This nation of 70 million people straddles the western and eastern worlds with one foot in Europe and the other in Asia. It's one of the most secular and progressive nations in the Islamic world with a high regard for women's rights.

A large land mass of much variety, Turkey boasts an Aegean Coast that was home to some of the most famous and important cities of the ancient Greek world. Troy was here, as was Smyrna. The ruins of Ephesus, with its Hellenic temples and Roman amphitheater, civic buildings and aqueduct, is one of Turkey's key tourist draws.

Many expatriates call the great city of Istanbul, with its splendid setting on the Straits of the Bosphorus, and fabulous buildings such as the Topkapi Palace and Blue Mosque, home. But the up-and-coming location for second home buyers is the beautiful shore towns on the southern coast.