When you're on vacation or live in a coastal community, it's a symbol you simply don't want to see: a no-swimming sign, along with a beach health advisory.

More than two months after the Deepwater Horizon disaster, Pensacola awoke Wednesday to the largest onslaught of black crude on Florida's coast, as more than nine miles of white shoreline and beaches were soaked with syrupy oil.

A health advisory has been issued by Escambia County for parts of Pensacola Beach and Fort Pickens. "It's pretty ugly. There's no question about it," Florida Gov. Charlie Crist said. "It does break your heart."

Surrounded by hundreds of BP cleanup workers wearing protective suits in the sweltering heat, Crist toured the area by helicopter and on foot, and he thanked workers for their efforts.

"Its like Jimmy Buffett said, we don't want to take the 'sky is falling' attitude about this," he said of the musician and coastal activist.

"We want to see it, we want to address it, we want to clean it up and stay after it and stay after it and stay after it. ... It's the attitude we have to take," he said.

Oil also washed up on nearby Perdido Key, where workers cleaned up 8 tons of tar balls.

Offshore, several shrimp boat skimmers could be seen fairly close to shore, near the Pier at Casino Beach.

"You've got a lot more aggressive work skimming now," said Florida Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Mike Sole.

"There's more skimmers coming in to be able to keep it offshore, so I'm hoping they will be able to go ahead and continue that robust effort offshore so that we only see very little onshore."

But to continue the fight against oil, Florida's Gulf counties say they need money, and they say BP isn't returning phone calls. County representatives are meeting Wednesday with the U.S. Coast Guard and BP to make sure the checks get in the mail.

"We've got to force them to and make them do it," Crist said. "We're just going to keep asking and asking and asking."

Turkey might be the world’s most contested country. Its landscape is dotted with battlegrounds, ruined castles and the palaces of great empires. This is the land where Alexander the Great slashed the Gordion Knot, where Achilles battled the Trojans in Homer’s Iliad, and where the Ottoman Empire fought battles that would shape the world. History buffs can immerse themselves in marvels and mementos stretching back to the dawn of civilisation.

Then again, if you want to simply unwind, spend an afternoon being pampered at ahamam, or let the warm waters off the Mediterranean coast lap at your toes. Adventure lovers can head east to Nemrut Daği National Park. Bon vivants need look no further than Istanbul, where the markets and bars are among the most stylish and atmospheric, and the mod Ottoman cuisine rates as the tastiest, in the world.

The country’s tumultuous history has left a deep legacy. People who’ve never had to suffer for an idea or fight for a patch of land can be overwhelmed by the passion of ordinary Turks for their country. But for ordinary Turks that passion finds its outlet, not in martial ardour, but in simple pleasures: family, food, music, football, and friendship. Turks have an inspiring ability to keep things in perspective, to get on with everyday life and to have a bloody good time in the process. Sharing their joy in the simple things is a highlight for every visitor.

Treat Turkey as that most quintessential of Turkish dishes, the meze, a table piled high with scrumptious treats. Throw away the menu, order a plate of everything and feast till you can’t go on. Afiyet olsun!