OK OK so we all want to know more about Türkiye and it's culture. so I decided to start with a question hoping that people would share experiences to help people understand the whole of Türkiye etc.

Where have you been in Turkey? what did you like about it? and what was the culture like?

You can add more questions and answers to this forum if you like. I just started it to help people find more information, so that one day they may even be intrigued to visit other places!

Hope this helps

This is a great idea. I have to say that I had the most amazing experiences in Turkey while riding the bus. YES, this is true. But when taking long 10hr. rides I got to talk to people who spoke no english and I only had a spanish/turkish dictionary. It is amazing how you can communicate flipping pages of the dictionary! On two different occasions I met families, on the bus, and they 'adopted' me. They invited me to eat with them, made sure I was ok at every stop, offering to buy me things, inviting me to pray at the mosques at the bus terminals with them and when we reached the final destinations really wanted me to come home with them. One woman even took a necklace off her neck and forced me to take it. I refused but she insisted. I really learned a lot about humility and true kindness. My only travel advice would be to take the bus!!!

I used bus to travel from Istanbul to Antalya (11 hours) and back and I have to say that it was heaven, compared to the Greek buses I was used to. The vehicle was nice and there was a service which provided us with water,coffee, tea and some simple snacks all the time. The bus driver was changing every 4 hours I think and we had a safe trip without problems both times. Not to mention that the ticket was really cheap

Of course there are many different companies that travel to the same destination, of which some are good and some not. Maybe I was lucky (I travelled with METRO) but it was a really good trip.

I used busses a lot when I was in Turkey for 37 days in May and June this year, I guess I have travelled about 4000 km with them. They are most of the time well equipped, airconditioned. But, to people who never used Turkish buses, I have some warnings and tips.

First: when at an otogar (bus station) always check the different companies. There will be a lot of touts offering you a ticket but not always the best schedule times or the cheapest. Just ignore them and check it all by yourself at the desks of the many companies. Pick the one you like best, with best times, best prices and/or nicest people. Check the price they tell you with the written price on the list on the desk or next to the office walls. It is not much but a few companies try to get some more money from you, like 5 or 10 lira.

Second: always carry water with you on a long trip. Most of the bus companies offer you tea, coffee and/or water but some don't. I had two companies of which the conductor pretended not to understand my English and even not my (poor) Turkish question (lutfen, bir su).

Third: be sure they bring you to the city you want to. For exemple if you want to go to Goreme in Cappadocia almost all companies will stop at Nevsehir. Decent companies will give you service for free to Goreme with a minibus but they are not all decent. Or some companies will drop you off just at the side of the road at the outskirts of a city. It happend to me in Mardin and the bus was gone before I could ask anything.

Fourth: most companies will offer you extra service to the city center because most otogars are at least 4 km from that. Just ask 'service var mi?' and they'll point you to a minibus. This minibus is included in your ticket, you should not pay extra. Some cities though don't have this service like Urfa in the south-east.

Fifth: are you a woman traveller alone? Don't worry about sitting next to strange men. They will give you a seat next to another woman or even just by yourself.

Most important: have fun!

What is really enjoyable in Turkia, especially if you're in the mood for it, is bargaining.

I m the perfect customer. I never bargain, I rarely try the clothes I buy, I never change them even when I go home and find out they don't fit me and I feel obliged to buy something, when they have taken time to show me more than one products (I feel too ashamed to just thank them and go away). There was one night though, at Kusadasi, when I was really in a mood to bargain. I was looking for a sweater for my brother but nothing seemed good enough to me. Till I found it! A fantastic black Diesel sweater and most important of all, it was an original one.

The shop owner, around my age, came to help me. I asked to see it and I said I liked it. Asked for the price and I have to admit that I didn't like what I heard about it :-S I would buy it anyway (after all I have only one brother ) but I decided to bargain. The guy started crying about the expenses of his shop and swearing that he was giving it for a few liras only, over it's real cost. I said I don't bite, lol and asked for a discount. He took the price some more down, but not enough. I said come on, I m an accountant, I know how these things work. 'Hadi hadi, do something better'. He said he couldn't so I thanked him for his time and tried to go. He called me back and when I turned, he showed me his wedding ring. He said 'let me tell you the truth. I WILL earn many liras from this cloth if you buy it. But as you see I m married. I have a veeeeeery greedy wife. She always asks for more and more. How can I cover all her expenses eeeeeee? She ll kill me! Please show some mercy!' I couldn't resist laughing while listening to his story. In the end he started laughing as well. I told him that I would buy it anyway, since I was tired of looking and in fact, I was never planning to leave, I was only trying my chances. He offered me a tea, I paid it in the first price, didn't accept the discount he had given me and left, wishing him all the luck on earth with his wife. Then he called me back again and gave me a woolen sweater for my daughter for free, to thank me

Oh Twinny, I loved your story! I am a sucker for a sob story and useless at bargaining because of it! Like you I never try things on and my wardrobe is full of ill-fitting clothes, still in their carrier bags! Maybe we would be rich without this habit?

hello i am ifigeneia from greece..i've found this site today by chance and i am happy about it..well sophie this is ok...we are women and shopping clothes is what women love in all world..what can you say about me buying a kilim from kapalicarsi last time,when i visited istanbul
i hope i am spelling right the turkish words..

