Turkey is a paradise of sun, sea, mountains, and lakes that offers the vacationer a complete change from the stress and routine of everyday life. From April to October, most places in Turkey have an ideal climate that is perfect for relaxing on sandy beaches or enjoying the tranquility of mountains and lakes. Turkey also has a magnificent past, and is a land full of historic treasures from 13 successive civilizations spanning 10,000 years. Even if you spend only a short time in Turkey, you can see a lot of this great heritage. There is no doubt that one visit will not be enough, and you will want to come back again and again as you discover one extraordinary place after another. All of them, no matter how different, have one thing in common: the friendly and hospitable people of this unique country.
TURKEY IN BRIEF
Official Name: The Republic of Turkey (Türkiye Cumhuriyeti)
Founder: Mustafa Kemal ATATÜRK (1881-1938)
Capital: Ankara
Population: 72 million
Language: Turkish (uses Latin Alphabet)
Currency: New Turkish Lira (YTL) as of 01/01/2005 1YTL = 1,000,000 TL (Turkish Lira)
Location: Eastern Mediterranean. Located on two continents: Europe and Asia. The European part of Turkey is called Thrace, while the Asian part is called Anatolia or Asia Minor.
Area: 814 578 Km2 (314 500 square miles) % 3 on the European continent % 97 on the Asian continent.
Religion: 99 percent of the population is Muslim. Turkey is a secular state that assures complete freedom of worship to non- Muslims.
Major Cities: Istanbul 12.0 million Ankara 4.0 million Izmir 3.3 million Konya 2.2 million Bursa 2.1 million Adana 1.8 million
Coastline: 8333 Km. (5000 miles) Turkey is surrounded by sea on three sides, by the Black Sea in the north, the Mediterranean in the south and the Aegean Sea in the west. In the northwest there is also an important internal sea, the Sea of Marmara, between the straits of the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus.
Geographical Regions: Turkey has 80 administrative provinces and seven geographical regions. The first four of the seven regions are given the names of the seas which are adjacent to them. - Black Sea Region - Marmara Region - Aegean Region - Mediterranean Region The other three regions are named in accordance with their location in the whole of Anatolia. - Central Anatolia Region - Eastern Anatolia Region - Southeastern Anatolia Region Famous.
Landmarks: Ayasofya Museum, Topkapi Palace, Blue Mosque, Dolmabahce Palace, ancient City of Troy, Ephesus, Aphrodisias, Pergamon, Pamukkale, Goreme-Cappadocia, Mt. Nemrut, Safranbolu.
National holiday: Independence Day, 29 October (1923
WHEN TO VISIT
Marmara, Aegean, and Mediterranean coasts: These coasts have a typical Mediterranean climate with hot summers and mild winters. The swimming season becomes shorter the further north one goes: Marmara and North Aegean - June to September; South Aegean and Mediterranean - April to October.
Black Sea Coast: Warm summers, mild winters, and relatively high rainfall. Central Anatolia: Steppe climate with hot, dry summers; cold winters. Eastern Anatolia: Long snowy cold winters with mild summers.
Southeast Anatolia: Hot summer with mild, rainy winters.
WHAT TO WEAR
Marmara, Aegean and Mediterranean coasts: Light, cotton summer clothing and cardigans for evening.
Black Sea, Central and Eastern Anatolia: Summer wear, warmer clothing should be taken for cool evenings at high altitudes. -Comfortable shoes are necessary for visiting archeological and historical sites. -Sun hats and sunglasses are advisable in the summer. -Headscarves should be brought by women for visiting mosques.
Turkish climate
Turkey's diverse regions have different climates, with the weather system on the coasts contrasting with that prevailing in the interior. The Aegean and Mediterranean coasts have cool, rainy winters and hot, moderately dry summers. Annual precipitation in those areas varies from 580 to 1,300 millimeters, depending on location. Generally, rainfall is less to the east. The Black Sea coast receives the greatest amount of rainfall. The eastern part of that coast averages 1,400 millimeters annually and is the only region of Turkey that receives rainfall throughout the year.
Mountains close to the coast prevent Mediterranean influences from extending inland, giving the interior of Turkey a continental climate with distinct seasons. The Anatolian Plateau is much more subject to extremes than are the coastal areas. Winters on the plateau are especially severe. Temperatures of -30°C to -40°C can occur in the mountainous areas in the east, and snow may lie on the ground 120 days of the year. In the west, winter temperatures average below 1°C. Summers are hot and dry, with temperatures above 30°C. Annual precipitation averages about 400 millimeters, with actual amounts determined by elevation. The driest regions are the Konya Plateu and the Malatya Plateu, where annual rainfall frequently is less than 300 millimeters. May is generally the wettest month and July and August the driest.
