Case study: Turkey
History and Entertainment
If you seek for a country where you can find both
entertainment and historical experience at the same time, Turkey is
the one for you. With its long lasting historical
background Turkey offers you cheap, educative and
yet cheerful times
By HANDE ATAMAN
ISWiB 2007 Media Workshop
If
you seek for a country where you can find both entertainment and historical
experience at the same time, Turkey is the one for you. With its long
lasting historical background Turkey offers you cheap, educative and
yet cheerful times.
The first place you should visit is Istanbul, which is most probably
the best known city in Turkey. Though the city is not the capital
of Turkey, it has been the capital of both the Byzantine and Ottoman
Empires which makes it obvious that Istanbul has a lot to offer to
people. Apart from cultural concerns, it is a city where you can enjoy
your time 7/24 in every sense! Topkapi Palace, Sultan Ahmed Square,
the Blue Mosque or Hagia Sophia are just a few places where you can
trace the roots back to Ottoman and/or Byzantine times. With respect
to modern times you feel relaxed while taking a long walk along the
shore of Bosphorous which is the joint point of two different continents:
Asia and Europe. For those of you who would prefer more energetic
times instead of relaxing ones, you should try Taksim. Istiklal Caddesi
(Istiklal Street), which lies in Taksim is one of the oldest streets
where you can smell every phase of history. It is very much like a
mosaic of cultures with the old churches that lay on it among with
mosques, restaurants that offer people both traditional Turkish food
and world cuisine. You can get your stomache stuffed in many cheap
restaurants for 1,5-2 euros.
Are you eager to have fun all night long? Istanbul provides you with
traditional live music or clubs or rock bars, etcetera. It serves
to the good of every person with different tastes.
Are you a clubber type of person? Then apart from Taksim, the coast
line of Istanbul such as Kurucesme or Bebek will provide you with
the nicest clubs that can be found on the coast where you can enjoy
the sea and Bosphorous.
The cheapest way to Istanbul if you live in a Balkan
city is a Balkan flexipass ticket. From Belgrade to Istanbul it takes
about a whole day to travel. If you are a non-Balkan state citizen
and still want to make it to Istanbul by train, an interrail ticket
may serve you well. Also from Greece, you can find Bus services to
Istanbul.
There are international students festival provided by the universites
in Turkey. One of them is Bogazici Universitz Sportsfest which is
an international student festival where university students from many
countries with different sports branches compete with each other during
matches and enjoy their time at night. The sportsfest usually takes
place in May or June. So do not forget to check the internet site:
www.boun.edu.tr
OLYMPUS
Are you a kind of person that would like to spend his/her time having
some adventures in nature? Olympus lies in the Mediterreanean coast
of Turkey and offers you a great time in nature. Accomodation usually
takes place in tree houses which will make you relaxed. Do not think
that it will be a primitive type of living. Even internet connection
is provided on those tree houses which may serve both as a hostel
where you can live with many other people or like a hotel room where
you can live by yourself. Olympus provides you with a pristine little
beach, marble temples and many sports activities. You can take your
tent with you and have some camping in this pure natural area.
Olympus is 80 kilometers away from Antalya and it takes about 2 hours
to travel from Antalya to there. You had better hitchike from Antalya
or go by bus, usually working during day time.
