Aegean Turkey

A land of beautiful vistas over the sea, lovely evening breezes, and majestic sunsets, Aegean Turkey (Turkish: Ege Bölgesi) is the western part of the country, including the Aegean Sea coast across from a wide arch of Greek islands and the adjoining inland areas.

Map of Aegean Turkey

• 38.4127327.138381 Izmir — Turkey’s third biggest city is a busy harbour and the unofficial capital of the region
• 39.49055626.3366672 Assos — a pleasant village with preserved traditional buildings and the impressive Temple of Athena overlooking the sea
• 39.31666726.73 Ayvalık — a beautiful town with a distinctive Eastern Mediterranean architecture
• 39.11915427.177734 Bergama — the extensive ruins of ancient Pergamon are a must-see
• 37.03439927.4306515 Bodrum — a trendy resort known for its Templar-built castle and parties going wild
• 38.3016226.37396 Çeşme — a historic town and beach resort on a peninsula stretching far west
• 36.72833327.6869447 Datça — an unspoilt town; the nearby ancient city of Knidos forms the boundary between the Aegean and the Mediterranean
• 37.78333329.0963898 Denizli — an inland city serving as a hub to Pamukkale, and nearby ancient sites
• 37.8632427.2668739 Kuşadası — a busy resort town with an island citadel; its port welcomes the Mediterranean cruises

• 37.70833328.7236111 Aphrodisias are the great ruins of an ancient city founded in honour of the goddess of love.
• 37.66892827.1617562 Dilek Peninsula National Park is perhaps the wildest stretch of land on the Turkish Aegean coast, with lush forests, hiking trails and desolate beaches.
• 37.93972227.3486113 Ephesus is the best preserved of the ancient cities in Turkey, and once the capital of Roman Asia Minor.
• 37.921229.12354 Pamukkale the "cotton castle" is a white world of travertines.
• 37.53427.2745 Priene, Miletus and Didyma are a trio of ancient Greek ruins.
• 38.48833328.0402786 Sardis is the ruins of the capital of the Lydians, the inventors of "money", backed by craggy Mount Tmolos.

The Aegean coast of Turkey is lined by a succession of modern cities with palm-lined avenues and liberal attitudes, towns with old quarters that are filled with elegant turn of the 20th century neo-classical architecture, and ruins of what were once major powers of the Mediterranean in ancient times; all backed by fertile valleys and hills, the sides of which are dotted with picturesque villages and large oliveyards, which help Turkey achieve being one of the biggest producers of olive oil in the world. It's little wonder that much of ancient art and philosophy—from Aristotle to Homer, many were citizens of cities along this coast—was developed in this land of wine and honey, which has a favourable climate year round.

During the Roman era, Aegean Turkey and the neighbouring parts of Central Anatolia constituted the Province of Asia (hence "the Seven Churches of Asia", see below). The name of the province was later extended to include all of the continent that lies to the east.

The climate is Mediterranean, and often very typically so; hot, dry summers (around 30-35°C during the day, 1-2 days of rain a month), warm transitional seasons, and mild, wet winters (around 10-15°C during the day, 8-16 days of rain a month). There is still some climatic variance within the region, however. Cities further inland have chillier winters, with some possibility of snow; while also contending with summers featuring daytime temperature averages over 35°C.

Turkish is obviously the main language, but English and German are widely understood in tourist facilities.

And see also Istanbul to Izmir, a series of itineraries via historic sites such as Gallipoli and Troy.

By plane: the region’s airports are Izmir (ADB ^IATA), Bodrum (BJV ^IATA) and Dalaman (DLM ^IATA). Frequent flights from Istanbul (IST) take an hour, plus daily from Istanbul (SAW), less often from other Turkish cities. All of them in summer have flights from Europe, principally Britain, Germany and Russia: these are package-tours but offer flight-only tickets.

By road: The main highways are fast, divided and in good repair. Mountain roads may be narrow and twisty, and treacherous in winter weather.

Buses from Istanbul to Izmir depart hourly round the clock and take 8 hours, and buses converge on Izmir from Ankara, Konya and other major cities. So anywhere on these radial routes has a good service. Dolmuşes fill in the cross-country gaps, though they don’t always publish timetables, or even recognise the concept.

By train: the mountains are a major barrier to railways here. One daytime and one overnight train creak and groan from Ankara via Eskisehir (both on the high-speed line from Istanbul) to Izmir. You can also cross the Marmara Sea by ferry from Istanbul to Bandırma to connect with these trains at Balıkesir. An overnight train from Konya (also on the high-speed line) runs via Afyon and Manisa to Izmir. A regional train runs twice a day from Isparta to Izmir.