The climate of the Anti-Taurus Mountain region of eastern Turkey can be inhospitable. Summers tend to be hot and extremely dry. Winters are bitterly cold with frequent, heavy snowfall. Villages can be isolated for several days during winter storms. Spring and autumn are generally mild, but during both seasons sudden hot and cold spells frequently occur.
Because of Turkey's geographical conditions, one can not speak about a general overall climate. In Istanbul and around the sea of Marmara the climate is moderate (winter 4 deg.C and summer 27 deg.C); in winter the temperature can drop below zero. In Western Anatolia there is a mild Mediterranean climate with average temperatures of 9 deg.C in winter and 29 deg.C in summer. On the southern coast of Anatolia the same climate can be found. The climate of the Anatolian Plateau is a steppe climate (there is a great temperature difference between day and night). Rainfall is low and there is more snow. The average temperature is 23 deg.C in summer and -2 deg.C in winter. The climate in the Black Sea area is wet, warm and humid (summer 23 deg.C, winter 7 deg.C). In Eastern Anatolia and South-Eastern Anatolia there is a long hard winter, where year after year snow lies on the ground from November until the end of April (the average temperature in winter is -13 deg.C and in summer 17 deg.C).
Hostels in Turkey
Turkey, especially Istanbul, has many good hostels where backpackers and budget travelers can stay with ease and explore the area. Some of the youth hostels have dorms and shared facilities in order to keep their costs low, but some of them and most small budget hotels offer rooms with private bathrooms. These budget hotels are clean and comfortable, some include daily breakfast, and some even provide free internet access for their guests.
Most of the hostels and budget hotels in Istanbul are located near the old city center, namely known as Sultanahmet neighborhood. There are also several hostels in Cappadocia, Selcuk and Kusadasi near Ephesus, Pamukkale, Bodrum, Olympos, Didyma, Antalya, and many many other locations.
How to Get a Turkish Visa
Most visitors may enter Turkey without a visa, or by easily buying a "sticker visa" at the airport, maritime port, or border-crossing point.
You hand the clerk your passport and the fee in CASH, the clerk sticks a stamp in your passport and you're on your way. The clerk doesn't look you up in a database or scan your passport or take your name or anything. The whole thing takes 10 seconds.
Basically, the sticker visa fee is just a tourist tax.
Be sure your passport is valid for at least 90 days from the expiration date of your anticipated visa period, or you may not be admitted. That means that if you are entitled to a 90-day visa, be sure your passport is valid for at least 180 days beyond the date you anticipate entering Turkey.
Pursuant to Turkish government regulations instituted on January 12, 2012, "90-day tourist visa" means that you can visit Turkey for up to 90 days within any 180-day period. This means that, after staying 90 days, you cannot simply cross the border into another country, stay outside of Turkey for a day or two, then re-enter Turkey on a new 90-day tourist visa. Instead, you must apply in advance at a Turkish consulate for a residence visa and, when you arrive in Turkey, for a residence permit (İkamet Tezkeresi).
You can get your visa in advance, before you arrive in Turkey, from any Turkish consulate, but it entails time, trouble, and extra expense (you'll pay a "visa processing fee.") It's much simpler to just buy your visa at the border if you are allowed to.
Turkey customs
Free import
- Tobacco products (for travellers aged 18 and over): 200 cigarettes and 5 cigarillos (not exceeding 3g each) and 10 cigars and 200 grammes of tobacco (with 200 cigarette papers) or 200 grammes chewing tobacco or 200 grammes of wate-pipe tobacco or 50 grammes of snuff tobacco;
- Alcoholic beverages (for travellers aged 18 and over): 1 bottle of 1 litre or 2 bottles of 700 ml./750ml. of wine and/or spirits;
- 5 bottles of perfume (max. 120 ml. each);
- Gifts up to the value of EUR 300. (EUR 145. for those aged under 15);
- 1kg of coffee; 1kg of instant coffee; 500g of tea; 1kg of chocolate; 1kg food made of sugar;
- Medications for personal use.
Prohibited
- Firearms and military ammunitions
- Pharmaceuticals
- Drugs
- Meat and dairy products
- Madioactive substances
Restricted
- Cats and dogs require a good health certificate. Pets may enter as passenger's checked baggage, in the cabin or as cargo.
