Facts for the Traveler
Passport and Visas
The following is the information from the travel guide of the Ministry
of Tourism of the Republic of Turkey. The information is subject to change.
You should check with your nearest consulate for up-to-date info.
1) Nationals of the following countries can enter Turkey with a
valid passport; a visa not required:
a) Up to 3 Months
Germany, Argentina, Australia, Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Belgium, Belize,
United Arab Emirates, Denmark, Marocco, Fiji, Finland, France, Granada,
South Korea, The Netherlands, Iran, Switzerland, Iceland, Jamaica, Japan,
Canada, Qatar, Kenya, Kuwait, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Liechtenstein,
Luxemburg, Malaysia, Malta, Mauritius, Monaco, Norway, Oman, St. Lucia,
San Marino, Seychelles, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Chili, Trinidad-Tobago,
Tunisia, Vatican City, New Zealand, Greece, Ecuador, Sweden.
b) Up to 2 Months
The Republic of Croatia, The Republic of Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina,
Romania, Macedonia
c) Up to 1 Month
Bolivia, Kazakhistan, Kyrgyzistan, The Republic of South Africa.
2) For the countries mentioned in above Clauses, and Bulgaria,
a transit visa is not required.
3) Nationals of the following countries require a visa:
a) USA, Austria, United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Israel, and Portugal,
can obtain a sticker visa at border gates (Up to 3 Months).
b) Nationals of the Commonwealth of Independent States (except Kazakhistan
and Kyrgyzistan) Hungary, Poland, The Czech Republic, Slovakia, Lithuania,
Latvia, Estonia, Georgia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia can obtain
a sticker visa at border gates (Up to 1 month)
c) Nationals of Guatemala and Sri Lanka can obtain a visa for up to 15
days at border gates,Nationals of Jordan, up to 30 days.
Nationals of Indonesia can enter the country for two months by obtaining
a visa at no charge at the border gates.
d) Nationals of all other countries require a visa, which can be obtained
from the nearest Turkish embassy or consulate.
Health risks : While no vaccinations are legally required, polio,
tetanus, diptheria, typhoid, hepatitis A & B, rabies and TB are all
present in Turkey: vaccinations should be considered. Travellers to Turkey's
steamy regions (Marmara and the Black Sea Coast) should also stock up
on their favourite anti-malarial gear. It's also worth mentioning that
thousands of people die in traffic accidents in Turkey each year
Time : GMT/UTC plus two hours
Electricity : 220V, 50 Hz
Weights & measures : Metric
When to Go
Spring (April to June) and autumn (September to November) are best.
The climate is perfect on the Aegean and Mediterranean coasts then, as
well as in Istanbul. In high summer the coastal resorts are stinking hot:
your body may like to do as the locals do and take a siesta during the
heat of the day. From late October to early April, the beach scene more
or less shuts down. There's little rain between May and October except
along the Black Sea coast, but from about mid-June, the mosquitoes come
out in plague proportions in some areas. Eastern Turkey should really
be visited from late June to September, as snow may close roads and mountain
passes in the colder months.
Festivals & Events
The dates for Muslim religious festivals are celebrated according to a
lunar calendar; the dates are locked in every few years by Muslim authorities.
Only two religious holidays are public holidays: Seker Bayrami, a 3-day
festival at the end of Ramazan (30 days in December-January when a good
Muslim lets nothing pass the lips during daylight hours), and Kurban Bayrami
(March-April) which commemorates Abraham's near-sacrifice of Isaac on
Mt Moriah. In commemoration of God permitting Abraham to sacrifice a ram
instead of his son, every Turkish household who can afford a sheep buys
one, takes it home and slits its throat right after the early morning
prayers on the actual day of Bayram. Family and friends immediately cook
up a feast. You must plan for Kurban Bayrami: most banks close for a full
week, transportation will be packed and hotel rooms will be scarce and
expensive.
Secular festivities include camel-wrestling in mid-January, in the village
of Sel?uk, south of Izmir; National Sovereignty Day, April 23, a big holiday
to celebrate the first meeting of the republican parliament in 1920. Celebrations
abound in summer: there's a sloppy oiled wrestling festival in early June
at Sarayi?i, near Edirne; the country Kafkas?r Festival near Artvin in
north-eastern Turkey in the 3rd week of June; the International Istanbul
Festival of the Arts (late June to mid-July); Bursa's Folklore and Music
Festival in mid-July and Diyarbakir's Watermelon Festival in mid or late
September. The whole country stops, just for a moment, at 9.05 am November
10, the time of Atat?rk's death in 1938.
Attractions in Turkey
Istanbul
For many centuries the capital of the civilised world, Istanbul remains
the heartbeat of Turkey. It's a well-worn but still glorious metropolis
with about 12 million residents, an impressive setting straddling Europe
and Asia, and an unchallenged place in the country's history, folklore,
commerce and culture. Although it's packed, pungent and polluted, the
Bosphorus Strait, which connects the Black and Marmara Seas, and the Golden
Horn, a freshwater estuary, help to maintain a sense of openness and space.
For several thousand years before the construction of the Bosphorus Bridge
in 1973, the only way to go between the European and Asian parts of the
city was by boat. A second bridge was completed in 1988, a third is planned
and a metro is being developed.
Istanbul's dateline spans 3000 years, so it's worth boning up your sense
of history in order to be able to distinguish a hippodrome from a harem.
The Topkapi Palace, residence of the sultans from the 15th century
to the early 1800s, is a must see. The palace's harem (imperial
family quarters) was much like a small village, housing up to 500 people
at any time, including up to 300 concubines. The imperial treasury
is another palace highlight. It's stuffed with gold, silver, diamonds
and other flashy bits and bobs.
