Turkey – First Impression
Before we traveled to Turkey, we had a lot of ideas about how things would be in this country. While most of them were based on Raga’s experience 8 years back, some were formed due to some real incidences that we heard on news channels and social media. While on one hand, we were asking ourselves – Is Turkey Safe? Will Turkey ever be safe? On the other hand, we for sure knew that vegetarian food was going to be a struggle. We were also not sure how conservative people would actually be. In reality, Turkey turned out to be something that we never expected it to be. Just like we felt in Italy, a week is too short to form opinions, but please do read more about our 8 first (second in Raga’s case) impressions of Turkey below –
First things first – Is Turkey Safe?
When we were planning a trip to Turkey, many of our friends and family raised safety concerns. In 2016 and early 2017, there were a number of attacks in Turkey and since then Turkey has seen a huge dip in tourism. This year Turkish government took a lot of effort like advertisements, inviting travel bloggers, etc to spread the message of Turkey being a safe country! That gave us a lot of courage to travel to Turkey in December 2017. We even asked a few friends who were from the country before planning our trip and they mentioned the same thing. As long as we stick to Istanbul, Cappadocia and not go towards the eastern side (Syrian border) things would be just fine. We faced absolutely no issues and during our trip, we felt that Turkey was as safe as any other country!
Will my travel to Turkey be expensive?
Before we traveled, we were under the impression that Turkey would be really cheap. Well, it’s not extremely cheap like counties in Asia but the cost of living and prices, in general, is relatively cheaper than in Ireland. For example, a regular pasta would cost around 30 lira which is 7.5 euros, a local beer would cost around 3 euros, museum tickets would be around 5 to 10 euros per person, etc. We are not big on souvenir shopping, but regular meal prices felt reasonable. Moreover, our accommodation really felt affordable as we paid on an average 50 euros per night for a really good hotel. This is considering the fact that we traveled to Turkey during the off-season, so prices (especially accommodation) would anyway be a bit on the lower side.
Will I find vegetarian food in Turkey?
Vegetarian food wasn’t as a big struggle as we thought it would be. Turkey is mainly a kebab eating country but vegetarian options are available. You will find loads of dry fruits, oranges, and Turkish delights to snack on. Street food like chestnut and roasted corn are also available. Istanbul being a big city, you can easily find some vegetarian restaurants. We even found an Indian restaurant, even though the food wasn’t great. In Cappadocia (Goreme), vegetarian options are plenty and we enjoyed dining on some local specialties. I think it is safe to say that we were in food heaven in Cappadocia and not once had a crappy meal. Oh, by the way, Falafel and Hummus is not Turkish food, though you will find decent hummus in every restaurant.
Are Turkish people friendly?
At first encounter, people seem to be warm and friendly. In Cappadocia, we really felt welcomed. Here we saw the hospitality side of Turkey. Shopkeepers offered us tea with no pressure of buying, restaurant owners were honest and kind, hotel staff was extremely polite. In Istanbul, our hotel manager gave us his Istanbul pass so that we could use public transportation. The restaurant owner in Cappadocia gave us back our 50 euros which we had paid by mistake instead of 50 liras. People in Turkey have left a really good impression on us!
READ ALSO: Our impression of Morocco in the articles on Marrakech, Fez, and Chefchaouen
How conservative are people in Turkey?
Even though Turkey is majorly a Muslim country, we found people to be very open-minded and nowhere near being conservative. Of course, if you are a girl and if you are entering a mosque, you need to cover yourself from head to toe. Apart from that, we found people to be very modern and fashionable. Culturally as well people seemed to be open. This could be due to the fact a lot of Greeks lived in Turkey before the population exchange of 1923. It involved approximately 2 million people out of which around 1.5 million were Greeks and they were forced to leave Turkey and move back to their own country.
Is Turkish transportation system good?
Istanbul seems to be well connected. There are busses, trams, metro, and cabs. Frequency is good as well and definitely better than what we have here in Dublin . Of course, they can get overcrowded inside and you will be pushed a couple of times. In Cappadocia, there are taxis and plenty of tours available. We never faced any problem!
Do people really Queue in Turkey?
When it comes to crowded locations in Istanbul, everyone seems to be in rush. While people do follow a queuing system, they are always looking for opportunities to break them. You need to move fast, else they will smartly overtake you. People also stand uncomfortably close to you, when it comes to lining up. Being an Indian can be an advantage here, as we exactly know how to behave in such situations!
What is the effect of Social Media on Turkey?
Turkey is big on Social Media and everyone seems to be on Instagram. Just to get the perspectives right, even the Instagram account of the carpet shop in Cappadocia has a couple of thousand followers. The tour guides, hotel staff, hotels easily have thousands of Instagram followers. Being touristy, a lot of hotels and shops in Istanbul & Cappadocia, collaborate with and are open to collaboration with Social Media influencers. Local businesses are open to paid collaboration to promote their business. I can safely say and assume that Cappadocia has become more popular in the last year because of Instagram and Instagram influencers!
So to summarise. Is Turkey Safe? Yes. Are Turkish people conservative? No. Do you get vegetarian food in Turkey? Yes.
Are these pointers enough for you to plan a trip to this amazing country? Do let us know if you have any questions in the comments section below.
Also, read our other articles on Turkey –
- 15 amazing things to do in Istanbul.
