Data from the Istanbul culture and tourism directorate showed the number of foreign tourists visiting the metropolis dropped by 5.9 percent year-on-year between January and November in 2010.
Istanbul attracted 7.2 million foreign tourists in the first 11 months of 2010.
Data from the Istanbul culture and tourism directorate showed the number of foreign tourists visiting the metropolis dropped by 5.9 percent year-on-year between January and November in 2010.
Istanbul hosted 294,352 foreign tourists in January, 372,713 tourists in February, 489,884 tourists in March, 588,601 tourists in April, 688,821 tourists in May, 659,117 tourists in June, 819,420 tourists in July, 630,636 foreign tourists in August, 712,583 tourists in September, 715,567 tourists in October and 517,318 tourists in November.
Among the countries that sent largest number of tourists to Turkey, Germany ranked first with 12.9 percent, followed by Italy and the Russian Federation.
Britons are looking to warmer climates as winter takes hold in the UK.
Popular destinations include Egypt and Turkey, according to holiday firm Travel Counsellors with more people looking to 10 or 11-day breaks instead of the traditional fortnight.
Meanwhile the Canary Islands, Dubai and Thailand were top searches on lowcostholidays.co.uk, the online firm said.
Overall bookings were up 20% at Travel Counsellors, while the number visiting www.lowcostholidays.com had jumped 60% since the first snow fell, it said.
Hotels.com reported a huge rise of nearly 700% in searches on its site for holidays in Miami in comparison to last year.
The next-biggest rise was for Granada in Spain, followed by Florence in Italy and Orlando in Florida.
Hotels.com communications director Alison Couper said: “With the cold weather predicted to stay over December, it’s evident holidaymakers want to get as far afield as possible.”
The cook sits by the charcoal pit at Mangal 1, a Turkish barbecue restaurant in London. (Joe Ray for The Boston Globe)
LONDON — The scent of grilled meat floods the bus when the doors open. The Hackney district’s Stoke Newington Road is filled with Turkish barbecue restaurants that in-the-know Londoners flock to almost as much as to their beloved curry restaurants.
Inside the door of the Mangal I, a man seated before a charcoal pit has somewhere near two dozen skewers of lamb, chicken, quail, and vegetables going at once, his calm face appearing and disappearing behind a wall of smoke. The man at the grill seems to prepare every bite guests at the large restaurant will consume (there must be a prep cook in a kitchen somewhere), even chopping salad vegetables to orderin that same peculiar seated position.
What can I say about Istanbul? Three words come to mind: breathtaking, historical and expensive.
Visiting Istanbul has been my dream since I saw “The Cities of the Underworld” on the History Channel. Unlike many other places, people and stuff in general, my high expectations were fully met and even exceed. This includes transportation, food and accommodation, the topic of this post.
Transportation. Let’s start from the beginning—the Sabiha Gokcen Airport. It is a newly built thing, lot further than the Ataturk Airport, but comfortable and nice-looking. Discount airlines land there. It took us two hours to get from the airport on the Asian side to our hotel, but it was fine, because when else would we travel through that part of Istanbul? To get to the historical city, we took a bus, a ferry (crossing Bosporus from Asia to Europe) and a 20 minute walk. We could’ve taken a tram from the ferry, but the overwhelming presence of the city at 8 a.m. made us jump up and down, despite the luggage.
Transportation in Istanbul includes ferries across Bosporus, trams, buses and a subway. There is no subway in the historic part—I guess it makes sense, given that there are Byzantium antiques lying everywhere you dig. Mostly, we walked around, cause when you’re in Istanbul for 7 days, you don’t want to spend time looking at it from the tram window.
Accommodation. I was afraid that our hotel room would look different than its ad picture—happens all the time. However, it was exactly the same. We requested a room with a balcony that overlooked the courtyard, but got something lot better—a courtyard itself! And, there was an option of having a room with the view of the Marmara Sea, for additional 10 Euros, but we decided to save the money and were right: all of the balconies were facing the sea, including our first floor, so we saw it perfectly. I guess the more expensive room was on the highest floor and had a better perspective, but I bet it did not have A SWING AND A LITTLE GARDEN!
You can get any kind of accommodations you want—from a 10Euro hostel to a 160 overlooking-the-sea suite. Breakfast is included. Receptionists everywhere are extra sweet and speak around 4 languages. Breakfasts are usually same everyday, but ours included so much stuff that we could eat different food for a week—and even the shittiest breakfast offers 5 varieties of olives and cheeses, which is like amazing!
Food. Foodwise, we went to Istanbul prepared. We watched my favorite TV chef’s Antony Bourdain’s “No Reservations” in Istanbul and marked the places and the food we wanted to eat. Among them were: a whole lamb cooked in a stone pit, a delicious, calorie-packed wet burger and a lamb wrap with an unbelievable lavash.
Food in the historic part of the city (which is where you’ll end up being anyway) is 10 times more expensive then where the normal people live, so we just skipped lunch or dinner and ate once a day (well, after having like 5 courses for breakfast) and munched on bread, fruit and cheese we bought in the discount supermarket.
The hotel provided two bottles of water and that was wonderful, because you can’t drink tap water and there are no drinking fountains. For water, try discount supermarket, because its prices triple (literally) in the touristy places.
And as an endnote: almost every restaurant and hotel has a rooftop terrace. It is absolutely the best idea ever, so please don’t visit Istanbul in the winter, you’ll miss the terrace experience!
pics: the rooftop terrace in our hotel (can you see the sea?), the Bambi Cafe (poor Bambi, do they serve venison?), and I am passed by a historic tram (modern ones cruise the rest of the city).
via No Sex and the City: Our Trip to Istanbul–Part 1.
