Turkey

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Turkey
Region: Europe
More Information:
CS Group Wikipedia
Wikitravel HitchWiki
Country-Ambassadors:
Başar Bozkurt


Turkey (Türkiye) is a country partly in Europe and partly in the Middle East.

Contents

Couchsurfing Community

As of August 2009 there are ca. 21,800 Couchsurfers in Turkey.

Biggest Communities:

  1. Istanbul (11,250 members)
  2. Ankara (2,530 members)
  3. İzmir (1,614 members)
  4. Antalya (702 members)
  5. Bursa (557 members)
  6. Eskişehir (326 members)
  7. Adana (273 members)
  8. İzmit (239 members)
  9. Mersin (218 members)
  10. Trabzon (136 members)
  11. Konya (135 members)
  12. Denizli (125 members)

For detailed stats see: [1]

Subgroups

These are some active subgroups from Turkey:

Places

Turkey has been home to many civilizations,lying as it does at a strategic geographical junction where Europe and Asia meet.The country is actually located on both continents. Anatolia, the land on Asia, is called the cradle of the civilizations Today, East meets West in Turkey's culture and government as well. Formerly center of the Islamic Ottoman Empire, Turkey became a republic in 1923. And the new leader, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk made series of reforms. This set the stage for rapid modernization and the adoption of Western systems of law, education, and politics. You can find the first of many things in Turkey, like first pottery, first village (Çatalhöyük), first written trade agreement, first coin, first writing... etc.

Moreover, Christianity was developed at this land leaving thousands of ancient churchs including the first one. No need to mention that Istanbul was the capital of several empires. Istanbul, the worlds blue pearl or the city of legends, has attracted people and captured the admiration of all who come to visit. If you travel to the historical sites and museums with a good guide book, you will be amazed.

You can find detailed information at the Turkish embassies and so at the website of Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkey, and any more information tourismturkey.org

In fact, there are a lot of historical sites in Turkey. Almost in each city you can see the tracks of history, touch the ruins of the past, feel the mysticism. If you prefer to see greens and greens only, just go to the North. The cities, towns and villages by the Black Sea make you feel that you are in green paradise. The mountains, lakes on the top of the mountains, valleys, rivers and platoes are so charming. At the province of Rize everywhere is covered with tea plants. There is a plateau called "Anzer"where there is an endemic honey bee species which take honey from endemic plants. And the resulting honey is so good but really expensive!

Top Places to See and Do

Cities

  • Bursa
    • Go shopping and buy pure silk, soft towels from Bursa, the first capital city of the Ottoman Empire,carpets ,leather and jewelry!
    • Visit Uludağ in Bursa

Aegean region

Anatolia

  • Visit Hattusa, capital of Hittites
  • Visit Pamukkale- Hierapolis
  • Visit Konya to see many Seljuk monuments including the ones related to Mevlana Rumi and feel the spirit of Whirling Dervishes
  • Visit Cappadocia, early Christian settlement and volcanic rock formations( Fairy Chimneys). If you plan to go there on friday or return on sunday, especially in summer season you may have problem to find ticket in the travel date, so reserve or buy ur ticket from before.
  • Visit Zeugma city
  • Visit Hasankeyf
  • Mount Nemrut -in the Eastern part of Turkey- to watch the sunrise,
  • Visit Southeast of Turkey, the city called Diyarbakir which is famous for huge city Walls as in China and enjoy with your visit to old churches and fascianting mosques in the city and taste at least a slice of Watermelon! it is so sweet and famous all around the country. Also visit the ancient city of Urfa in the southeast that includes "gobeklitepe" which has the most ancient sculptures ever found anywhere of the world.
  • Visit Archeological site Çatalhöyük
  • Visit Ağrı dagi- Mount_Ararat where the Noah's arc is beleived to touch the ground after the catastrope
  • Go Trekking at Taurus Mountains

Black sea region

  • Visit Sümela Monastery
  • Climb up the mountains in the Black Sea region. It will be your unforgettable tracking experience in your life. Spend a few days in Ayder Plato of Kaçkar Mountains, walk up to the hidden mountain lakes and fell inner-trueself of you.

