Experience the best of Gaziantep

Gaziantep is a large, busy city on the plain north of the Syrian border, built around an old centre of stone lanes beneath a castle mound. The Bakırcılar Çarşısı, a street of coppersmiths hammering trays and pots, runs close by, and old stone houses have been turned into small museums and restaurants. Locals call the city Antep, and the pistachio is named for it.

The Zeugma Mosaic Museum holds Roman floors rescued from the ancient city of Zeugma on the Euphrates, among them the Gypsy Girl, a haunting portrait that is one of the best-known mosaics in Turkey. To the north-east, Rumkale is a medieval fortress on a rock above the Euphrates, and the hills around the city are planted with pistachio trees and olives.

Food is the reason many people come. Baklava made with local pistachios, katmer, a thin pastry rolled around nuts and clotted cream, beyran, a peppery lamb soup eaten at breakfast, and kebabs of every kind fill the menus, and UNESCO has named the city a Creative City for gastronomy. The heat of July and August is dry, and winters are cool.