Ankara

Central Anatolia, Turkey 1 tours visit here

Ankara is the capital of Turkey and, after Istanbul, its largest city, set on the Central Anatolian plateau at about 900 metres. Known in antiquity as Ancyra, it began as a Phrygian settlement and later served as capital of the Roman province of Galatia. It became the seat of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk's national movement in 1920 and capital of the republic in 1923, and remains a planned administrative capital. Anitkabir, Ataturk's mausoleum, stands on a hill above the modern centre: a ceremonial avenue, a colonnaded courtyard with a changing of the guard, and a museum on the War of Independence. In the old quarter of Ulus, the hilltop citadel of Ankara Castle overlooks lanes of restored timber houses; below it the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, in a converted Ottoman covered market, holds a renowned Hittite collection and finds from Catalhoyuk. The Roman baths and the Temple of Augustus, with its Res Gestae inscription, stand nearby. Ankara is usually covered in a single day, often as a stop between Istanbul and Cappadocia, since it is the hub of the national road and high-speed rail network. Plateau winters are cold and snowy, summers hot and dry; spring and autumn are mildest.