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All about Republic of Turkey

12-11-2012 01:10 PM| Diterbitkan: admin| Dilihat: 250872| Komen: 0

Description: Salam 1Malaysia kepada semua khususnya kepada warga forum Turkey (Istanbul etc). Seperti yang kita ketahui, thread Turkey kitetelah sampai ke hujung jalan. Oleh itu, untuk memudahkan kita semua untuk ...

Salam 1Malaysia kepada semua khususnya kepada warga forum Turkey (Istanbul etc). Seperti yang kita ketahui, thread Turkey kite telah sampai ke hujung jalan. Oleh itu, untuk memudahkan kita semua untuk berforum dan berkongsi2 pengalaman, maka saya telah membuka thread yg baru... Untuk rujukan ke thread yang lama, sila klik http://mforum.cari.com.my/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=171350&extra=page%3D3&page=1

I try to gather info on interesting places of interests around Turkey (Istanbul especially) for our reference...Happy reading!

Map courtesy of Lonely Planet.com
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Turkey  is on the Mediterranean, in the Anatolian region of West Asia, with a small section in Southeastern Europe separated by the Turkish Straits (Bosphorus, Sea of Marmara, and Dardanelles). With the Black Sea to the north and the Aegean Sea in the west and Mediterranean Sea to the southwest, Turkey is surrounded by Bulgaria and Greece to the west, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia to the northeast, Syria, Iraq and Iran to the southeast.

Geography
Turkey occupies a landmass slightly larger than Texas, at just over 750,000 square kilometres, and is more than three times the size of the United Kingdom. In terms of the variety of terrain and particularly the diversity of its plant life, however, Turkey exhibits the characteristics of a small continent. There are, for example, some 10,000 plant species in the country (compared with some 13,000 in all of Europe) — one in three of which is endemic to Turkey. Indeed, there are more species in Istanbul Province (2,000) than in the whole of the United Kingdom. While many people know of Turkey's rich archaeological heritage, it possesses an equally valuable array of ecosystems — peat bogs, heathlands, steppes, and coastal plains. Turkey possesses much forest (about a quarter of the land) but, as importantly, some half of the country is semi-natural landscape that has not been entirely remodeled by man.

Cities
Ankara — the capital of Turkey and its second largest city
Antalya — the fastest growing city, hub to an array of beach resorts
Bodrum — a trendy coastal town in Southern Aegean which turns into a crowded city in season when it serves as a playground for Turkish and international holidaymakers alike, featuring a citadel, Roman ruins, trendy clubs and a number of villages surrounding the peninsula each with a different character from classy to rustic
Edirne — the second capital of the Ottoman Empire
Istanbul — Turkey's largest city, the former capital of both the Ottoman and Byzantine Empires, and the only major city in the world to straddle two continents
Izmir — Turkey's third largest city
Konya — a quite large city that is the heartland of mystic Sufi order, the site of Rumi's tomb, and with some elegant Seljuq architecture, all surrounded by vast steppes
Trabzon — the wonderful Sumela Monastery is just outside the city and it is a great gateway to exploring the Turkish Northeast
Urfa — magical city with beautiful architecture and extremely friendly locals at the gates of Eastern World; where Kurdish, Arabic, and Persian cultures mingle

Other Destinations
Ani — impressive ruins of medieval Armenian capital in the far east of the country
Cappadocia — an area in central highlands best known for its unique moon-like landscape (the "fairy chimneys"), underground cities, cave churches and houses carved in the rocks
Ephesus — well-preserved ruins of the Roman city on the west coast
Gallipoli — site of 1915 Anzac landing and many WWI memorials
Mount Nemrut — a UNESCO World Heritage site with head statues dedicated to ancient Gods on its summit
Ölüdeniz — imcomparable postcard beauty of "Blue Lagoon", perhaps the most famous beach of Turkey which you will see on any tourism brochure
Pamukkale — "the Cotton Castle", white world of travertines surrounding cascading shallow pools filled with thermal waters
Sümela — stunning monastery on the cliffs of a mountain, a must-see on any trip to the northeast coast
Uludağ — a national park featuring school textbook belts of different types of forests varying with altitude, and the major wintersports resort of the country

Get in

BY PLANE: For Malaysians, we do not need a visa to enter Turkey.  Turkey's primary international gateway by air is Istanbul's Atatürk International Airport. Meanwhile, Sabiha Gökçen Airport (SAW) is a low-cost carriers airport (ala2 LCC), this airport is situated some 50km east of Istanbul's Taksim Square on the Asian side of Istanbul. Airlines servicing this airport include EasyJet, Germanwings, Pegasus Airline, Condor, THY (Turkish Airlines) and many more.

Malaysians can fly to Istanbul with airlines such as Malaysian Airlines, Qatar Airways, Emirates, Etihad, Egypt Air and many more.

FROM ATTARTUK AIRPORT: You can either catch a taxi, metro or hotel transfer straight to the hotel. If u're taking the metro, catch the underground in the direction of Zeytinburnu. Get off later and catch the train to Kabatas.  If your hotel is located at Sultanahamet, get off at the respective stop. if u are staying at Sirjkechi or Eminonu, the places are two more stops further.

Currency Conversion

1 turkish lira = rm1.7025 = usd0.5577 (as in 2nd of Nov 2012)

Climate

The coastal areas of Turkey bordering the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean Sea have a temperate Mediterranean climate, with hot, dry summers and mild to cool, wet winters. The coastal areas of Turkey bordering the Black Sea have a temperate Oceanic climate with warm, wet summers and cool to cold, wet winters.
The coastal areas of Turkey bordering the Sea of Marmara (including Istanbul), which connects the Aegean Sea and the Black Sea, have a transitional climate between a temperate Mediterranean climate and a temperate Oceanic climate with warm to hot, moderately dry summers and cool to cold, wet winters. Snow does occur on the coastal areas of the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea almost every winter.  Snow on the other hand is rare in the coastal areas of the Aegean Sea and very rare in the coastal areas of the Mediterranean Sea.
Winters on the plateau are especially severe. Temperatures of −30 °C to −40 °C (−22 °F to −40 °F) can occur in eastern Anatolia, and snow may lie on the ground at least 120 days of the year. In the west, winter temperatures average below 1 °C (34 °F). Summers are hot and dry, with temperatures generally above 30 °C (86 °F) in the day. Annual precipitation averages about 400 millimetres (15 in), with actual amounts determined by elevation. The driest regions are the Konya plain and the Malatya plain, where annual rainfall frequently is less than 300 millimetres (12 in). May is generally the wettest month, whereas July and August are the driest.

*The information is correct at the time of pasting and credits should be given to wikitravel.org.