Mediteranean region

  • Visit Turkish Riviera, west coast of Turkey
    • Make a Blue Cruise with boat, Go on a boat trip which is called " Blue Journey" in Bodrum and Marmaris.You will never ever forget it.
    • Enjoy the sun and the sea in Antalya,tourist paradise in the Southern part of the country . Old Quarter- The historic nucleus of Antalya. This district is now restored and has became an attractive touristic center with its taverns, hotels, restaurants and entertainment facilities. Perge- The origins of this ancient city 18 km north east of Antalya go back to 1000 BC. An exceptional open-air museum. Side- At this lovely resort on the east of Antalya, the houses and ancient ruins inextricablly interwined. There are two agoras and amphitheatre and a museum in which statues and other works of art are exhibited. Aspendos- A major port and commercial center in antiquity. Its magnificient Roman amphitheatre is the best preserved in the world and known for its superb acoustic and it is still used for concerts.
  • Visit Kaş
  • Visit Lycian monuments

Things to do

  • Taste Döner, Sish Kebap and the dishes of Sultans! Turkish food is really good.
  • Enjoy oriental night clubs and belly dancing

Transportation

Bus

In Turkey, the mobility is based on buses. Every small city has bus station (terminal) with lot of bus companies. The bus must have two drivers and one assistant who helps your luggage and also serves some drinks during the journey. The busses are mostly new generation luxuries bus (some of them have WIFI internet access also). The maximum speed limit is 85 km/h (52,82 mph) which makes your journey safe. The busses don’t have WC but all of them give 20-30 minutes break every 4 hours. Most of bus company has unlimited drink service (water, tea, coffee, coke, juices, cake and some cookies) during the journey. Except from some city (e.g. Ankara), in all city bus terminals, all companies have free customer services which put you city center. You have to ask driver or bus assistant for information. Booking your seat via internet is mostly not possible but almost all bus companies have travel agents in city center or in bus station indeed. In small cities we can strongly advice you to book your seat 1-2 days before your journey but be aware bank holidays or official holidays times (e.g. Ramadan Fest) you might be not find any seat easily. There are some of most popular bus company’s web pages so to planning your journey please check out them.

For more information about Istanbul Bus Station please check the following link

http://www.otogaristanbul.com/

Flight

a. Domestic Transfer

Some years ago, the private airlines have started to be so popular. Now, in Turkey there are several airline companies fly to different directions with different dates. The prices depend on the time when you booked your flight. It can be change between 0-200 YTL exclude tax. If you book your ticket early than more less 30 days you can catch a flight cheaper than bus price, sometimes even 1 week enough to find cheap flight. There are some of Turkish domestic airlines company’s web pages so to planning your journey please check out them

b. International Flight

Mostly international flights arrive to Istanbul, Izmir, Antalya, Dalaman and Bodrum Airport. Except from charter flights there are only somecheap international airline companies arrive these airports. These cheap companies are Myair from Italy, Skyeurope from Slovakia, Wizzair from Kiev, Easyjet from Basel (SWT) and London (UK), Germanwings, condor, Pegasus from Germany, Thomasscook from UK

You can also try to search any flight on http://www.skyscanner.com which is very popular to find cheap flight all over the world.

c. To get the city from airport or from city center to airport

Please check the web page of shuttle bus service. http://www.havas.com.tr

i. Istanbul From Atatürk Airport to city center, there is tram service which goes to Istanbul Bus Terminal, Blue Mosque, Eminönü.

From Sabiha Gökçen Airport to city center there is public bus service very frequency

From Ataturk Airport and also Sabiha Gökçen Airport there is also shuttle bus service which goes to Taksim, and Asian part of Istanbul.

ii. Antalya There is only one public bus line which starts from Antalya International Terminal 2 and goes to Terminal 1, city center and arrives to Antalya city bus terminal. And also shuttle bus service there is.

