Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
dervish sect, better known as the
Whirling Dervishes
because of
their unusual dance routine. The
dance is performed during the
week-long event. The
Dervish
Lodge
and a fascinating museum,
the
Mevlana Museum
, are open
to the public (see p. 217).
December. Mevlana Museum,
Selimiye Caddesi, Konya.
b
+90 332
351 12 15.
and play with the animals (see
p. 212), the
Ankara Üniversietsi
Toy Museum
which has a lovely
collection of toys spanning many
decades (see p. 216), and the
Ethnography Museum
where
visitors can see Turkish handi-
crafts and costumes (see p. 217).
Ankara has a number of parks
that are ideal for families too,
such as the
Youth Park
, or
Gençlik Parkı
, and
Altinpark
(see
p. 211, p. 212) and some fascinat-
ing mosques, its Roman baths
and statues to see.
Main Tourist Areas
Ankara
Ankara
lies on the site of what is
believed to have been a Bronze
Age settlement and later an
ancient Hittite city, known as
Ancrya. In Roman and Ottoman
times it was an important trading
centre, but it was only in the
1920s that it became the capital
of the country. Atatürk, on
founding the Republic of Turkey,
decided Ankara afforded the best
strategic location for governing
the country, and made it the capi-
tal. He instigated a programme to
transform the city into a thor-
oughly modern political and com-
mercial centre of the country. His
plans included modern buildings,
palaces, a state-of-the-art road
infrastructure, vast parkland areas
and smart boulevards. He also
founded a number of museums.
Today, among the best for
children are the outstanding
Museum of Anatolian
Civilizations
(see p. 219), which
is fascinating, although maybe
more suited to older children.
There's also the
Atatürk Farm
and Zoo
where children can see
Cappadocia
Cappadocia is a region in central
Anatolia that has one of the most
extraordinary landscapes imagi-
nable. Known as the 'Fairy
Chimneys' (see p. 209), the huge
rock formations cover a massive
area. According to research, they
were created millions of years ago
when the volcanoes of Erciyes,
Göllüda
g
and Hasanda
g
i
erupted. The resulting layers of
lava and soft tufa, which were
said to be some 100m thick in
places, have been worn away by
the elements to create tall rock
formations, many the shape of
high mushrooms. The scale in
terms of height and land cover of
the rock formations is astonish-
ing. Cappadocia, which com-
prises the towns and villages of
Ürgüp
,
Göreme
,
Derinkuyu
,
Avanos
,
Ihlara
,
Kaymakli
and
Üçhisar
, and takes in the valleys
of
Pancarlik
,
Ke@lik
,
Devrent
and
Soganli
, also has numerous
underground cities that once
205
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