Shops and Shopping
Shops in Turkey are usually open between 8:30-19:00 and normally closed on Sunday. But this does not count in a resort town like Marmaris. Shops will be open until midnight.
Turkey, as a result of its geographical location, is a treasure house of hand-made products. These range from carpets and kilims, to gold and silver jewelry, ceramics, leather and suede clothing, ornaments fashioned from alabaster, onyx, copper, and meerschaum
General information
The total area Turkey covers is a bit less than 800.000 sq km ( 774,815 sq km ), which makes it one of the biggest countries in Europe and the Middle East. The neighbours are Greece and Bulgaria on the northwest, Armenia and Georgia on the northeast, Iran and Iraq on the southeast and Syria on the south. Of all, the Turkish-Syrian border is the longest. Turkey has no direct border with Russia, but the Black Sea on the north. The other seas that cover Turkey are the Aegean on the west and the Mediterranean on the south. In other words, Turkey is a huge big peninsula wrapped up by seas on three sides that looks like the head of a horse, as a Turkish poet has put it.
Turkey is divided into 7 geographic regions :
- Marmara (Marmara)
- Aegean (Ege)
- Mediterranean (Akdeniz)
- Southeastern (Guney Dogu)
- Eastern (Dogu)
- Blacksea (Karadeniz)
- Central Anatolia (Ic Anadolu)
In addition to the museums and monuments of Istanbul, places of interest include the Aegean ports of Izmir and Bodrum; the ancient cities of Troy, Ephesus, Tarsus, Konya, Samsun, Erzurum, and Trabzon, Mt. Ararat, traditionally considered the landing place of Noah's Ark, the remains of which some expeditions have tried to find; the ski resort of Uludag, 36 km (22 mi) south of Bursa; and the sea resort of Antalya, on the Mediterranean coast.
One of the most exciting things about Turkey is that it is ever-changing and never dull. But because of this continuous flux, it is necessary for travelers to double-check details, particularly regarding prices, which change from time to time.
Turkey Places of Interest
- Uzungol - The long lake of Trabzon, unrestrained green of the nature
- Guardians of the Sunrise: Mount Nemrut
- Sumela Monastery: A history hidden in the rocks
- Ephesus: The open gateway to the Ancient world
- The Zeugma Mosaics: World's largest mosaic museum
- Ishak Pasha Palace: A setting for 1001 Arabian Nights
- Topkapi Palace , Great Heritage of Ottoman Empire
- Hagia Sophia, A 1500-year-old masterpiece of Istanbul
- Pamukkale - The Cotton Castle Of Turkey
- Cappadocia: Turkey's Hidden Fantasyland
Historical and cultural sites
Turkey's humanized landscape is inseparable from its culture. Nevertheless, to the outsider, Turkey gives a new meaning to wilderness, because even in the most inaccessible or isolated parts (such as the high mountain tops or the secret places in the valleys) the visitor remains with the feeling that sometime in history this place, now wild and untended, has been the home to civilizations with settled villages and city life for nine thousand years in Anatolia.
These were people of different origin, coming in waves and mingling with those already settled, each time creating a new synthesis. Between 2000 B.C. to 1500 A.D., this landscape was the center of world civilization. Interpretation of the world scene today is predicated upon our understanding of what took place on this landscape during the last four millennia, and which is now manifested in the ruins and monuments which adorn the landscape.
Up until the advent of modernity (which in Turkey is associated with the comprehensive highway program of the 1950's) the landscape had remained as it was through millennia. When you see a replica of one of the first agrarian villages in the world, dating back to almost 7,000 B.C., in the Anatolian Civilizations Museum in Ankara, you cannot miss the similarity between this prototype and all those others that you become what we call the vernacular. When you have got something that works, why change it?
In Anatolia, the settlement pattern is more or less how it was during the time of the ancient civilizations. There is a good chance that the road you are traveling on is the same one on which great warriors of the East and the West trod and colorful caravans passed along, and couriers of mail or secret treaties galloped. Perhaps it is the same road traveled by St. Paul and his disciples or by Sufis spreading divine knowledge. Perhaps Alexander the Great or King Croesus fought against their enemies on the same spot you are traveling.