- Accommodation and Transportation Guide in Istanbul
- Planning a trip to Cappadocia & 7 amazing things to do there
Postcard from Edinburgh
37 Comments
Supriya Deshpande
Very well written and definitely eases my concerns about the state of affairs in turkey! The pictures look amazing as always 😄
SendingPostcardsHome
Thank you so much Supru!! 😀
Anne N
I’m really happy reading this post as my husband and I are planning to visit Turkey in this summer. And photo are really stunning.
SendingPostcardsHome
Thank you so much and very happy this post was helpful! 😀 I am sure you will love Turkey.. We are planning to write about İstanbul and Cappadocia soon and hope you will check them out..
Anne N
That’s great! I’ll be looking forward to it 😊
SendingPostcardsHome
So happy to hear that.. thank you 😀
zestinatote
We travelled with our 2 year old daughter. Never found people who were as warm to her as the Turkish. Loved the sights and the experience. I prefer Indian kebabs though.
SendingPostcardsHome
Totally agree.. We found Turkish people very warm as well 🙂 Traveling with a toddler must have been an adventure!!!
zestinatote
Indeed! One of the tougher trips, now that I look back in hindsight. I will write about Turkey adventures soon, including tips for travel with a toddler.
SendingPostcardsHome
Would love to read about your adventures!! 😊😊
Being Dense
Thank you for post like on http://www.beingdense
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Thank you for the comment. 🙂
Aixa
Great post 👠It’s funny about Instagram, I have 3x’s as many Insta-friends from Istanbul than from my home town of NYC.
And as for safety, we also were warned by friends and family before our trip this past summer. I thought it was ridiculous. Nobody warned us about going to France the year before and there were two terrorist attacks while we were there.
SendingPostcardsHome
I completely agree with you.. The carpet shop owner from Capaddocia must have been in his 70ies easily and was telling us that his shop has thousands of followers on Instagram. We were taken by surprise for sure. Things are on a whole new level in Turkey!!
We felt Turkey was safe as well. We spoke to a few locals while we were there and they mentioned that the east side is affected by Terrorism due to Syrian boarder but other than that Turkey is as safe as any other country. Even London had a couple of bombing incidences a few months back, but people are not scared or concerned to travel there. Not sure why it’s not the same with Turkey.. I totally agree with you here..
Thank you for stopping by. 🙂
Pramod
Dear Raga and Nandita,
As always enjoyed reading your blog on Turkey. Frankly, I too had the feeling that it is not a safe country more so after the recent failed military take over.
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Thank you Papa! Nothing to be worried about.. The places we traveled to are safe. 🙂
Pooja @lostinprettyeurope
Hi guys. Loved reading this post! I really enjoy such blog posts on impressions, experiences etc in a new country. I was in Istanbul for a day while on a transit, and really enjoyed the city. I found it really beautiful, vibrant and different compared to other European cities. We just saw some main sights around the center, and had lunch – but it was definitely a great experience. I have been thinking about going to the seaside resorts of Turkey and Cappacodia for a while now – did you do the hot air ballooning there? Your photo on the rooftop among the colorful cushions is just magical and so romantic! What a great memory.
SendingPostcardsHome
Hi Pooja.. Thank you so much for reading the post.. Our experience of Turkey was something we never expected it to be.. It was actually a very nice trip.. I have heard great things about seaside resorts in Turkey, so definitely do visit that. And Cappadocia surely shouldn’t be missed. We were very very unfortunate that our hot air balloon ride got cancelled on all three days we were there due to bad weather but it sure is an amazing experience.. We do want to go back to Cappadocia just to experience that. Probably not not but sometime in future.. And that photo is a long exposure shot which took us about an hour to get it right (in freezing cold temperature) 🙂 Thank you so much for your kind words..
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afemaleflaneur
I’ve read this post at the best time! My family is concerned about my visiting Turkey as a solo female, so it’s nice to read that you two didn’t encounter any issues and found it to be safe. Glad to hear about the vegetarian food also 🙂
SendingPostcardsHome
So glad we were helpful. 🙂 Turkey is safe if you plan your trip with care and don’t travel to east. There are a lot of girls doing solo trip these days and we don’t feel there should be any issue! We are planning to write more about transportation in Istanbul and things to do in Cappadocia. Hope you find them useful as well. 🙂
afemaleflaneur
Looking forward to reading! Ah, I’d like to travel to the east too, but I’ll do additional research 🙂 thanks for the response! Cappadocia looks beautiful as well!
SendingPostcardsHome
Good luck! Just a piece of information that might be helpful.. The insurance companies won’t cover travels to the east.. Hope you are able to find some information that is helpful! 😊
afemaleflaneur
Really!? That IS helpful! I’ll certainly look into my usual insurance company for confirmation. Thank you so much x
thewonderer86
Very informative post. We’ll be staying in Istanbul for a month in June and I’m looking forward to checking out more of your posts. Thanks.
SendingPostcardsHome
Hi Tracey.. Thank you so much for your support. You are very lucky to be able to stay in Istanbul for a month. You will love the cultural mix there. June is a perfect month for balloon rides in Cappadocia! More articles coming soon. 🙂
Rakesh M
Great write-up, seeing some of the posts especially this one gives a perspective to consider many aspects for travel which is really invaluble and comes only through experience.
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Thanks Rakesh. We are glad you liked the post and it was helpful.
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Remembering Lives
My most terrifying experience in Turkey was being lost on mountainous roads, in an open top jeep as it was getting dark.(it was our honeymoon.)
Thank you a great and informative post!
🙂
SendingPostcardsHome
Oh! That can be terrifying especially when you are on your honeymoon.. But you were brave enough to go on an adventure.. 🙂 Thank you so much for stopping by!
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