Turkey Tips

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Turkey! Grilled meats, haggling, and Troy. Turkey is a beautiful and friendly country which thousands of holidaymakers flock to each year. Here are some Turkey Tips to help with holiday survival!

Turkey Tips

1. Turkish Money

Like in Scotland during the Independence Referendum, the British pound is in demand. Lots of shops will change your pound (jewellery and other types of genuine fake shops) for Lira. Be careful of the shops that boast an extremely high rate, locals advised us they play a game and before you know it you are ripped off.

2. Dolmus or Not Dolmus, That is the Question

Do it! The Dolmus is a local minibus and some of the turns it attempts are questionable but as with every holiday I advise you to do it like a local. A run into the local town of Altinkum from the Venosa Beach was 2 Lira. Get off at Linekers for the start of the beach and take a ride on a Saturday to visit the market.

3. Genuine Fakes

If pleather ‘Channel’ or leather ‘Mike Kors’ is your bag (getit?) then Turkey is the place to be. The Dolphin Square shopping area of Altinkum had many shops selling cheap, to quite cheap to actually quite expensive bags. I stocked up on ‘fakebans’ for America. Fakeys bought in Thailand have not stood the test of time or handbag rummages…

3. What the Effe? The Local Beer 

The local beer is called Efes and it’s pretty tasty. The vodka tasted decent for local too and the bartenders were keen to put raki on fire for us.

4. Hammam Scrubs aka Violation 

This is a popular recreational activity. Stage one – sauna. Stage two – exfoliating mit. Stage 3 – soap sud wash. Stage 4 – washdown. This is supposed to be useful before you start tanning so do it on day one if possible. You need to be comfortable or at least accepting of a man touching you!

5. Turkish Phrases

Tee-she-kur=ederim: thanks
Loot-ven: please
Hi-ear: no
Evet: yes

Or so we think anyway! I am definitely keen to return to Turkey especially to witness the hot air balloons of Cappadocia, maybe not so much Geocache in Cappadocia which I am happy to leave to Will from The Broke Backpacker.

Finally, the water at the airport is daylight robbery. I am looking forward to purchasing a filtering bottle just to put two fingers up to the prices of airport bottled water. Infuriating when it is ‘free’ at the hotel.

 

What tips do you have for visiting foreign countries?

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