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Somewhere between the cracks in the Hittite ruins, the fissures in the Phyrgian burial mounds and the scratches in the Seljuk caravanserais, the mythical, mighty Turks raced across this highland steppe with big ideas and bigger swords. Alexander the Great cut that eponymous knot in Gordion where King Midas displayed his deft golden touch. Julius Caesar came, saw and conquered, and in Konya, the whirling dervishes first spun. This central sweep of Turkey was also where Atatürk forged his secular revolution along dusty Roman roads that all lead to Ankara; an underrated capital city and geopolitical centre. Further north through the nation's fruit bowl, in Safranbolu and Amasya, 'Ottomania' is still in full swing; here wealthy weekenders come to capture a glimmer of a bygone age amid bendy-beamed mansions. Central Anatolia is the meeting point between the fabled past and the present – a sojourn here will enlighten and enchant.
These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout Central Anatolia.
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The best place in the country to get to grips with the complex weave of Turkey's history, the exhibits here house artefacts cherry-picked from just about every significant archaeological site in Anatolia. The central hall houses reliefs and statuary, while the surrounding halls take you on a journey of staggering history from Neolithic and Chalcolithic, through the Bronze Age Assyrian and Hittite eras, to the Iron Age's Phrygian and Urartian periods.
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The real joy of Safranbolu is simply wandering the cobblestone alleys. Everywhere you look in Eski Çarşı (Safranbolu's old town) is a feast for the eyes. Virtually every house in the neighbourhood is an original, and what little modern development there is has been held in check. Many of the finest historic houses have been restored, and as time goes on, more and more are being saved from deterioration and turned into hotels, shops or museums.
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Excellent information boards provide a thorough grounding in both Hittite history and culture while the pieces on display – all unearthed at Hattuşa – have been thoughtfully and artistically curated to aid visitor understanding. The pride of the collection are the two original sphinx statues that once stood guard at Hattuşa's Sphinx gate, atop the fortified mound above the postern gate of Yer Kapı. They were only returned to Boğazkale in 2011, having previously been on display in Berlin and İstanbul.
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Amid rolling hills and fertile fields, the hamlet of Kasaba, 17km northwest of Kastamonu, is a pretty but unlikely place to find one of Turkey's finest surviving wooden mosques. Dating to 1366, the interior of Mahmud Bey Cami is a feast of intricate craftwork with painted wooden columns, a wooden gallery and finely painted ceiling rafters. You can climb some rough ladders to the gallery's third storey for closer views of the ornate beam-ends and interlocking motifs topping the pillars.
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Tokat's impressive museum is housed within the beautifully restored Arastalı Bedesten (covered market). The collection packs in intricately decorated Bronze Age and Hittite artefacts, Phrygian ceramics, Hellenic jewellery, Roman tombs, and icons and relics from Tokat's churches (including a Greek Orthodox representation of John the Baptist with his head on a platter), all with plenty of English information to help you make sense of the vast amount of history on display here. It's easily one of central Anatolia's best museums.
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Tokat's historic neighbourhood of slouching Ottoman houses, nestled at the foot of the castle hill, hides this gem of a mosque with floral motifs crawling up the arched stone columns and a colourful painted wood-panel ceiling in dazzling orange and blue. To find it, take the lane off GOP Bulvarı just before the Taş Han and head up the hill.
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For Muslims and non-Muslims alike, the main reason to come to Konya is to visit this former lodge of the whirling dervishes and home to the tomb of Celaleddin Rumi (later known as Mevlâna), who we have to thank for giving the world the whirling dervishes. This is one of the biggest pilgrimage centres in Turkey, and the building's fluted dome of turquoise tiles is one of Turkey's most distinctive sights.
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The monumental mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881–1938), the founder of modern Turkey, sits high above the city with its abundance of marble and air of veneration. The tomb itself actually makes up only a small part of this complex, which consists of museums and a ceremonial courtyard. For many Turks a visit is virtually a pilgrimage, and it's not unusual to see people visibly moved. Allow at least two hours in order to visit the whole site.
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This grand complex, combining both a mosque and hospital, lords it up on the hill above the village. Renowned for its craftwork, the entrance doorways are truly stupendous, their border reliefs densely carved in such minute detail that it's hard to imagine the stone started out flat. It's the tasteful Seljuk equivalent of having a cinema in your house, the sort of thing only a provincial emir with more money than sense could have dreamt of building.