Recommended Reading Introduction Check your Midnight Express stereotypes at the door and come in to this rapidly modernising country with one foot in Europe and one in the Middle East. It's not all oriental splendour, mystery, intrigue and whirling dervishes but it is a spicy maelstrom of history knocking up against the present, the present bursting out all over the place, and the future peering back at the posse.
Turkey is a blend unto itself.
It's also a great country to visit. The Turks are mostly overwhelmingly friendly to foreign visitors, the cuisine is frequently excellent, the cities are dotted with majestic old buildings and the countryside is often worth a good old-fashioned gasp. There's an enormous variety of things to see and do ranging from water sports to mountain trekking, archaeology to night-clubbing and river rafting to raki drinking. Whether you leave Turkey with magnificent carpets, amulets to ward off evil, belly-dancing tips, an appreciation of its history, or just a tan, you're likely to want to go back for more. UK and US citizens do need visas, obtainable in advance at a Turkish consulate, or upon entry to Turkey.