Travelling To TURKEY

[Sarcastic]

Hello there,

Me and my wife are travelling to Turkey end of May for 3 weeks. We bought it from Air Transat tours. I have been researching about Turkey quite abit and figured i would post it here too incase any of you have been there and can advise us a thing or two about .....

1. Places to see or not to see
2. Must dos and donts
3. Places/City's best/cheap for shopping
4. Should i convert to Turkish Lira from here or when we get there?

Anything else anyone can suggest would be much appreciated!!

[GangStarr]

Hello there,

Me and my wife are travelling to Turkey end of May for 3 weeks. We bought it from Air Transat tours. I have been researching about Turkey quite abit and figured i would post it here too incase any of you have been there and can advise us a thing or two about .....

1. Places to see or not to see
2. Must dos and donts
3. Places/City's best/cheap for shopping
4. Should i convert to Turkish Lira from here or when we get there?

Anything else anyone can suggest would be much appreciated!!

I'm assuming you mean Istanbul?

1. The Blue Mosque, hajia sophia, taxim.
2. Eat mussels, I didn't think I liked them til I tried them in Istanbul, there's guys who walk around and sell them they are great. There is a bridge that connects new and old istanbul, and there are fisherman pulling fish out of the water. Then a kid comes running by and takes them to a guy frying them up. mmmmm so good. bosphorus cruise at night.
3. I guess the Turkish Baazar but I didn't find it all that impressive. Make sure you drink some apple tea, vendors invite you into their store for tea.
4. I would just hit up an ATM once you get down there.

Taxim is really fun at night if your into partying. Most of the hostels are in the blue mosque area which is great if you want a peaceful nights sleep. However if you want to party, Taxim is the place to stay. I couldn't even find a late night kebap in the blue mosque area at night.

Also make sure you always negotiate for things like cruises and things at the bazaar.

I had a lot of fun in Istanbul, but I knew a couple of a locals before going down so I saw a side most tourists probably won't see.

If your sensitve to heat, make sure your hotel has good air conditioning. I opted out of A/C and ended up sleeping on our hostels roof.

If your into Kebab, heh it's a bit different down there, they put ketchup on it and garlic sauce is rarely used.

[TTony]

Dont forget the Turkish Bath

[thepersianguy]

watch anthony bourdain no reservations turkey episode, lots of great places to see

[jesterwilly2004]

If travelling to Istanbul, you can get money everywhere. There are ATMs all over the place - many of them works with Canadian banks. As soon as you come out of luggage claim there are atms. But when paying visa - you will need usd or euro - have this in advance. there is an atm just outside of visa booth that could not read scotiabank cards.

You probably will want to stay on the european side as there isn't much on the asian side for tourists.

Taksim has a lot of scam artists - beware of taxi drivers and people trying to bring you to bars. Grand bazaar is way over priced- especially if you have been to china - which is where many of the knockoff goods originate. negotiating is hard there as there are alot of tourists. Main sites in the sultanhemet area is as above. you can use the tram otherwise there is a lot of hill walking, maps are cheap - buy one for 5 lira.

3 weeks is a long time - take tours outside the city.

[JWL]

If you're brave enough, have a turkish bath.

Don't miss Ephesus and if you go, make sure you see the Terrace Houses.

In Istanbul, the Basilica Cistern should not be missed

[originalnutta]

This is my photo album from when i went to Istanbul. One of the best trips of my life.


I'm tired now, but i'll add more of what to see and do, at a later time. Check out the pics for now, and throw me some questions if you have any. And one of the highlights was sitting under the bridge on beanbags, smoking shisha and drinking the local liqueur while watching the sun set over the mosques. You can see a pic of that in my album.

https://picasaweb.google.com/fiendish.one/TurkeyBeta#

[jerold1]

Istanbul is full of history and offer lot many things to see and do. Some of the important sightseeing places that you should definitely visit there on your trip to Istanbul are the Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace, Hippodrome, Blue Mosque, Grand Bazaar, Spicy Market, boat cruise to the Bosphorus.

[Hardaway]

You probably will want to stay on the european side as there isn't much on the asian side for tourists.

Wrong. As a person who lived more than two decades on the Asian side, there are many interesting places to see.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ba%C4%9Fdat_Avenue
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kad%C4%B1k%C3%B6y
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%BCy%C3%BCkada

[redkid]

i'm assuming you'll land in istambul and see the mosque and bazaar (never pay more than 40% of whatever they ask you for initially there)

if you have time check out cappadoccia, it's in central turkey but it's probably after istambul the most beautiful city. they have caves and people live in them. they also have restaurants and hoteles in them. very different from anything you'll see anywhere else. also it's one of the best places to ride on a hot air balloon, trust me, that is an amazing experience and well worth the $200 they charge for it !

izmir is also very european and since on the coast they have beautiful bars across the sea.
there's kusadasi where you can visit the house of the virgin mary and the largest excavation found on the world, an entire city where romans, greeks and middle eastern lived during mark anthony's time

unfortunately food is not amazing, needs some more salt and pepper everywhere u go, but is ok its somewhat cheap and drinks r cheap 2

don't watch tv there, they don't show ppl smoking or driking and if it's an american movie they blur it out
oh, if you have a choice of hotel, try to stay away from the ones behind a mosque or you'll be waken up daily at 5am...

[jesterwilly2004]

don't watch tv there, they don't show ppl smoking or driking and if it's an american movie they blur it out

didn't see anything about drinking but they use a cartoon like flower over all cigarettes on movies and tvs.

[grape]

i suggest you go around turkey. since you have ample time. we only had 7 days and we stayed at bul, went to cappadocia , heiropolis and traveled back. its totally worth it! turkey have a good bus system and there is night bus that go from bul to cap, cap to heiropolis and back to bul.