Two thousand years ago the mountainous coast of Turkey, which curves like a scimitar through the eastern Mediterranean, was the most fashionable resort in the Roman world.

Wealthy citizens built summer villas along its shores, and here Antony dallied with Cleopatra.

Today, while millions of harried tourists pack the beaches of Spain, France, Italy and Greece, vast stretches of sand in Turkey, fringed with orange trees and
olive groves and strewn with the ruined riches of half a dozen civilizations, lie invitingly empty.

Last year only 65,000 Americans visited Turkey, and many of them never
got beyond Istanbul. There are only a dozen first class hotels along the 800 mile coast
(most of them built in the last five years), and for long stretches there is no road.

But in many of the gaily painted villages along the shore a simple, clean room can be had
for a dollar a night. Cruise ships sail regularly between Istanbul and Iskenderun, and Luxury hotels are fast appearing along the coast there is no finer way to explore the rugged coast than by rented yacht.

Travelers with a taste for adventure can leave this balmy Mediterranean seacoast and venture into the harsh Asian steppe of the Anatolian plateau, all ocher and brown, where peasants still plow their fields with fire-hardened stakes.

This is the heartland of Turkey. At Kenya (see page 54), the Whirling Dervishes still
perform their ritual dance. And not far from Ankara, the nation's capital, lie the foundations of a city built 4,000 years ago by the Hittites, whom Kemal Ataturk, the father of modern Turkey, claimed as the true forebears of the Turkish people.





But in many of the gaily painted villages along the shore a simple, clean room can be had
for a dollar a night. Cruise ships sail regularly between Istanbul and Iskenderun, and Luxury hotels are fast appearing along the coast there is no finer way to explore the rugged coast than by rented yacht.


Travelers with a taste for adventure can leave this balmy Mediterranean seacoast and venture into the harsh Asian steppe of the Anatolian plateau, all ocher and brown, where peasants still plow their fields with fire-hardened stakes.

This is the heartland of Turkey. At Kenya (see page 54), the Whirling Dervishes still
perform their ritual dance. And not far from Ankara, the nation's capital, lie the foundations of a city built 4,000 years ago by the Hittites, whom Kemal Ataturk, the father of modern Turkey, claimed as the true forebears of the Turkish people.

Travelers with a taste for adventure can leave this balmy Mediterranean seacoast and venture into the harsh Asian steppe of the Anatolian plateau, all ocher and brown, where peasants still plow their fields with fire-hardened stakes.

Last year only 65,000 Americans visited Turkey, and many of them never
got beyond Istanbul. There are only a dozen first class hotels along the 800 mile coast
(most of them built in the last five years), and for long stretches there is no road.

But in many of the gaily painted villages along the shore a simple, clean room can be had
for a dollar a night. Cruise ships sail regularly between Istanbul and Iskenderun, and Luxury hotels are fast appearing along the coast there is no finer way to explore the rugged coast than by rented yacht.

But in many of the gaily painted villages along the shore a simple, clean room can be had
for a dollar a night. Cruise ships sail regularly between Istanbul and Iskenderun, and Luxury hotels are fast appearing .

Last year only 65,000 Americans visited Turkey, and many of them never
got beyond Istanbul. There are only a dozen first class hotels along the 800 mile coast
(most of them built in the last five years), and for long stretches there is no road.

But in many of the gaily painted villages along the shore a simple, clean room can be had
for a dollar a night. Cruise ships sail regularly between Istanbul and Iskenderun, and Luxury hotels are fast appearing along.