Turkey is a nation straddling Eastern Europe and Western Asia with cultural connections to ancient Greek, Persian, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman empires.

Cosmopolitan Istanbul, on the Bosphorous Strait, is home to the iconic Hagia Sophia, with its soaring dome and Christian mosaics, the massive 17th Century Blue Mosque and the circa-1460 Topkapi Palace; former home of sultans. Ankara is Turkey’s modern capital.