actually its not only for women
that shopping crissis hits me often aswell... thats why i keep myself away from shopping malls hahaha

yes maybe i put the subject wrong way

Καλώς σας βρήκα...
happy to know that i am not the only one

Another tip for those interested in Turkey: the country is not only the coastal area as Marmaris, Kusadasi, Alanya and Side! Or just Istanbul. Very beautiful these places but widen your view, there is so much more to see! Go to the Black Sea Region, to the east, to the south-east. So beautiful, such friendly people, such delicious food! Places like Hatay (Antakya), Mardin, Van, Urfa, Barhal, Trabzon and Ani (Kars) are definitely worth a visit.

well robino1 i guess that zakynthos is not the perfect choice concerning visiting my country...
i guess it is one of the most touristical places and one according to my opinion abused from many hotels and owners of touristic operators..if u visited for example santorini or macedonia or crete rhodes etc u would leave from here with other impressions..i hope you will change your mind about greek natural beauties in future..
bye

I'm glad this forum of mine is working so well Türkiye is a magificent place and it is good for everyone to find out more about it, because i guarantee you if you are persuaded to go to Türkiye by using this site you would be thanking this site for the rest of your life and it will be an experience you will not forget.

teşekkür ederim

My limited experience of Turkey is Istanbul twice and Olu Deniz on holiday!

I had "shopping" experiences in both. Istanbul we had a carpet shopping experience and in the end I had to take control (as all good women do!) and thank them profusly for their hospitality but we did not come to Istanbul loaded with GBP and about the best we can do is buy a couple of cups of tea

Now Olu Deniz was something else! I bought a couple of pairs of jeans (of course fake designer sorts!) from a cheeky shop assistant who called me to the front of the shop to tell me he thought I was very sexy. Well for that I got a Tshirt thrown in and a pair of socks!!

What did you say about culture?

OK, The kilim story reminds me of one of favorite memories in Istanbul, an incident when I first moved here almost 5 years ago.

I wasn't shopping for them, but I was just looking through carpet shops in Sultan Ahmet, which is without a doubt, the worst place to ever by a carpet (cok pahalı.
One shop, when I told the vendor I left my credit cards at work, 2 hours away in sakarya, he offered to drive me there with the carpet. That should tell you something about the markup.
But at another place, we walked into a fairly nice store a little down the hill, right on the metro line. I'm looking at some nice carpets and was asking about a particular pattern but with more green. The guy told me to follow him. We went to the far side of the store and honestly, behind some hanging carpets, they had what I can only call a secret elevator. As soon as we got to the top level, they had tea, water and sweets waiting for us. They were all dressed in dark suits and had radio ear pieces. They looked like the secret police. Within minutes, thy had about 10 green carpets layed out for us. At this point, I'm not think carpets, I'm thinking escape. Without trying to look uncomfortable, I was literally looking for the escape route. I saw no stairs, and we are there with nearly ten of these guys, two in front of the elevator. Talk about your hard sell...
Anyway, after about fifteen minutes of looking at the carpets and plotting my thoughts in my tea, I finally thought of a plan. You are saying "Keith, you could have just asked to leave", but trust me, my instincts were completely correct and they were not going to let us out without a credit card transaction (Russian Mafia, i dont know). I told them that my hotel was down the street and I had some pictures of my house in some photos there that I wanted to match color. I told them we would go get the photos and bring them back. They said they would send someone to go get them for us, immediately wanting the hotel name so they could call and arrange with the hotel. I told them this wasn't necessary, that we could go get it ourselves. The whole time this negotiation was going on, several of the senior "managers" there were whispering to each other about the situation and talking to people downstairs on their radios. Finally, I agreed that they were free to escort us to the hotel (which of course I wasnt staying at). The two suited guys that walked with us to the hotel, came into the lobby also, not even willing to wait outside. Me and my GF at the time (turkish mind you) took the elevator up a few floors and immediately "escaped" down a set of back stairs and out the back door. I didnt ever feel in danger, but didnt want any more confrontation either. My curiosity wouldnt let me just leave either. The girl and I looped around back to the front of the hotel acrossed the street and went into the second floor of a coffee shop by the window so we could see the hotel front. Within minutes, the guys came out of the hotel and were talking on the radios. Within literally two minutes, three more guys from the carpet place "the older ones" were in front of the hotel and they were obviously discussing the situation. One of the guys that just came went into the hotel alone. I assume he went into talk to the hotel frontdesk people to inquire about us. After about 5 minutes he came out. The 5 of them argued in front of the hotel for about a minute and then headed back to their carpet place.
Again, rather than ever being scared or angry, I enjoyed the game and we laughed about it the rest of the day. It was so unreal!!!
About one week later, I was alone and found myself in Sultan Ahmet again. I couldnt help myself. I walked passed the carpet shop very slowly, slow enough to be seen. I made eye contact with several of the guys from the week before. I couldnt help it but i got a big smile on my face. To this day, I still go by the carpet place whenever I'm over there, which is only when I get hungry for SultanAhemt kofte (the original, not the fake). And still, there are several of the same guys there and when they see me coming by, they laugh too...
I honestly could write a book on all the great and hilarious experiences I have had since I've been here.