Hi, <BR>My sister, son and I will be in Istanbul the end of November for 7 days. This seems like a lond time in the city. What would you suggest for excursions to other parts of Turkey?

Hi elizabeth, 2 places come to mind that you really should see if you are going to Turkey. The ancent city of Ephesus, which you can get to by flying to Izmir. Its about an hours flight and costs around $100.00 or less. Make sure you get a guide. Or fly to Kayseri or neveshir, also about an hours flight from Istanbul, same amount of money per ticket and see Cappadocia. This is a region with the most incredible landscape and history. Youy should also have a guide for Cappadocia. Either place is worth the time and money. You can do Istanbul easily on your own.

Hi Mary, <BR>Thanks for the information! Have you ever traveled to see the Lycian tombs? <BR>And how many tiimes have you been to Turkey? We hold tickets to travel 11/28/01. <BR>Liz

Liz, <BR> <BR>I am going to second Mary's suggestion, because it is exactly what we did and we loved it. We spent 4 nights in Istanbul, 2 nights in Urgup (near Neveshir) and one night outside Ephesus. We booked everything in Istanbul. The plane tix to Kayseri, 2 nights hotel and a one day tour came to about $160 each for 2. We added another tour on the second day for $30, since we enjoyed the first one so much. Next time I would do Ephesus and fly back to Istanbul the same evening, rather than staying in Izmir. We stayed in the Sultanamet area of Istanbul, which I highly recommend. Have fun!

Hi Liz, I'm so happy you're going to Turkey. They really need the tourist dollars right now. I see 1 US dollar equals about 1.6 million Turkish lira today, you are going to get alot for your money. We have only been to Turkey once, but I researched our trip for about a year before we left, because I didn't want to waste 1 minute! Yes, we saw incredibly neat Lycian tombs built into cliffs, but we got there aboard a Turkish Gulet. I know we travelled a windy coastal highway from Kas to Antalya, so I'm fairly certain you can get there by car or bus. Some of the towns we stopped in along the Med coast had them in the middle of town. They are really amazing, but truly pretty much everything we saw was. You're going to love the place.

I am marriedto a Turk and we return there every year. I would like to recommend so food that you should not miss. (please forgive spelling) <BR> <BR>First is manti (pronounced manta, soft "a's") - this is Turkish pasta filled with a meat mixture and served with garlic yogurt - simply to die for. You can see women sitting on the floor, rolling out the dough and then making the pasta by hand. <BR> <BR>Kabob - ground lamb mixed with some spices and parsley, then either formed into flatened meatballs or formed around skewers, both usually grilled - you can get it hot ("aga" close to how it sounds, soft a's again) or not hot ("aga deal" - again sounded out not spelled properly). <BR> <BR>Lentle soup - mergimik corba (sorry, forget how to spell lentle in turkish). This is usually quite incredible. <BR> <BR>Fusulia - beans, usually with a tomato base, plus onions, often served cold. <BR> <BR>Meze - appetizers, often eaten with raki (pronounced "raka" soft a's). Raki is a liquorice flavoured drink. you sit for about 3-4 hours drinkign raki and eating meze - do this with a view of the sea if possible - an wonderful experience. <BR> <BR>Lachmagun - Turkish pizza - a great quick lunch item. Take your lauhmagun, layer on onions and parsley (called midonous), fold/roll a bit like a tortia and eat. Wash it all down with Ayran - a yogurt drink - now this is a required taste, but you should try it once to get a feel for the flavours of the country. It is really just yogurt with water (yes, safe to drink) and often some salt. I really enjoy it. <BR> <BR>For breafast - olives (zaytin), feta/white cheese (beyez panir), salad (at least my in-laws love salad, tomoatoes if no salad), burek (very thin pasty, rolled up with feta and fried - yum!), tea (cay, pronounced chi). <BR> <BR>Burek is a popular food that can actually be made ina few different ways, rolled as I described above, or baked sort of like a savoury pie sold warm in large squares with potato (potatattes) or meat (kreama) - another good on the go lunch. <BR> <BR>Lastly, for desert - lokma - deep fried balls covered with a honey syrup. <BR> <BR>One place to check out in Istanbul is Taksim - a shopping area and very popular garthering area. You can stay for dinner in the "garden path" - thkn that is the name, lots of lights, noise, musicians, people - go for the atmosphere more than anything.

Just back from Turkey after 21/2 weeks there. Thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I think 3 full days is enough to see the major sights in Istanbul (altho 5 is good too), and a visit to Cappadoccia or the western mediterranean via Antalya will fill up the rest of the week very nicely. There's no need to have a hotel car pickup unless it is free. A taxi ride to Sultanahmet from the airport costs about $8 and they will accept US dollars. Most vendors actually prefer it. My husband, father in law and I arrived at differnt times and all paid about the same fare. I found the Turks to be mostly honest. The ruins in Ephesus is very impressive but a day trip is sufficient. Received much sympathy from the Turks concerning the terrorist crashes.