine-fringed turquoise coast of the Aegean and Mediterranean.

What stays with most travelers, though, is the warmth of the welcome. Turkish hospitality is genuine and generous; you will rarely sit long before a small glass of tea, or çay, appears, poured strong and sweet from a tulip-shaped glass. Conversation is an art, the food is exceptional, and the pace invites you to slow down and savour it all.

The best months are spring and autumn — April to May and September to October — when temperatures are comfortable for both city sightseeing and coastal exploring, and the famous sites are pleasant rather than punishing. Summers are hot, especially inland; winters can be cold but bring a quiet, atmospheric beauty to Istanbul and Cappadocia.