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MALATYA
Malatya is a busy city situated on a fertile plain at
the foot of the Anti-Taurus Mountains. The archaeology
museum houses new find from the Lower Firat region
that date from the Neolithic and Chalcolithic ages.
Next to the city museum, you can shop in the bazaar
where an entire passageway of shops is devoted to
copper wares. In Malatya, the apricot growing center
of Turkey, it is possible to sample many delicious
apricot confections as well as other fresh and dried
fruit. The two small towns, which pre-date the
establishment of present day Malatya, are easy
expeditions. Asiantepe, 7 km away, was the capital of
a Hittite state in the first millennium B.C., and
Battalgazi, 9 km away, was once the ancient city of
Melitene. At the latter, stand the ruins of a
Byzantine enclosure, and in the center of town, the
13th century Ulu Mosque is an excellent example of
Seljuk architecture. |
