lcuy

Based on some of your comments to my earlier "Where should we go?" thread, we have decided on Turkey in September.

If any of you would be willing to help with the details, I've posted my questions here:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-in-turkey.cfm

Thanks! And I WILL file a report prior to the Boston GTG. Maybe even bring favors from Turkey....

dgunbug

Have a great trip to Turkey!

Guenmai

If you're in Istanbul, try the Hotel Empress Zoe. It's in Sultanhamet, the old area and a 10-minute walk from the Topaki Palace(sp?). The rooms on the top of the hotel are cool and with a terrace. The hotel is across from the mosque, so you will hear the call to prayer, but one gets used to it. It's also a 10-minute walk for the Blue Mosque and 5 minutes from Aya Sophia. It's a block from the Four Seasons and one can see the yellow wall from part of the breakfast room of it. It wasn't easy to sit in the breakfast room and view the wall of my beloved Four Seasons. But, in 1999 my room at the Empress Zoe was $50.00 cash, as the owner is from San Francisco and gave a discount for cash dollar payment. But, the Four Seasons then was around $300. And since it was an Istanbul and Paris trip, I went cheap in Istanbul. LOL! Happy Travels!

ekscrunchy

I read through the other thread and can tell you that it is very reasonable to hire a car with driver if for some reason you do not wish to rent your own car. Roads in the areas you mention are very good. We hired a car with driver a few years ago for the trip from Istanbul down the north Aegean coast to Foca and Sirince, seeing Efes and Bergama as day trips. Let me know if I can help in any way. Turkey is a very large country, so think of this as merely the first foray into a place that will probably call you back for repeat visits.

rhkkmk

think car pets in you spending.... also leather jackets are a real bargain....go to the factories between downtown and the airport...

a trip out to one of the islands from constantinople is a real treat one day...

Kathie

I was initially thrown by Bob's suggestion of car pets - what is he thinking? cats? dogs? Is the driver supposed to bring pets or the passenger?

I did buy lovely carpets in Istanbul... make sure you know what you are buying and what the value is back home.

Femi

LOL, I also paused to envision the possibilities of various car pets!

Craig

We enjoyed Antalya and bought our carpets there, at about half the price they were trying to sell them in Istanbul (lower overhead).

rhkkmk

we also went there... there are a few nice resorts along the seaside...

ekscrunchy

Lcuy: Are you interested in carpets?

Femi

Or car pets?

Kathie

lol, Femi, I refrained from posting that!

lcuy

I am interested in carpets, but after so many trips to India, not sure I want to talk to a carpet salesman ever again! I have been looking for the perfect silk carpet for years. Can anyone recommend specific carpet shops in Turkey?

And I love car pets.... our Rat terrier loves being one, too. He even likes his car pet seat belt.

ekscrunchy

Most of the carpets you will see will not be silk. I would make sure to price silk carpets from Turkey at home before you leave, as it is such a complex world with no actual rules on pricing, or anything else. I know what you mean about being carpeted out after trips to India!

I have quite a few Turkish carpets in my place, but I've bought almost all of them here in NYC, strange as that sounds! I just did not have the time to devote to carpet shopping on my last trip to Istanbul and from what I saw, the prices were not all that much lower in Turkey as compared to home but I am sure they would have been lowered a good deal with rounds of tea and discussion. Of course you can buy small rugs for a few hundred dollars but I do not think that is what you are interested in from your comment about silk.

I can recommend one very good shop for fine carpets in Istanbul; I am sure there are many others.

See the details here, from my (unfinished) trip report, the first one I wrote here:

http://www.cetinkayagallery.com/


http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...onpart-one.cfm

cigalechanta

Lucy, this is in today's New York Times.

http://travel.nytimes.com/2010/06/27...tml?ref=travel

cigalechanta

P.S. Luisah has her three weeks in Turkey report up on the Europe board

Kristina

Lucy-
One of my favorite food blogs is called "Eating Asia." It's done by two US expats who live in Malaysia. She is a professional writer and he's an amazing photographer.
Anyway, they are currently traveling in Turkey and posting all sorts of incredible stuff about the food there. You might want to check it out.
http://eatingasia.typepad.com/
The photos of the food alone is enough to make me want to go to Turkey.

nanabee

I really don't think you should go to Turkey. If you are so unfamiliar with it and have to ask advice from strangers, I think you should just punt it and fly to San Diego instead!

dgunbug

Icuy,
If you end up in Antalya, be sure to take a day trip to Side. The ruins there are great and they open up to the beach, so take along a bathing suit. There is also a lovely shopping area there - very touristy, but fun. Side is hardly mentioned in the travel books and it was a great surprise for us.

ekscrunchy

Right, do not go to Turkey!

Much better to remain home and start threads about Mel Gibson's domestic life!


The mention of Side brings back great memories. I spent two weeks there, mostly lounging on the beach, on my first visit to Turkey, many years ago. (Spent 6 weeks in Turkey on that trip, traveling by bus and boat)

Side was magical! I've never returned for fear of its having been spoiled and am glad to hear that it is still lovely.