12 Things I Most Love about Turkey

I first landed in Istanbul, Turkey in early February, 2020, more than 20 years into my ongoing full-time world travels. Within just a few days, Istanbul had already become one of my favorite cities in the world.

After one month of exploring fascinating Istanbul, I set out to traveled around the country. It wasn’t long before Turkey became one of my favorite countries.

A couple months later I got ‘stuck’ at Turkey’s gorgeous Mediterranean coast in Antalya city, due to Covid-19 lock-downs. I ended up ‘stuck’ there for several months.

That was perfectly fine with me. In fact, I’ll wager I enjoyed one of the most wonderful corona-pandemic-world lives possible.

In total, I ended up spending more than seven months in Turkey (waaayyy beyond my allowed 90-day visa) because of the pandemic. I eventually set out in mid September, 2020 to nearby Croatia and Bosnia.

This year, when it turned out that I basically needed to wait out the pandemic yet again, I quickly opted to return to Antalya. And here I am!

All told, there must be dozens and dozens of reasons I love Turkey so much. But following are the primary reasons I think Turkey is just divine…

1. Stunning & Diverse Nature

Turkey’s natural places are absolutely stunning. And many of them are unique to Turkey.

For example, in central Turkey, Cappadocia is filled with spectacular canyons, each with a different color of stone cliff walls. There are tall, bizarre rock pinacles, cave homes carved into cliffs, carved nooks for pidgeons and ancient underground cities.

Turkey’s Mediterranean coast has vibrant turquioise-colored water, soaring cliffs, rock pinacles, long coastlines backed by rough jagged mountains, dozens of beautiful beaches, narrow fjord-like bays and other dramatic geological land features.

And these are just two examples of Turkey’s amazing geography. There are heaps more around the vast nation.

2. Intriguing & Diverse Historic Architecture

The vast country of Turkey has been ruled by Turks since the 1100s AD. First there were the Seljuk Turks up to the mid 1400s. Then the great Ottoman Empire ruled from then until the turn of the 20^th century. Then it became the Republic of Turkey under the leadership of the country’s beloved ruler Attaturk.

All over the country there are beautiful historic Ottoman towns & neighborhoods. Istanbul also has plenty of gorgeous 19^th & 20^th century grand European architecture, thanks to Attaturk’s love of everything European.

But way before the Turks arrived, this region was settled by humans since the Neanderthal times, hundreds of thousands of years BC. There are archeaological remains of Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Chacolithic & Bronze Age civilizations.

In more ‘modern’ times (starting several centuries BC) many diverse empires ruled the region. Most prominent were the Lycians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, early Christians and Byzantines.

Many areas of Turkey have important archaeological sites, ancient ruins and intact historic buildings left behind by these various cultures.

Needless to say, Turkey offers a staggering diversity of historic architecture and archeaological sites.

3. Inexpensive Living

Like many countries in the world, Turkey can be as expensive or as cheap as visitors want it to be. At the luxury end, many astounding 5-star hotels, Michelin-listed restaurants and designer stores are plentiful throughout the country.

But Turkey is also quite an easy & affordable destination for budget travelers, like me. I’ve been able to live & travel around Turkey for about $450-550 US per month, which is actually less expensive than SE Asia or Central America!

Last year I wrote in detail about my travel costs during low season and also during high season in Turkey. I’ve found that food, accommodation and public transportation are all quite inexpensive. Many entry fees are quite low and there are heaps of free things to do all over the country.

Turkey’s low costs make it a very easy country to enjoy a comfortable lifestyle while visiting beautiful natural places, gorgeous historic towns and exciting cities.

4. Street Cats

Probably everyone knows by now that I absolutely love cats. And Turkey must be the very best country in the world for cat lovers!

Turkey has plenty of healthy, friendly street cats roaming around the parks and streets of most towns & cities. And I’ve never seen any country take care of its street animals like the Turks!

Not only do the residents hand out food & water on a daily basis, but they also build cat houses in parks, on sidewalks, in front of homes & apartment buildings, complete with blankets and cushions. I kid you not.

City parks also legally protect the animals in their parks and officially set up food & water stations for them.

No doubt as a result of this wonderful, kind care, most cats in Turkey are extremely friendly with people. And this is fantastic for me. Nearly every day I go visit my favorite cats in various parks, where I often sit & pet them while they purr in my lap.