Graceful aqueducts built by the Romans made urban concentrations possible. Bridges built by Sinan and other Ottoman architects dot the countryside and are still used for the safe passage of goods and services. Caravanserais dating back to the Seljuk Empire of the 11th century offered sanctuary and relief to weary travelers. You can even stay in a caravanserai, for several have been restored into luxury hotels. Many Medresses are also in good conditions, mostly used as museums today.
In addition to the historic edifices proudly displayed at the main archaeological sites such as Assos, Troy, Pergamon, Ephesus, Miletus, Priene, Didyma, Aphrodisias, Heraclia, Myra, Olympus, Chimeira, Phaselis, Patara, Xantos, Pinara, Tlos, Letoon, Halicarnassus, Cnidus, Hattusas, Alacahöyük, Çatalhöyük, Yazilikaya, Nemrut, Ani, Hasankeyf, Zeugma, Gobeklitepe, Psidian Antioch, Nicea, Sardis, Gordion, Caunos, Labranda, Perge, and Aspendos, many coastal villages and towns are blessed with their very own Anatolian ruins on the outskirts. This is usually an ancient theater commanding a spectacular view of the beach where, the villagers will tell you, Cleopatra often have swam. You don't have to look far for the agora either. It is probably where it has always been - right at the market place! Several villages are also privileged to have ''sunken cities" (Kekova) or ruins under the sea, which you can see if you look down into the crystal clear, turquoise waters.
The Anatolian hinterland will show you glimpses of other ancient civilizations: the Hattis, the Hurris, Assyrians, the Hittites, the Phrygians, the Urartians, the Lydians and the Lycians. From these civilizations come many familiar legends: women warriors known as Amazons, the wealth of the Lydian King Croesus, King Midas with the golden touch, and the Knot of Gordion that young Alexander was able to undo with the strike of his sword.
Then there are the lesser places, both sacred and ordinary, but with profound meaning: monasteries, tombs of local saints, heroes, artists or poets, mosques, churches, walls, fortresses, palaces, fountains, and cemeteries. The hillsides are covered with broken pieces of ancient pottery, contemporary walls often have corner stones which may date back to antiquity. Children play and sheep graze amidst fragile remains. Until very recently Fairy Chimneys in Cappadocia were used by villagers as cold storage for their food or wine cellars.
The very richness of the landscape poses grave challenges for historic preservation in Turkey. Good progress has been made in safeguarding the integrity of the most important sites, and work is ongoing to excavate, catalogue and preserve the country's tremendous legacy. Strict laws prevent the export of antiquities.
Many tours can be arranged in Turkey, there are very good land and air connections between the cities and historical sites.
Area codes in Turkey
Turkey's international area code is 90. To call Turkey from your country you must dial your international access code + 90 + city code. For example if you want to call a number in Istanbul dial +90 212 ### ## ## (phone number). If you are in Turkey and want to call home, dial 00 + your country code + your area code + number
Useful phone numbers
- Ambulance: 112 (all over Turkey)
- Police: 155 (all over Turkey)
- Tourism Police: (0212) 5274503 (Istanbul only)
- Gendarmery: 156 (all over Turkey for rural areas)
- Coast Guard: 158 (all over Turkey)
- Fire: 110 (all over Turkey)
- Forest Fire: 177 (all over Turkey)
- Yellow Pages: 11818 or 11811 or 11880 (all over Turkey)
- Tourism Info: 170 (all over Turkey)
- Turkish International Airports
- Adana Sakirpasa Airport, Tel: (0322) 4350380 Fax: 4359126
- Ankara Esenboga Airport, Tel: (0312) 3980000 Fax: 3980345
- Antalya Airport, Tel: (0242) 3303030 Fax: 3303302
- Bodrum Milas Airport, Tel: (0252) 5230101 Fax: 5230082
- Dalaman Airport, Tel: (0252) 7925291 Fax: 7925296
- Erzurum Airport, Tel: (0442) 3272835 Fax: 3272834
- Isparta Suleyman Demirel Airport, Tel: (0246) 5592008 Fax: 5592011
- Istanbul Ataturk Airport, Tel: (0212) 6636400 Fax: 6636250
- Sabiha Gokcen Airport, Tel: (0216) 5855000 Fax: 5855114
- Izmir Adnan Menderes Airport, Tel: (0232) 2742626 Fax: 2742002
- Trabzon Airport, Tel: (0462) 3280940 Fax: 3259950
- Nevsehir Kapadokya Airport, Tel: (0384) 4214455 Fax: 4214451
- Gaziantep Airport, Tel: (0342) 5821021 Fax: 5821011.