Favorite Turkish cities

[NovaKart]

Here's the place to vote for your favorite city in Turkey.

I chose the top 25 cities and then I did some editing to the list since some of those cities were places that not many people visit and are not that interesting. I also took Batman off the list since too many people would vote for it just because of the name. I added cities that are popular with tourists or kind of unique. I expect Istanbul will win but it should be interesting to see which other cities do well. I also didn't use Turkish fonts because I thought it might not show up correctly in the poll. You can vote for multiple cities.

- I just noticed the poll says what's your favorite Turkish cities, which is grammatically incorrect but just overlook it.

 

[Lillefix]

I suggest you remove istanbul from that list

 

[Tee Kay]

Selanik.

...

I voted Istanbul though.


Link to video.


Also, I thought Edrine was one of the larger cities.

 

[kronic]

Ì'm missing Berlin in the list.

 

[NovaKart]

Edirne is pretty small but it was the capital of the Ottoman Empire for a short time and the sultans liked to hang out there even afterwards which I guess is why it's the 2nd or 3rd city for the Ottomans in Civ4.

 

[Arwon]

I voted for Antalya. I had a very good time there.

 

[Ajidica]

Never been to any city in Turkey, but I've always wanted to go to Istanbul.

 

[Save_Ferris]

Istanbul, the only city on two continents!

 

[Dachs]

Istanbul, the only city on two continents!

Atyrau and Orenberg also qualify :<

OP: Bodrum?

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Constantinople is an interesting city.

 

[NovaKart]

I really liked Erzurum, it's a neat little city surrounded by mountains with some interesting Seljuk architecture. I was there in April and there was still snow in the mountains. It also has plenty of nice public drinking fountains. The old kind with the metal cup attached with a chain.

This is the entrance to the old medreseh in Erzurum, I really like Seljuk architecture more than Ottoman:

Spoiler :

This is the back of the building which looks Armenian inspired, the old tombs are all built like this in Erzurum, and this was above a tomb in the back of the medreseh.

Spoiler :

Mardin, where I'm at now, has a fascinating old city. It's a really unique city for how well preserved it's old architecture is. Unfortunately I live in the new city which is just typical Eastern Anatolian concrete boxes.

Most of old Mardin has stone buildings like this:

Spoiler :

There's lots of old passageways and stairs, it's neat but kind of hard to find anything:

Spoiler :

I don't get up there often enough being occupied with work and lazy when I'm not. The mosques are very different in style, the old ones dating from some local Turkish rulers and not Ottoman.

This one is actually a medreseh but no longer in use, it's a cafe now. I haven't come across a single old medreseh in Turkey that's still in use

Spoiler :

I was surprised in &#350;&#305;rnak to see cows wandering around in the streets. There are plenty of goats and donkeys here in Mardin but you don't see livestock just walking around by themselves. I didn't put &#350;&#305;rnak on the list because of course no one's going to vote for &#350;&#305;rnak as their favorite Turkish city and how many people have even heard of it.

Diyarbakir has some massive city walls, I didn't get a chance to see much else besides the city walls unfortunately. I hope to make it over there again one of these days, it's not far from Mardin.

Spoiler :

Best part about the walls, you can walk on them, but there are often dodgy people loitering about and drinking and maybe some other stuff so you want to be a bit cautious taking photos and not go there at night.

I haven't been nearly as many places in western Turkey, I've never been to Antalya, Marmaris or even Izmir.

 

[Tee Kay]

Edirne is pretty small but it was the capital of the Ottoman Empire for a short time and the sultans liked to hang out there even afterwards which I guess is why it's the 2nd or 3rd city for the Ottomans in Civ4.

Wiki says Edirne has a larger population than Bodrum.

 

[Truthy]

Never been but I would like to go.

 

[NovaKart]

I didn't include Edirne on the thread because there just aren't that many people who visit it except for the K&#305;rkp&#305;nar festival. Bodrum is a lot more popular with tourists. There's a big mosque in Edirne built by Mimar Sinan but other than that I'm not aware of much more of interest for tourists unless they're into Turkish wrestling and I doubt many people on this forum are. The poll doesn't take population into account, otherwise you would see Adapazar&#305; and Eski&#351;ehir on the list and how many foreign visitors go there? I'm the only member here living in Turkey at the moment who posts in off topic as far as I know.

 

[madviking]

ISTANBUL! OF COURSE!

i

 

[wolfigor]

Unfortunately I did not visit any other town than Istanbul, so I don't think I'm qualified to vote (until I can see a little bit more of the country).

At least Istanbul looks really nice, relatively modern, and a nice place to stay for a little while.
I was there just yesterday for a business trip and meeting a friend that now lives there.

According to her the country is really nice, but being an attractive and independent woman leads to problems with the local population (at least having a diplomatic passport helps with the rather abusive authorities).

 

[Squonk]

Istanbul - obviously the best choice, but it's ages since I've visited it
Ankara - haven't visited
Izmir - only passed through
Bursa haven't visited
Adana - I recall it has the most modern looking centre out of the eastern cities. Nice old bridge, nice old church/mosque etc, and there were some nice streets with orange trees planted by their side, but the hotel I've been to was quite bad, and I had to get through a giant fields of mud to get to bus station with minibuses to upper cilician cities, so it sort of spoiled the impression for me.
Gaziantep - haven't visited
Konya - I recall many historical buildings, some very very fine, as well as nice trams, but the place between the historical monuments was filled with disappointing buildings. And the hotels were expensive. etc.
Antalya - haven't visited.
Kayseri - haven't visited
Mersin - haven't visited
Diyarbakir - it has touristic potential, there are nice buildings, but it looked extremly neglected and shabby, especially the quarter outside the biggest city walls' tower. I haven't seen such neglected place anywhere in Turkey, even poorer part of Pasinler looked better.
Sanliurfa - I remember it as a - for the regional standarts at least - very tidy city. A nice park close to the citadel. probably the best place to stay at in the east.
Samsun - haven't visited
Malatya - ditto
Erzurum - I rushed through it in a hurry, so not much memories. A very nice medresa, well-located tourist information (on the way from bus station to the centre). All the main historical monuments are located by the same road or close to it, so it doesn't take much time to visit it.
Van - the city itself is fine, albeit boring. The citadel is very nice, though. The hotels were cheap.
Sivas - haven't visited, which is a shame, because I had a friend who invited me there.
Manisa - haven't been there
Trabzon - because of the rain and the ex-churches and city walls built of graphitte-coloured rock, it looked a bit depressing, but I liked the city centre, actually. it looked more european and very much more lively than all the other cities in the east. Adana is more lively, probably, but I liked Trabzon better.
Marmaris - hv
Bodrum - hv
Mardin - haven't spent much time in it. It was quite nice, but I didn't find there all that many places to see. The city is nicely located, but I recall much walking.
Fethiye - hv
Canakkale - hv
Iznik - hv

 

[Babbler]

I vote for Athens.