Perhaps the Black Sea Coast and Eastern Turkey?Gordion - city of Midas Hattusas - the fascinating city of the Hittites
Amasya - atmosphere, and Ottoman house along the Yesilimak river.
Samsun - and other cities along the Black Sea
Trabzon - the great Sumela Monastery, the Aya Sophia, the mountain Lake Uzungol and it's wonderful trout streams and the dinners of course.
Aydir - mountain spa town and its Swiss Mountain atmosphere. Great warm springs.
Rise - where the tea is processed, the tea institute and the mountain towns and the people who grow it.
Erzarum - driving over the mountains to this city of wonderful mosques and medreses of the Selcuk Turks.
Kars - ancient capital of Armenia, right on the border, wonderful ruins of Armenian churches destroyed by the Mongols, ghosts of the past everywhere.
Dogubeyazit - at the Iranian (Persian) border, Noah's Ark, Mount Ararat, and the photographer's dream, the palace of Isak Pasa.
Van - on Lake Van the magnificent turquoise blue lake, the Castle of Van of the Urarturians, the Kurdish castle of Hosap and the ancient Urarturian city of Cavustepe and a city of markets and bazaars.
Diyarbakir - the fabulous walls of basault built by Constantine and still surrounding this city. a very ancient mosque unlike any other in Turkey, the desert city of Mardin and the famous fifth century Zafaran Monastery.
Sanli Urfa - in Mesopotamia and the city of Abraham with the cave where legend says he was born, the carp pool and beautiful parks, the ruins of the city of Harran on the Syrian border with its beehive mud houses looking as they did when Rachel was here.
Ataturk Dam - on the Euphrates River
Nemrut Dag - six thousand feet up in the mountains is this fabulous ruin seen at twilight with its immense statues.
Gaziantep - "saved" mosaics from old cities flooded by the dam, with modern markets and a lovely museum on the Euphrates River.
Antakya or Antioch - where the term "Christian" was first coined, a city of mosques and churches, a famed mosaic museum, the cave church of St. Peter
Karatepe - wonderful Hittite ruin and reminder of Hattusas.
Where will you go? In western Turkey?
Istanbul - The magic city on two continents, with the Blue Mosque, Aya Sophia, Topkapi Palace, the Bosphorus, the Golden Horn, Rumeli Fortress, the Grand Bazaar, the Spice bazaar, the mosaics of the Kariye Museum.
Ankara - The modern capital, Ataturk Memorial, The Museum of Anatolian Civilization (one of the greatest museums in the world)
Cappadocia - A wonderland of sculptured rock, ancient monasteries, underground cities, awesome scenery and balloon rides at dawn. Underground pottery workshops and night clubs as well as weaving demonstrations.
Konya - Whirling dervishes, the tomb of the great mystic and poet, Jelaluddin Rumi. The gold bazaar, tile museum and treasured mosques.
Antalia - Jewel of the south coast, the old city enclosed in the old walls, the ruins of Perge, Aspendos, Termessos, coastal sailing on fabulous gulet to visit ancient cities like Olympus and Phaesalis.
Selcuk -Along the way and close by are Aphrodisias, Ephesus, the church and tomb of St. John, and the house of the Virgin Mary, the great temple of the Apollo at Didyma and the cities of Priene and Miletus.
Izmir - The seaport once called Smyrna, Alexander's castle, Pergamum and the Galen's Askeplion.
Ayvelik - A resort town on the Aegean Sea, beaches, pools and all that.
Cannakale - Troy! The war sites of Gallipoli and the Dardenelles.
Bursa - City of gardens, the Ottoman tombs and their incredible tile decorations, the Koza Han site of the famed silk bazaar and wonderful markets.
Iznik or Nicea - Walled city of Constantine's great conference, its lovely museum and gardens.