Aya Sofya, the Church of the Divine Wisdom, was built by Justinian
in 548 when it was the greatest church in Christendom. A lot can happen
to a building in 14 centuries, especially in an earthquake zone, and the
church is now cluttered with buttresses, supports, kiosks and outbuildings
which hug its massive walls. The interior's immense dome is still impressive,
though. The Blue Mosque is a triumph of harmony, proportion and
elegance: its exterior elicits the sort of eye-boggling, weak-kneed admiration
which Aya Sofya's interior induces.
There's a serious danger of sightseer-overload in Istanbul but there are
plenty of ways to lower the risk. Take a ferry cruise up the Bosphorus
or wander the Grand Bazaar, a maze of narrow streets where you
can buy a bangle, a carpet, or just browse. Uzunçarsi Caddesi is
the less-touristy alternative, where you'll encounter woodturners' shops,
hunting equipment and clothing merchants. In the Beyoglu area, north of
the bridge, it's always fascinating to take a stroll down Istiklal
Caddesi, the main drag. This was where high-class Ottomans and colonial
Europeans rubbed shoulders a century ago in a fusty festa of frock-coats
and parasols. If you squint a little (okay, a lot), you may be able to
imagine this grand street in its heyday.
Sultanahmet, in the old city, is the best place to look for a bottom-end
or middle-range hotel. Taksim Square has many modern middle to upper-end
places. The restaurants along Sultanahmet's Divan Yolu are the most obvious
places to eat, but you'll be doing your money belt a favour if you head
out of the tourist zone for a meal. There are lots of little places in
the Grand Bazaar where you can sit and fill up slowly on a procession
of small dishes. Istiklal Caddesi is also full of small grill joints -
the nicest are probably up the side streets to the south.
Ankara
Turkey's capital is a sprawling urban mass in the midst of the Central
Anatolian semi-desert. It's very different from the Ottoman town of Angora
which preceded it on this site, a quiet place where long-haired goats
were raised and their fleece knitted into fluffy jumpers. Since 1920 when
Atatürk set up his provisional government here, Ankara's main business
has been government but several significant attractions make it worth
a short visit.
Most visitors head straight for Hisar, the Byzantine citadel atop
the hill east of the old city, and the nearby Museum of Anatolian Civilsations.
A couple of km to the south is Atatürk's mausoleum, a monumental
building, spare but beautiful, and echoing the architecture of several
great Anatolian empires. The Presidential Mansion is preserved
as Atatürk used it, with decor and furnishings of the 1930s including
billiard table and cigar-and-brandy nook. There's a lot of ancient history
around too. Roman Ankara was a city of some importance, and Roman
ruins are dotted in amongst the mosques and monuments of Muslim Anatolia.
Most of the cheaper hotels and restaurants are in old Ankara, a km or
so north-east of the train station.
Ephesus
Of Turkey's hundreds of ancient cities and classical ruins, Ephesus
is the grandest and best preserved. Indeed, it's the spunkiest classical
city on the Mediterranean. Ephesus was Ionia, a flourishing cultural centre
during the Greek Empire, and a busy provincial capital during Roman times.
Ionia's Temple of Diana was counted among the Seven Wonders of
the World, and the city was generally renowned for its wealth and beauty.
Sts Paul and John took up the quill in Ionia and the Virgin Mary is said
to have spent her twilight years here. A walking tour of the ruins will
take at least half a day, and if you're here in summer, start early, because
it gets stinking hot by high noon. Places you'll come across include the
Grotto of the Seven Sleepers in which seven persecuted youths slumbered
for two centuries, then woke up and ambled down to town for a meal; the
colossal Harbour Gymnasium; the grand marble-paved Arcadian
Way; the impressive Temple of Hadrian and a scattering of fountains,
pools, brothels, libraries and public toilets.
Selçuk, a town of 25,000 people with more than its fair share of
nagging touts, is the main tourist centre for the region. There's a beautiful
museum in the centre of town and a fair swag of Roman, Christian
and Muslim sights including the St John Basilica and a Byzantine
Aqueduct. Izmir is the closest transportation hub. Frequent trains
and buses trundle the 1 hour trip to Selçuk which is a mere 3km (2mi)
from Ephesus.
Bodrum
Bodrum is the South Aegean's prettiest resort, with a yacht harbour
and a port for ferries to the Greek island of Kos. Palm-lined streets
ring the bays, and white sugar-cube houses, now joined by ranks of villas,
crowd the hillside. Boating, swimming, snorkelling
and scuba diving are prime Bodrum activities. At night Bodrum's
famous discos throb, boom and blare, keeping much of the town awake until
dawn. Both Turkish and foreign visitors complain about the ear-splitting
cacophany, but the local attitude seems to be, 'If you wanted peace and
quiet, why did you come to Bodrum?'. If this sounds like your kind of
town, you can grab a bus to Bodrum from just about anywhere - it's 4 hours
to Izmir by road. There are frequent ferries to Kos in summer, and a hydrofoil
Antalya
Antalya is the chief city on Turkey's central Mediterranean coast. As
well as several km of pebble beaches and a historic Roman-Ottoman core,
Antalya is a good base from which to explore the quieter beach towns and
more spectacular ancient cities of the region. Side, 75km (47mi)
east of Antalya, is the increasingly popular beach town once chosen by
Mark Antony and Cleopatra for a romantic tryst. Alanya, 115km (71mi)
east of Antalya, is another sea-sun-n-sand joint with a mini-Miami feel.
Patara is a party town a few hundred km south-west of Antalya.
The beach here is a simply splendid 20km (12mi) long and there are Roman
ruins in amongst the dunes. You'll have to do your sunset-watching
elsewhere, however, as the beach closes at dusk to give sea turtles access
to their nests. The towns along the Mediterranean coast are all linked
by bus and dolmus services (especially frequent in summer). |
