Kayseri city, Turkey

Kayseri is a city in the Turkish region of Central Anatolia. Kayseri is an old and large city with a strong economy. It carries lots of monuments from the days of Seljuks and Ottomans, and is also the home town of the most accomplished architect Mimar Sinan. Population has been steadily increasing and nowadays is around 800,000 in the urban center. Kayseri was also on the Silk Route and Karatay and Sultanhaný posts on this route reside in Bünyan town's borders. Bünyan is also famous for its carpets which makes Kayseri a popular purchase-stop for tourists visiting Cappadocia. Kayseri is one of Turkey's great modern success stories. Home to a vibrant and ever-expanding manufacturing industry and reaping the economic benefits that flow from this, it's a city that clearly knows its own worth. The locals here are as confident of their city's future as they are proud of its past, which is a rare thing indeed. It's also a city that has no need to rely on the vagaries of international tourism for its economic prosperity. This can be liberating – and just a wee bit frustrating – for the visitor, as the touts, tour operators and tourist infrastructure taken for granted elsewhere in Cappadocia are thin on the ground here. Most people fly into Kayseri and are transferred by shuttle bus to central Cappadocia, but there's a lot to be said for spending a day exploring its sights and meeting its people