Ive never been to Turkey but have many friends who have and they all say its as safe as ever.

Any TPers know the scoop on safety these days? I would love to visit without having to worry :greenguy:

When you say "Turkey" to an American, they think of the movie "Midnight Express." When you say Turkey to a European, they think a country like Greece -- southern Mediterranean, lots of ruins and beaches.

Yes, Turkey is quite safe. I never ran into any problems there, nor have I read of any. The vendors can be a tad aggressive, but that's true all over the world. Everyone assumes you want to buy a rug.

Oh, and unless the currency has changed, it is by far the most confusing I have ever run into in 50+ countries. All the bills were green, looked alike, started with a 5 or 1 and had lots and lots of zeros behind it. Yikes. And what's worse, the rate was something like 800,000 to the dollar or something hard to divide like that. It got to the point where I would just recognize a certain bill, and say: "this is equivalen to a $5 bill, this one a $10" and so on.

Have fun, Tui, I'm sure you'll enjoy it!

worldwidemike

mmmmmmmmm..................Turkey................. ..Thanksgiving is coming up....................mmmmmmmmmmm................. ...........Turkey....................


HAHA, i just realized that Canada doesnt have Thanksgiving, do they? Damn that sucks for ya'll.......one of the best holidays there is........SO SAD........

Yeah, they have a thanksgiving, its in october or something. I know all about my canadian neighbor's eh. Soory aboot that. ahahaha. Ok. Do you guys get into the whole feast of Thanksgiving like us?

:rolleyes: :rolleyes: oh my CD or MOC who want's to handle this..? Tell them about our thanksgiving please. :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Why can't you enlighten us all Dio?

Because I don't have the patience! :mellow: :D

HAHAHA canadian thanksgiving......Whats it all abOOt????

Let me guess....you thank the maple leaf for giving you a national symbol or do you thank some French guy for discovering Canada and starting the fur trade......and then mounties ride around on their horses like little prissy faggots :cowboy: .......and then you eat caribou as your traditional meal???? :P :lol: :P

Whatever it is.....its not half as good as American thanksgiving....at least not mine.......lots of tasty Southern food........(the only part I like about having a southern family).........

Whoa Adam, no need to be so harsh on our canadien friends.

I honestly can't remember what you guys do for thanksgiving, although I should. :D

Ok, maybe you should stop watching stupid TV programs....No! We don't eat caribou (exept when my uncle kills some for sports, 20 hours up north of here...)and almost no one I know has ever seen one. We do not wear fur hats...We do not have horses in the back yard...We have running water and electricity...We have good universities.

As for thanksgiving, we don't celebrate this in Québec and I don't know when it is...All I know is that it's made to thank the earth for the good crops, in october. And I don't think a french guy discovered Canada...Actually, the Vikings were the first to come here, and I think you can still see some ruins in New-Found-Land, and then I think it was the spanish (Christopher Columbus, does that sounds french to you?!)...

Adam the CULTURED!? That's not what I call culture... :blink:

Now let's get back to the original topic: Turkey the country. ;)

Well.. I will have to correct you, Christopher Columbus was Italian. He just worked for the Spanish. :D But otherwise all valid points. Thanks for the info on Canadian Thanksgiving. :worship:

So anyways, since I keep adding more and more to my trip. Does anyone have anything in particular, outside of Istanbul, that is interesting. I am sure there is plenty of history somewhere, and delicious food. :eat: Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks

Unfortunately, I can't speak from first-hand experience outside of the Istanbul (Constantinople, Istanbul, Constantinople) area. My trip was cut short there, but I had planned on going to Ephesus, for some wonderful Roman ruins. Cappodocia is supposed to be awesome with some otherworldly scenery, and there are a bunch of other things I have forgotten about that I wanted to see...

worldwidemike

wasnt there a bombing in Turkey today??? maybe i heard wrong, but it would be worth checking out first.

A Bomb did go off there today...about 20 dead in Istanbul, over 100 injuries...I really wish it would be over :( :( Such an amazing part of the world with beautiful people, I want to go sooo bad....but torn with violence...so sad.... :(

I hope everyone knows that I was being sarcastic and dumb...Yes i do know that caribou reside in the Tundra in north Canada.....Yes I do know that Vikings discovered Canada....Eric the Red to be exact.....Yes I know that not everyone wears fur....And i could be wrong but I think that John Cabot was the first European to sail down the St. Lawerence River, hence "discover" Canada....

I was just joking Mocsy....no need to criticize my name..... ;)


Anyways, going back to the main topic....I have a friend from turkey....he told me a storry about how someone he knew was executed when he lived there for smoking pot....or hashish......CRAZY strict laws....

heeeeeheeeee yes i realized but you have to realize in moc's defence that we get tons of stupid q's all the time that sometimes we can't even take a joke anymore. :unsure: Trust me I worked in the tourism industry all summer long/ If I get one more joke on igloos I'll fuckin scream. MOC i love ya :kisscheek: adam i understand ;)

The bombing was definitely unfortunate. However, are we really truly safe from random terrorist attacks anywhere in the world, anymore? I haven't read the article, yet, but a lot of the violence that IS in Turkey is by the Kurds vs. Turkish government. And the Kurds have made it a point in the past to not target tourist targets, for fear of losing any world sympathy for their plight. I'll have to check it out and see the story.

Anyway, back to my point. Random terrorist acts can hit anywhere, and it seems a more likely a chance they'll hit you here in the States as overseas. I'm sure those in Oklahoma City felt they lived in a pretty safe area. Peaceful Bali, with no insurgencies or anything, was chosen as a target by Al Quaeda. All you can do is avoid the places that are obvious risks (like Colombia, Afghanistan, Algeria), and make your choices on the other ones.

I still wouldn't hesitate to travel to Turkey.

worldwidemike

Actually, Columbus may have actually been Jewish. Although, he certainly did not "discover" America. :rolleyes:

It's theorized that Chinese admiral Zheng He reached America decades before in ~1421.
http://www.chinapage.com/chengh2v.gif
And, as Mocsy mentioned, the Vikings already reached it way before that.
And there's speculation that Chinese also helped found the Olmec civilization in Mexico around 1200 BC.
http://www.taiwaninfo.org/info/sinor...6/8605006c.gif
And of course, obviously, the Amerindians have already been here for millenia... :rolleyes:

So, Columbus didn't "discover" shyt. :rolleyes: :unsure: -_- Help "conquer," yes. "Discover?" H*ll no. :rolleyes: :angry: -_-

Thanx Voyd! :D
My whole point was that the French didn't discover America...Yeah, I heard about those theories...Nice! :blink: -_-