09 May Five Reasons Kids Love Turkey
Before we had kids, my husband and I pressed the pause button on our careers and spent a month traveling in Turkey. Because the world is big and our time is limited, we don’t usually repeat trips, even great ones. In the case of Turkey, we might have to make an exception. We want to take our kids there.
© allensima
Turkey is just foreign enough to feel really exotic to families, but safe and modern too. Islam is the largest religion, but the Turkish democratic government is officially secular. Women in Turkey also have full political rights, at least before the law. Kids don’t care about any of that though. They love things like the haunting calls to prayer that echo through the country every night and being in a country that straddles two continents. Here are five other reasons kids love Turkey.
1. Lost cities
© Elzbieta Sekowska
When parents are ready to take their kids to see Roman ruins, their thoughts usually turn to Rome. That’s understandable. Still, with all the noise and crowds, the charm of Italy’s capital can be a little elusive. The traffic is no picnic either — I was once almost run down by a 14-year-old on a motor scooter while trying to cross the street in front of the Colosseum.
Roman ruins in Turkey offer a more intimate experience. Sure, Ephesus is thronging with cruise ship passengers, but the country is dotted with many other ruins that you can explore in complete privacy. At Termessos National Park in Antalya, you can clamber around rock-cut tombs and peer into a perfectly preserved ancient theater. You might be the only people there. Perge and Aspendos are wonderfully uncrowded too.
2. Kid-friendly food
© Lebazele
Got kids who are picky about food? You’re going to love pide, a freshly baked Turkish-style pizza that you can find pretty much everywhere. It’s traditionally topped with things like cheese, onions, parsley, sausage, beef, lamb, salami or egg, and it’s delicious. There are lots of fresh fruits and simple meats on the tables too, so your kids will never go hungry in Turkey.
3. Sunken ruins
© Can Balcioglu
If you get a chance to travel by gulet (a traditional wooden sailing vessel) along Turkey’s Turquoise Coast, do it. One of the many highlights of these trips is seeing the partly sunken ruins of an ancient town near Kekova that was destroyed by an earthquake in the 2nd century. You can’t swim or dive through the ruins, but you can cruise over them in a kayak.
4. The bustling bazaars
© Nikada
You won’t want to go home without souvenirs, and the experience of browsing and shopping in Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar will impress even the most shopping-averse kid. This is one of the largest and oldest covered bazaars in the world, with 61 streets and over 3,000 shops. While it can’t be called “organized” by any stretch of the imagination, goods like carpets, leather, and gold appear in clusters.
5. Underground cities
© Claudio Beduschi
The Anatolian region of Cappadocia could be an entire trip unto itself. The spectacular eroded stone landscape contains troglodyte villages, homes cut into the soft hills, and rock-hewn churches that go back to the 4th century. Best of all, for kids, is the Derinkuyu Underground City, which dates back to the 7th century AD. In times of danger, this fully ventilated complex could shelter 20,000 people along with all their livestock and food stores. They simply slipped inside, rolled the large stone doors closed, and waited out the trouble.
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