Train

a. Domestic Train Lines There is only one governmental train company in Turkey which name is Turkish State Railway (TCDD). Unfortunately, in Turkey we do not have such a fancy train transport. You can not find the train connection to every city and most of train lines are so old and very slow. The only speed train line is between Istanbul-Ankara there is. For train lines names and directions, please check the following webpage www.tcdd.gov.tr/tcdding/yurtici_ing.htm . In the most lines, the trains have restaurant car and also sleeping car. During your journey please take care of luggage and your belonging. Turkish trains are mostly safe but nobody knows what will be happened during the long and crowed journey, especially over night journey

b. International Turkish State Railways’ train connection between our country and European countries is provided mutually with the Bosphorus Express serving between Istanbul - Bucharest - Istanbul everyday and with the train serving between Istanbul – Thessalonica - Istanbul everyday.

Aside from Europe, you can also find train to Middle East (Iran and Syria) from Turkey. For more information and price please check the following webpage http://www.tcdd.gov.tr/tcdding/avrupa_ing.htm

Hitchhiking

This is the most interesting part of your Turkish journey. In generally the people are getting used to Hitchhiking (HH) more and more and especially in Western Turkey, HH is more easy than eastern.

In the Western Turkey, the HH is more les popular and people/drivers are familiar to HH but the Eastern people are more conservative and unfortunately not that much open the mind as Western. But for sure, they are so naive and very polite also unbelievable hospitable. Generally, they do not expect too much thing from you but they would definitely curious about you. During the HH in Eastern Turkey the people could not understand what you are doing. Mostly they would think that you lost your way and you need help. They would try to put you in bus station. Be polite and respectful them but also stay far away a little bit and not get close that much even if they would offer you lot of small things (tea, coffee, lunch etc). Offering these kinds of thing in Eastern Turkey is traditional. If you do not feel comfortable yourself in your lift, please feel free to stop the lift nearest village and say them that you changed your mind and wants to see that village or something like that. We do not suggest to girls HH without guy especially in Eastern Turkey. Try to remember your lift car number and also some other information about driver (name, job, from which city he is). If something be happened please read next title.

Emergency

Ambulance

The phone number of ambulance is 112. Do not forget that this is only for medical help and the number works all around Turkey. Calling that number is free by your phone or any public phone on the street and you will be connected nearest hospital or ambulance service. Please try to give them where you are and what happened. Indeed the people who received your call might not know English. If you are in city center, find someone else and tell him/her ambulance you need they will call that service and explain your address/position. If you are in the out side of city, nature or on the road, try to be patient and relax and explain to him/her your situation and where more/less you are. Try to remember which city or village you passed last time, how many minutes or kilometers you are far away from that village or city. Do not forget to be relax and please speak clearly and in Turkish, Ambulance has same saying within English (Ambulans). If you can not manage the conversation, you can also call your old or next Turkish host and wish his/her help. He/she can call the same number and explain the situation and they will organize to help you.

Police / Gendarme

The phone number of Police service is 155 and the Gendarme’s is 156. It is also free to call by your phone or any other public phone and in any criminal situation you can call that number. If you are in rural place, in the out of city, nature or on your road you have to call Gendarme (156) and tell them where you are. These places are on responsibility of Gendarme. The police center responsibility is only city center. But do not forget to call that number, in only emergency criminal situation and if you think that the police should be there (to write report or if they should see some clues related with criminal). Before calling them, be sure about that, otherwise if the situation is not that much urgent, you can already go nearest police center and explain them the situation.

Fire

During the summer it is the big problem in Turkey especially in the western part. Every year thousand of hectares forest in Turkey is fired. Please take your human being responsibility and if you see any clues which can be big fire in national parks, forests etc call the fire service which is the number 110.

Learning Turkish

See also

and his other photos http://www.alpalper.com/portfolyo.html

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