5. Warm, friendly, hospitable polite people

Turks are famous for their warm hospitality. Their graciousness is extended not only to personal guests visiting family homes but also to visitors to restaurants, cafes, Turkish spas and, of course, hotels. Staff tend to be warm, friendly and personable while also remaining professional.

Many Turks tend to be a bit shy and very polite. Surprisingly few speak English, but they’ll usually do their best to help out, even coming up with other ways to do so, such as using an online translator or calling a nearby friend or colleague to assist.

6. Safe and theft-free

Islam has a huge taboo against theft. As a result, most predominantly Muslim countries are virtually theft-free. And Turkey is one of those countries where you rarely have to concern yourself with the safety of your possessions, let alone your personal safety.

That, I find, helps create a very relaxed, stress-free daily life and travels.

7. Lokantas

Turkey’s lokantas are cafeteria-style restaurants, where a variety of cooked dishes and side dishes are set on display behind large glass counters. Customers pass along, pointing out their choices and servers place it all on a plate and hand it over.

Proceed to the cashier for payment, choose a table, sit down and dig in.

These are my favorite kind of restaurants, no matter which country I’m in. They are fast, easy and delicious. Lokantas are found in most Turkish cities & towns.

8. Turkish Delights

Turkey has many different kinds of delicious desserts, including the more famous baklava. Baklava, of course, is made in many countries in this region.

But Turkish Delight is something unique to Turkey (though Bosnians also make it, due to 400 years of Ottoman Turk rule). It’s hard to describe, especially since I don’t actually know what it’s made of, not to mention that there are many different varieties. I’ll give it my best shot…

The base substance is quite similar to jelly beans – a firm but chewy gel-like substance that comes in several bright colors, particularly red, green and yellow. Then there are chopped nuts, usually either walnuts or pistachios, that the sweets are rolled in or else layered with.

Some delights include milky-white nugget instead of the gel base or in addition to it. Some delights have rose petal bits or other unknown-to-me flavorful ingredients.

Turkish Delights are very colorful, quite sweet and surprisingly addictive. They taste especially divine with tea.

9. Nut Shops

Fresh nut shops are a real treat in Turkey. They’re found all over the place and are usually quite small boutique-like shops with glass cases full of every variety of nut and seed.

Many nuts come either raw or roasted and are usually priced per kg. For 10 Turkish lira (about $1.50 US) you can get a decent, palm-sized bag of cashews, pistachios, almonds or other gourmet nuts. They cost much less than in most countries of the world.

I love Turkey’s fresh & roasted nuts so much that they’ve become my breakfast of choice, along with a selection of fresh fruit, a hunk of freshly-baked bread and a chunk of cheese.

10. Fresh Produce

Turkey must have some of the most flavorful fresh fruits & vegetables that I’ve eaten anywhere in the world!

Plenty of small independent fruit & vegetable shops are found all over most towns & cities. Prices are low and most of the produce is grown in Turkey. Depending on the location, they’re often grown nearby.

11. Delicious & inexpensive bakeries

Small bakeries selling a great selection of fresh daily-baked breads are found all over Turkey’s towns & cities. There’s usually a choice of various European-type loaf breads as well as Mediterranean-style flat breads on offer.
Even better, the breads are surprisingly inexpensive. One of my favorites is this big, light loaf that I purchase warm from the oven most mornings and costs a meager 1.5 Turkish lira / about 20 cents US!

12. No Loud Music

Although Turks tend to talk loudly, they are generally not in the habit of playing music loudly. In fact, I rarely hear music playing anywhere, at any volume.

When walking around in public, nearly all Turkish people use headphones to listen to music. Same goes when they’re riding public transportation.

But I generally don’t actually see Turks playing/listening to music at all in public. Instead, they’re usually talking amongst each other, whether that’s at a park in a restaurant or cafe, at the beach or elsewhere. (Maybe it’s because they’re so busy chatting that they don’t like to have music playing).

In any event, I most definitely appreciate not having to deal with loud music on public transportation; at stores, restaurants & cafes; at parks or beaches.

There are some countries in the world where I’ve felt subjected to never-ending loud music no matter where I go. And that makes me feel rather aggro, especially over a long period of time.

Turkey’s not one of those countries. Thankfully, public spaces are more or less music free. At least the places I frequent.

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You might also enjoy:

My 10 Best Experiences on Turkey’s Turquoise Coast 

Introduction to Beautiful Fetiye – Turkey

Why Istanbul is a Very Easy Travel Destination

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