CURRENCY
The monetary unit in Turkey is Turkish Liras, the present currency consist of metal coins worth 1 YKr, 5 YKr, 10 YKr, 25 YKr, 50 YKr, 1 YTL and of bank note worth 5 YTL, 10 YTL, 20 YTL, 50 YTL, 100 YTL. The exact rate of exchange of all foreign currencies is supplied daily by banks and exchange offices.
CHEQUES and CREDIT CARDS
Eurocheques are cashed by banks and many hotels, restaurants and shops, which also accept most international credit cards.
ELECTRIC CURRENT
Throughout Turkey the electric current is 220 volt A.C. (50 Hz). Turkish plugs are same of European size (Accept U.K's).
FOODS and RESTAURANTS
The Turks have been making yoghurt for nearly two thousand years and it still remains a staple of Turkish food. It can be consumed as a beverage, applied as a sauce or eaten from small containers sold everywhere. A Turkish entree normally consists of the "Meze", a mouth watering array of dishes that contain everything from cold beans, fried or mashed eggplant, boiled shrimps, rice wrapped in vine leaves, white cheeses, chilled cucumbers, chillies or salty fish. All this will be served with Turkey's most delicious bread, cold, hot or flat like a pancake and covered in melted butter. If you still have after the "Meze", then choose from a wide selection of lamb, beef or chicken kebabs. Deserts consist of fresh fruit or very rich pastries full of nuts, sugar and honey. Turkish cuisine is not demanding on the palate, but is very fattening. So weight-watchers beware!
HEALTH
There are a number of excellent hospitals run to international standarts; in
Istanbul American Hospital +90212 231 40 50
French Hospital +90212 248 47 56
German Hospital +90212 243 81 00
International Hospital +90212 574 78 02
LANGUAGE
Turkish is the common spoken language, but most shopkeepers can speak rudimentary English, German, French and even Italian. All directions, apart from tourist signs, are written in Turkish.
PETROL
The cost of petrol January 2008 (per litre);
unleaded US $ 2.95.-
diesel US $ 2.15.-
RELIGION
The Turkish population is 99% Muslim. Turkey is a secular state which grants complete freedom to worship for non-Muslims, including Christians Armenians, Greeks and Jews.
TIPPING
Turkey is noted for its exquisite design in handicrafts, porcelain, silver, steel, glass, furs, leather, carpet, gold and even furniture.
Shopping Hours;
In general, shops are open as follows;
Monday-Saturday 09.00-20.00
Sunday * 11.00-20.00
* Some of shops
TIPPING
Tipping is customary and 10-15% is considered to be the norm in most hotels and resturants. There is no need to tip a taxi as your driver will usually round up the total fair to the next five hundred thousand Liras.
WHAT TO WEAR
Turkey is a warm country for most of the year, and casual wear including shorts, pants, T-shirt and sunglasses are preferred during the Spring and Summer months. A good sturdy pair of walking shoes are essential, including a sweater for the occasional chilly evening after a suntan. Winter travellers will definitely need warm waterproof clothing, including hats, gloves and thick sweaters.
Turkey, large country bridging two continents, the land of contrasts and contradictions, a high plateau where have blended many bright and various civilization coming from the four cardinal points. Altough not far from the main European capitals (app. 3 hours to reach Istanbul), it is however still not discovered as a tourist attraction. Turkey is, first of all a tremendous variety of landscape. The Agean coast line with its Grecian sky, the Balck Sea coastland with its dense forests, the high arid plateau of Anatolia, the "Turkish Riviera" in the south with its beautiful sand beaches sur-rounded by wooded mounains, the austere and wild mountains of the East and most of all Cap-padocia a unique moonlike landscape, carved by erosion in the volcanic rock. Turkey is also the rendez-vous of many civilizations, the remains of which abound all over the country, the inhabitants of Catalhoyuk, the neolithic city recently unearthed, the Hittites, the Greeks and the
Romans, the Byzantines and finally the Seljuk Turks and Ottomans, all of them have left their imprint on this land located at the cross road of the East and the West. It is also in Turkey where there are supposed to remains of Noah's Ark (Mount Ararat) where St.Paul was born (in Tarsus), where St. John (and maybe the Virgin Mary) died, where the great councils of Nicea, Constantinople, Ephesus took place.
Turkey is a large country lying partly in Asia andpartly in Europe. The country's area of 301.380 square miles includes 9.158 square miles in Europen Turkey, known as Eastren Thrace and larger area of 292.222 square miles in Asia, called Anatolia. The Europen and Asian sides are divided by the Bosphorus, the sea of Mar- mara and Dardanelles. Anatolia is a high pla- teau rising progressively towards the East and broken by the valleys of about fifteen rivers. There are numerous lakes and some, such as lake Van, are as large as inland seas. The coastline of Turkey's four seas is more than 5.000 miles.
There are 70 million inhabitants in Turkey, 6 million of which live in the capital Ankara. Istanbul is the biggest city, population is about 13 million.
Marmara, Agean and Mediterrannean. Coast; typical mediterrannean coast, typical mediter-rannnean climate with hot summers and mild winters. Black Sea coast; temperate climate with warm summers, mild winters and relatively high rainfall. Central and East Anatolia; steppe climate with hot dry summers and cold winters.