Turkey - An Overview

 

 

 

 

My week in Turkey was one of the best weeks of my life! We had an amazing group of Kiwis and Aussies on the bus as well as a fantastic tour guide - it was amazing to be around my fellow Kiwis again! Logan and I were up at 4am on Saturday 21st April and headed to Heathrow airport. Our flight was delayed and hour and delayed landing an hour then had to wait another hour to get through customs - no one seemed to queue up at this airport! If your a New Zealander you can enter Turkey for free - every other country has to pay a £10 visa fee. Even though we arrived a day early we got our free hotel transfer through On The Go Tours so we were stoked!! The whole week we stayed at 4 star hotels (some nicer than others!), all of the locals were really nice and friendly and I felt very safe. Before I left I had this image of Turkey in my head of dusty roads, run down houses and men that wouldn't be that pleasant towards women but I found my trip to be the exact opposite. In saying that we were in very touristy areas and on a bus tour plus I was with Logan and a few other guys for the first few days so I wasn't exactly a single women walking around myself. There is so much incredible history in Turkey - I really had no idea especially with the ancient Roman ruins. The markets are really something else - they are SO huge and you need a few days to see everything, its very busy and crowded but not as bad as a market in London! If I had come straight from New Zealand I would have felt a bit overwhelmed but Im just so used to busy bustling cities now I almost get a buzz off of it! It does get a bit annoying with everyone you walk past saying 'Hey lady, hey pretty women where you from? Aussie Aussie Aussie... like constantly. The funniest one was when someone asked if I was from Australia and I said no but your close and he replied, 'Ah! Canada!'

Coming from London everything was pretty cheap for us - you could get a really yum huge dinner on the roof of a restaurant looking out over the ocean for 15-20 lira which is around £7 (you pay that for an entree in London!) coming from NZ I would say everything is the same price as home so a $15 dinner would be a 15 lira dinner in Turkey so its better to go over with pounds as its pretty much 3-1. When your at the famous sites and someone takes a photo of you (the ones you can pick up at the end) you will pay 5 lira (£2) - if you want a touristy photo like that in London you would pay £20 easy. There is so much to see and do especially in Istanbul and the culture and tradition in Turkey is so unique I just can't say how much I loved the place - I am definitely looking into checking out the rest of Turkey now!

The toilets are pretty interesting - all places we went had a western toilet option but there are more of the traditional Turkey ones (see photo!) 

If you want to go into any of the Mosques then you have to be covered up - you can't have your knees or shoulders showing either but they have scarves and skirts on site for you to put on before you enter. So many Turkish speak fluent English or at least enough to communicate so that was helpful as well - again its good try and learn a few Turkish words.

Food and drink was plentiful and delicious! I had absolutely no problems eating there even though I can't eat wheat - lots of meat and fish, rice, potatoes, salads etc even their cakes are made with rice flours so the whole week I had no issues whatsoever. We mainly had buffets especially at the hotels and you do get a bit over them but its food so you just eat what your given! No one got sick and everything was really clean - we did eat a few dodgy places at the end of the trip so if your going to more authentic areas of Turkey I'd say the food wouldn't be as good as the touristy places.

Weather - HOT! When the girls went last year it averaged 16 degrees and was freezing on their Anzac night but we had weather up to 28 degrees!!!! I was melting especially since I had packed for cooler weather! But I'm not going to complain - it was soooo nice to feel proper heat again and get a bit of colour! Back to being just white and not transparent white haha! The night in the stands (outdoors) waiting for the dawn service was fine as well I didn't even end up sitting in my sleeping bag just had it over my legs but I was wearing a few layers of thermals and my amazing Kathmandu jacket - I got it for sale for £75 and they usually retail at £150 ($300) but its the best jacket I have ever bought, its so light yet so toasty warm - I wear it all the time!

Overall, what's the best advice I can offer on Turkey?? BOOK YOUR TICKETS AND GO!!