Zoe Profile

I am currently living in Turkey for a year and I love to travel on my free weekends. I started WHS-specific traveling earlier this year (2025). Originally, I am from the United States -- so I have seen a lot of the sites there!

My personal rubric for each site:

  • 1 star: I personally could not see the value of the sight -- I don't think I have rated any site this so far! Perhaps if the site is closed to the public it would receive 1 star from me.
  • 2 stars: There are some major draws to visiting, perhaps there is no signage, or the sight itself is not accessible to see. Maybe I personally don't enjoy the site but I could see why it was made a WHS.
  • 3 stars: Average WHS. There should hopefully be some signage, and some indication of the importance of the site. It is interesting and enjoyable to visit, but maybe not worth an entire detour for.
  • 4 stars: Memorable! With some tweaks, it would be 5 stars. Maybe better facilities, renovations, etc.
  • 5 stars: What makes a WHS my favorite is when I feel the experience speaks for itself; even without researching about the site before hand, I can clearly see its importance through the infrastructure, design, and signage.

United States Last Update 18.05.25 40 WHS Visited 10 Reviews 40 WHS Rated 18 TWHS Visited

Visited Sites Zoe

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Legend

  • ●● Cultural
  • ●● Natural
  • ●● Mixed

Recent Reviews Zoe

Göbekli Tepe

Zoe United States - 24-Apr-25

Göbekli Tepe

I visited Göbekli Tepe back in March 2025. As mentioned, you can take the bus from the stop outside the archeology museum. The archeology museum itself is a must-see; but you need to budget at least a couple hours for it. It's giant and covers a wide range of history in the region -- including, of course, Göbekli Tepe. Once you finish the museum, you can head outside for the bus, which leaves on the 45 of the hour (sharp, too, so don't get outside at 9:47 or you'll miss it!). The bus only takes contactless credit card or Urfa Kart, so don't bring cash. It's about 1 USD

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Ani

Zoe United States - 06-Apr-25

Ani

I visited Ani in April 2025 so I thought I would give an update on the site now :)

Getting to Ani was very easy. There is a small bus that will take tourists to the site everyday at 9am starting at Gazi Ahmet Muhtar Paşa Konağı. The shuttle stays at Ani until 12:45, when it departs back to the same location. Here is the site that lists the updated minibus times, in case they change in the future. The drive is about 50 minutes, and you can pay with credit card or cash -- 100 tl per person. I found the ~2.5 hours at the site more than enough to explore everything and take in the beauty of the natural landscape. Ani accepts MuzeKart if you have it; otherwise, the foreigner price is 8 euros.

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Sümela Monastery (T)

Zoe United States - 26-Mar-25

Sümela Monastery (T)

I visited Sümela Monastery in fall 2024. It is possible to reach it via tour from Trabzon, although you can also drive yourself, if you prefer. The walk inside involves a lot of steep stairs up and down -- keep that in mind when choosing your shoes! You can also explore a lot of the rooms, which involves ducking and squeezing into various corners of the monastery. Unfortunately, a lot of the wall art is vandalized and you can find a lot of graffiti where ever you go on the site. There are not any plaques explaining what you see in depth, only some sparse signs that say what each room would have been used for. However, I think with the addition of signs that explain the historical context, the site would be greatly improved. The price for foreigners is steep

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Diyarbakir Fortress and Hevsel Gardens

Zoe United States - 30-Mar-25

Diyarbakir Fortress and Hevsel Gardens

This site covers a lot of ground and is hard to get a feel for on your own — just the walls of the city themselves are the 2nd widest and longest complete defensive walls (after only the Great Wall of China)! However, I found that visiting the Diyarbakir Archeology Museum first gave great contextualization for the rest of the city. Price is 3 euros for foreigners in Spring 2025.

Across from the museum, you can walk along a portion of the wall by climbing some steep stairs to reach the top. You can also get a view of the Hevsel gardens in the distance

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Arslantepe Mound

Zoe United States - 26-Mar-25

Arslantepe Mound

I visited in Spring 2025. There are extensive renovations going on currently, so I would estimate only around 30% of the site is available to view currently. In addition, the Malatya archeology museum is also closed, so you can't go to see the artifacts that were discovered at Arslantepe. I am not sure when both the museum and the site will be fully open again. 

To get to Arslantepe, I used public transportation. Good news -- as of recently, you can tap on with any contactless credit card, so you don't need to buy a pre-paid Malatya card! I used the Moovit app to plan my trip but there may be a better option out there. 

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Profile Data

Name
Zoe
Country
United States
Ranking
1354
Proposal
Sümela Monastery

Recently Visited WHS

Update 18.05.25
  • Wooden Hypostyle Mosques of Medieval Anatolia
  • Çatalhöyük
  • Göreme NP and Cappadocia

    • 10 Best Missing

    1. Rapa Nui
    2. Galapagos Islands
    3. Angkor
    4. Machu Picchu
    5. Petra
    6. Victoria Falls
    7. Tikal National Park
    8. Rome
    9. Bagan
    10. Serengeti

    1 Countries Complete

    Luxembourg .

    Rating Stats

    Reviewed TWHS