The Open Air Museum in Gorome is a UNESCO world heritage site.
When we think of lands of antiquity, two countries usually come to mind: Greece and Egypt. It is what we were taught in school regarding the land of Pharaoh’s and the cradle of democracy. The land that bridged these civilizations, Turkey, is a land that has as much history and is as much the cradle of civilization as are Greece and Egypt. She is a land of two continents, the bridge between Europe and Asia, a melting pot of cultures.
The Open Air Museum in Goreme is a UNESCO world heritage site.
Turkey (proper pronunciation: Turkiye) abounds in archeological sites throughout the 1,000-mile by 500-mile country. Modern man has inhabited this region since the Paleolithic age dating back tens of thousands of years.
She is a land about 10 percent larger than Texas, encompassing an area of 302,000 square miles. Istanbul, Ankara (the inland capitol) and Izmir (along the Aegean coast) are the three largest cities.
The country is Muslim; however, less than a third of the population practices their faith. She is the only secular country among Muslim nations; in other words, there is separation of church and state.
One will find a very modern, Europeanized land. The country is well developed from Ankara west. East of Ankara is not as developed with locals hanging on to traditional ways but still embracing cell phones and satellite television.
The first and foremost place to visit is Istanbul, formerly Constantinople, and prior to that Byzantium. This city of 16 million is full of history pre-dating the Roman Empire.
Istanbul requires a multi-day stay if you want to see many historic sites. A minimum of three days is recommended. Cruise ships stay in port for two days.
Reminiscent of the San Francisco Bay area with busy waterways, rolling hills, suspension bridges and a beautiful skyline, the city has a unique charm.
The major attractions are the Blue Mosque, the Hippodrome, Saint Sophia, Topkapi palace and the presidential Dolmabache Palace along the waterfront. A sunset cruise under the illuminated Bosporus suspension bridge is well worth the experience.
Most impressive is Saint Sophia (Hagia Sophia) cathedral, turned mosque, turned museum. This massive structure with 10-foot thick walls and 30-foot diameter support columns with an interior dome height of 200 feet has withstood the test of time, surviving multiple major earthquakes. Built centuries ago, she is truly an engineering marvel.
For shoppers, the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Market are where you can find countless souvenirs and reasonably priced goods.
Rivaling Istanbul as a major attraction is the south central region of Cappadocia.
This region reminds one of Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah. It is an area where millennia ago, volcanic eruptions laid down a thick layer of soft ash known as pumice. Consequently, early man was able to carve dwellings into the hillsides and underground. These shelters are similar to what one finds in our American southwest.
Attractions are the UNESCO world heritage site of the Open Air Museum in Gorome, where early Christians built countless churches in the hillsides; the fairy chimneys, cone shaped structures with basalt capstones; the vast underground labyrinth city of Kaymakli; and last but not least, early morning ballooning in Gorome.
The balloon rides are not your typical two- to four-person baskets: they take 20 passengers for a 45-minute ride 1,500 feet above the picturesque countryside.
You will want to spend a minimum of three nights enjoying Cappadocia.
Ruins of antiquity: there are many, Troy, Ephesus and Perge are but a few. The Greek and Roman empires dominated this land for centuries. On our tour, we visited Ephesus, a popular cruise ship destination. Beholding these ruins leaves one awestruck by the mastery of engineering involved.
Ankara, the capitol city, has two major attractions: the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations and the Mausoleum of Ataturk, the founder of modern day Turkey.
We were in the country for only one week, enough to whet our appetites for a return visit. I would recommend a two-week tour to fully enjoy Istanbul, Cappadocia and various sites of antiquity. There is much to see, and she is well worth the visit.
Chuck Weber
Chuck Weber is with Christopher Travel, 16375 Monterey Hwy #N, Morgan Hill. Contact him at 776-7818 or e-mail cw@christophertravel.com.
via GilroyDispatch.com | The country of Turkey is a cradle of civilization.
The Sultanahmet district in İstanbul will be made more visitor-friendly with a new, specially designed granite stone paving project for the area.
Monday, 06 December 2010 17:01
The Sultanahmet district in İstanbul will be made more visitor-friendly with a new, specially designed granite stone paving project for the area, the Fatih Municipality has announced.
Fatih Mayor Mustafa Demir said on Monday that the project will be completed within five months, before the start of next year’s peak tourist season.
The project will be carried out with funding from the İstanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture Agency.
The tourist district was closed to vehicle traffic earlier this year as part of another project by the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality Transportation Coordination Center (UKOME) to create more space and comfortable areas for visitors.
“There are currently eight different zones paved with eight different types of stone in the area, without any harmony between them,” said Demir, explaining the rationale behind this project.
“This paving project will encircle the Hippodrome of Constantinople. This area spans from the two ancient obelisks to Hagia Sophia and from the Sultanahmet Mosque to the end of the Kabasakal Avenue. There used to be cobblestoned paving almost everywhere on our historic peninsula. Those cobblestones were creating problems for vehicles but they were also not so comfortable to walk on for pedestrians. We are laying granite pavers similar to the cobblestones, but it will be much more comfortable to walk on. When it is finished, the area will look good and the new ground will perfectly match the surrounding historic wonders,” Demir said.
The cost of the project is estimated at TL 7 million.
“Our prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has shown a personal interest in the details of this project and attaches particular importance to it,” Demir said, explaining how Erdoğan, who was the former mayor of İstanbul, is also taking an interest in the project.
via Turkey to give Sultanahmet area a facelift [ WORLD BULLETIN- TURKEY NEWS, WORLD NEWS ].