By boat: Several Greek islands are close to the Turkish mainland and have ferry links: Lesvos to Ayvalik, Chios to Çeşme, Samos to Kuşadası, and Kos to Datça and Bodrum. These connect into the extensive Greek ferry network, so you can island-hop all the way from Piraeus the port for Athens.

Ancient cities: almost any town here has a 3000-year history, recounted in its municipal museum. By far the best are Ephesus and Pergamon, with other impressive sites at Assos, Miletus and Didyma. What you see today reflects a spate of Roman construction around 200 AD over earlier foundations: the state buildings and palaces at the core of a trading metropolis. (You’ll have to imagine the welter of smaller surrounding buildings that disappeared, and the port that dried up and caused the site to be abandoned.) Away from the big-name sites are dotted individual temples, gateways and colonnades, either popping up incongruously amidst a busy modern city, or out in the fields inhabited only by goats.

Medieval architecture is scarce in this region: it fell victim to earthquakes, to the Greco-Turkish War of 1919-1922, and above all to property developers with a boundless supply of concrete. The village of Birgi southeast of Izmir is one charming survival. Mosques have fared better as they were repaired or rebuilt. An interesting example is the İsa Bey Mosque in Selçuk, built in the interregnum between Seljuk and Ottoman styles.

Neo-classical buildings are much more common, as the coastal towns were prettified by Greek and Armenian merchants, and their mansions were left intact. Ayvalık, Foça, Alaçatı, and Çeşme are good examples.

Castles and citadels occupy multiple defensive positions, and many were kept in good repair as barracks or prisons into modern times. The best are at Bodrum, Kuşadası, Çeşme and picturesque Çandarlı. They can feel touristy, but off-the-beaten-path is Babakale, guarding the westernmost tip of the Asian mainland.

Seven Churches of Asia reflect Aegean Turkey’s role in early Christianity. They’re recorded in the Bible’s Revelation of St John (Chapters 1-3), written around 90 AD by John of Patmos. The seven were Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamon, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea, and at that date were probably just congregations or communities. It’s not known when they acquired dedicated buildings – churches – for religious assembly, but an early step was to adapt pagan temples. (Thus the underground worship of Mithras morphed into the crypt or “undercroft” of present-day churches.) Christian temples were built when that became the Roman official religion from 380 AD, and those of Pergamon, Ephesus and Philadelphia still have visible ruins. The other sites are lost, with no sign of “the number of the Beast 666” or “mother of harlots and abominations” or John’s other rantings and ravings, but at least the “no temple therein” (chapter 22: 22) was one prophecy he got right.

Beaches are mostly rocky or pebble, though with a few sandy stretches near Bodrum. That makes them better for watersports such as windsurfing than for sun-lounging and bathing. The larger resorts have scuba-diving centres: these waters are good for training and novice divers, there's nothing demanding.

Geothermal waters: the stand-out is Pamukkale, where the flow has created a cascade of white travertine pools, with the ruins of a Roman city above. At Ilıca hot springs emerge into the sea. Many towns have hamams – traditional Turkish baths – or hotel spas, but these use conventional heated water not geothermal sources.

The only available cuisines are Turkish and Turkish-lite, the sort of East Med staples that package tourists from Darlington or Düsseldorf won't jib at. There's almost no other cuisine (such as Chinese), even in Bodrum the biggest resort.

Tap water is safe to drink.

Cafes and restaurants serve alcohol, but only the biggest resorts have free-standing bars.

This region grows plenty of grapes but most are sultana variety, to be dried into raisins. However some wine is produced, mostly around Denizli. It's full-flavoured red and great for chasing down a kebab, Turkey doesn't have defined wine regions.

Rakı is the Turkish national drink.

The Aegean coast was frantically developed from the 1980s when it came within easy flying time of north Europe. This means a rash of hotels and apartments of similar quality, and not much by way of campsites and independent pansiyons. The north Aegean resorts are more geared to domestic tourism while the centre and south get the bulk of international visitors.

• Mediterranean Turkey starts from Bodrum and stretches east all the way through Antalya to Adana. Much of the coast is rocky until Antalya, then comes a long sandy stretch that makes it prime tourist territory.
• Southern Marmara to the north has a historic coastline, including ancient Troy.
• East Aegean Islands, reached by a short ferry ride, are part of Greece. The largest are Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Ikaria and Fourni.