Tips for Travellers in Turkey

Turkish Baths are great fun and a visit to one of the ultimate Ottoman pleasures is a must for any holiday. To take full advantage of the the experience, make sure you go at the beginning of your stay so your skin leave it to the end of the holiday, your tan will be scrubbed away!

If you're travelling around with hire car and intend to visit mosques, keep a 'mosque kit' in the carto avoid embarrasment. Before entering a mosque, the head, shoulders arms and legs of ladies should be fully covered; this can easily be accomplished with two large locally made shawls, which can also be used as beach wreaps, picnic table cloths or sofa throwes when you get home. One shawl tied sarong style over shorts will enable men to enter a mosque without giving offence (with a shirt, obviously!).

Mosquito bites won't give you malaria, but can make you itchy and miserable. Buy an electric mossie repellent, and the tablets or liquid to go with it, as soon as you arrive, and turn it on before you go out in the evening. Use lots of repellent on any exposed skin, especially around sunset. If you've forgotten to bring any with you, the local brand is called KOV and is available at any chemist.

New Turkish Lira :

The re-denomination of the Turkish Lira by dropping six digits, effective as of 1st of January 2005, heralds the beginning of a new era for the Turkish financial markets and economy. As of January 1st, 2005, the new monetary unit of Turkey will be the New Turkish Lira (YTL).The transition to New Turkish Lira will bring about many changes:

* The new monetary unit of the Republic of Turkey will be the New Turkish Lira (YTL in domestic, TRY in international markets). The New Turkish Lira will be further subdivided into the New Kuruş. One New Turkish Lira will be equal to 100 New Kuruş.
* Turkish Lira (TRL) values will be converted into New Turkish Lira by removing six zeroes; thus one million Turkish Lira (1.000.000 TRL) will be equal to one New Turkish Lira (1 TRY).
* Any reference made to Turkish Lira at legislative and administrative transactions, court decisions, legal transactions, negotiable instruments, documents that would produce legal effects and documents related to payment and exchange instruments will be considered to have been made to New Turkish Lira at the conversion rate specified above.
* Both new and old liras will be legal tender during 2005. At the end of 2005, the banknotes of Turkish Lira will be withdrawn from the market and the New Turkish Lira will be the only legal form of tender.

Please check http://www.ytl.gen.tr/ytl/index_eng.php for detailed information about the New TL and the banknotes.

If you want to take photos of 'cute, ethnic locals', ask permission first. Sign language works fine, and means that you don't insult anyone unintentionally. Many village ladies have strong objections to be photographed.

If your hotel asks you not to put loo paper down the loo; don't! Some plumbing pipes are too narrow to cope with paper, and you will then suffer the agonies of having a blocked loo which could take some time to sort out.

Don't encourage touts who hassle on the street. Ignore them, and make a point of shopping or eating somewhere else.

Let's Go Turkey

Antique Kilims of Anatolia