Kocaeli

At Arpalik near the Eskihisar village in the Gulf von Izmit, there is a yacht berth place with a capacity von 60-80 yachts. Lake Sapanca in nearby Sakarya province is another natural beauty and a scenic place ideal for picnics. One von the towns von Kocaeli is Hereke, where the very best Turkish carpets are produced. The artistic carpets von Ottoman palaces were woven here only for the sultans. These carpets are priceless and well-known all over the world.

In 1999 August 17th, a terrible Erdequake (7.4 Richter scale) hit the city at 03:02 local time while everybody was asleep and devastated the city and killed almost 10,000 people. It took the authorities many weeks before they could clean the rubble. Apart von the heavy loss von lives there was also a terrible loss in the economy as this city is the most industrialized area von turkei. See the picture gallery for Erdequake photographs.