Turkey is a nation between Eastern Europe and Western Asia with cultural connections to the ancient Greek, Persian, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman empires.
Cosmopolitan Istanbul, in the Bosphorus Strait, is home to the iconic Hagia Sophia, with its rising dome and Christian mosaics, the massive Blue Mosque of the 17th century and the Topkapı Palace of around 1460, the former home of the Sultans. Ankara is the modern capital of Turkey.