Divrigi

Divrigi is a town in northeastern part of Central Anatolia, on the edge of Eastern Anatolia.

Divrigi is an ancient town, which was once a Byzantine site. By the 12th and 13th centuries, it was the capital of Turkic Emirate of Mengücek, and the remains of Great Mosque of 1229 and a citadel remain from the period.

Nearest airport is located in Sivas, about 180 km or 3 hours away by road.

• Divrigi Nazar Seyahat, Esenler Otogar no:34 (main bus station of Istanbul), ☎ +90 212 658 22 58 (Istanbul), +90 312 224 10 58 (Ankara), www.divrigim.com. Company providing direct buses to Divrigi from Istanbul and Ankara.

• Divriği Özlem Tur and Divriği Birlik provide minibuses from Sivas every hour.

Divrigi has a train station. Daily trains from Istanbul's Haydarpaşa station (Doğu Express, departing 8:35AM and arriving at Divrigi 9:30AM next morning, 32.50 TL/seat, 26 TL/seat for students) and Ankara (Doğu Express, departing from Ankara 6:08PM, 20 TL/seat, 16 TL/seat for students; and Erzurum Express, departing from Ankara 1:30PM and arriving at Divrigi 3:45AM, 22.50 TL/seat, 18 TL/seat for students) are available. Sleeper cars are available at Doğu Express. For more info, see Turkish State Railways webpage www.tcdd.gov.tr.

• Great Mosque (Ulu Cami) and adjoining medieval hospital (Darüşşifa) are outstanding examples of Seljuk architecture and are both in the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1985 whc.unesco.org. The Baroque style portal of this magnificent mosque is a real masterpiece of stonework.

• Divrigi Belediyesi Oteli, ☎ +90 346 418 18 25. Hotel run by the town council. Clean rooms with en-suite bathrooms and balcony. No breakfast served. 20 TL.

The telephone code of the town is (+90) 346.

It's possible to move on further east to Erzincan, Erzurum, and Kars by daily trains.