Ankara

About Ankara

Turkey's capital was chosen for its position, not its glamour. When Mustafa Kemal Atatürk made Ankara the seat of the new republic in 1923, it was a modest Anatolian hill town; today it is the country's second-largest city, a planned capital of ministries, universities and broad boulevards on the Anatolian steppe.

Its story runs much deeper than the republic. Phrygians, Galatians and Romans all left their mark on ancient Ancyra, and the citadel walls are still studded with reused Roman stones. Below the castle, the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations gathers treasures from Çatalhöyük to the Hittites, while the Temple of Augustus preserves the emperor's own account of his reign. The long-haired Angora goat, cat and rabbit all take their name from the city.

Most visitors split their time between old Ulus, with the castle and the restored lanes of Hamamönü, and modern Kızılay and Çankaya to the south. Day trips reach Gordion, the Phrygian capital linked to King Midas, and the timber houses of Beypazarı, while Hattusa, capital of the Hittites, is a long day out to the east.