Winter in a Euro Fusion Middle Eastern Country

Turkey, a secular democratic Republic with a majority of Muslims as the citizens, is a rare example of how Islam and democracy can blend in together. This beautiful European/Asian/Middle Eastern country is famous for many things that we are accustomed to here in the western world. Baklava, Yogurt, Bulgur, Gyro (Doner), Kebabs, and many more. Turkish are proud of the fact that their country lies between Europe and Asia thus plays the role of a bridge geographically as well as culturally and politically. Once you start traveling from one side of Turkey to the other, you can find yourself in a journey from Greece to Russia, Bulgaria to Syria, or Greek Islands to Cyprus. Turkey, a peninsula, is one of the largest countries in that part of the World, and although has different climatic characteristics on different parts of it, you can most definitely experience the diversity of four seasons throughout the entire country.

Many Europeans, and recently in the past few years Russians, visit Turkey for its charming beaches during Summer. The busiest season of tourism in Turkey starts around the month of May and ends by the end of October. I happened to be visiting Turkey a few years ago during one of the off-season times: January. It was the Christmas time when I flew from the capital of the World; New York City, US, to the capital of culture and history; Istanbul, Turkey. It was a cold day when I got off the plane and decided to travel to Ankara (capital city located in central Turkey) via bus. I am not sure if this was such a great idea since my trip took an additional 5 hours in the roads due to excessive snowing and ice. Although, I was not too pleased with this inconvenience, I got to experience a very different side of Turkey during that trip: Winter in Bolu Mountain. Bolu Mountain is one of the highest elevations that one would need to travel through, in order to get to Ankara from Istanbul. This area is known to present one of the harshest travelling conditions of the region, especially during the snowy and cold winter days. Bolu Mountain is also famous for its rest areas filled with unique restaurants by the cliffs of the wild mountain, as well as its thermal and skiing facilities for winter vacationers.

This was an eye opening trip for me. I have since started making plans for visiting one of Turkey's geothermal hotels and enjoy the charm of wild whites in a unique, beautiful, and filled with culture European/Asian/Middle Eastern country of Turkey.

Here are a few links if you want to learn more about Bolu and Turkey:
http://www.kultur.gov.tr/EN/Genel/BelgeGoster.aspx?17A16AE30572D31395FB1C5180B6EBD6471B09CD482BCFA2

http://www.tourismturkey.org/01-01-RegionsBlackSea-PictureShow.aspx