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WEATHER
The end of May in
the East is spring time with beautiful flowers blooming.since we will be
in high altitude, please be prepared for chilly mornings and cool
evenings. In the end of June the East will be pleasantly warm (80 -
85F).
In the South
East Turkey it can get upto 90-95 towards the end of June. therefore we
are starting our second tour mid June. The temperatures of the South
East will always be warmer than the East.
We do not expect rain in the month of June.
WHAT
TO WEAR
Don't forget your swimming suits. A scarf for mosque visits will be
handy,
also since we take our shoes when we enter the mosques and people's
homes
and easy slip on and off type of a shoe will be more comfortable. The
women
will need to wear a long skirt or long pants in the mosque .Through out
the
tour shorts are O.K. For chilly evening have a light Jacket.
LAUNDRY
You can have laundry done in all the hotels where we have more than one
night stay.
MEALS
Turkish food has enough variety to meet every one's need. Vegetarian
menus
are available. If special diet food is required we can arrange for that
easily. Please let us know your requests when you sign up for the tour.
EXTRA EXPENSES
Virtually everything on the tour is included except for your drinks.
Your
daily average expenditure while on the tour will be about US $20 a day
per
person (mostly for drinks and souvenirs), though your actual expenditure
could be far lower. People on shoe string budgets have spent as a little
as
$100 during the entire tour, while others have spent thousands of
dollars (
usually on carpets and kilims.)
PERSONAL CHECKS
If you want to make a purchase over $100 you can pay with your
traveler's
checks . But cashing traveler's checks in a bank is expensive and not
always
easy. Do not rely on traveler's checks for cash.
ATMs are available. US$ currency can be used through out the country. If
you
need to change US$ to Turkish Lira, .you can do it at the airport very
easily. The rates almost all the same. Personal Checks are honored if
you
should do a big purchase and are treated like cash.
CREDIT CARDS
Yes you can use your credit card in many places in Turkey but please
remind
your bank or credit card organization that you are going to be in Turkey
for
a while. Because for some reason the banks or credit card companies
block
the card when they see purchase is made in Turkey
SHOPPING
INFORMATION
This tour is quite hectic. So you will have very little time for
shopping.
But amazingly people find enough time to shop .One of my groups had
shopped
so much in the seconds that we had time for shopping we had a garage
sale at
the end of the tour.
If you are interested in buying kilims and or carpets make sure you have
your dimentions and colors with you. Very few leave Turkey with out a
Kilim
or a Carpet on these tours
KILIM, CARPET, TOWELS, FELT
However, the Turkish Carpets are so inviting it is very difficult to
resist
the temptation. If you already have the bug for the Turkish,Kurdish and
Central Asian KILIMS you will find your self in heaven. If you have not
yet
developed a taste ,this might be the place to get aquatinted with that
incurable bug.
WOODWORK
Gaziantep is known for this craft which used to be favorite art/craft of
the
Ottoman Sultans. Mirrors,jewelery boxes, shelfs,chairs and many more
tempting and carriable pieces hand made in Gaziantep are available in
the
souvenier shops.
BRASS WORKS
Very delicately carved trays, pots and shish kebab scewers and statuetts
will be nice Christmas gifts.
MINIATURE PAINTINGS
Replicas of Ottoman paintings are favorite shopping theme for most of
Melitour tour members. They are available only out side the Grand Bazaar
in
Istanbul
SILVER JEWELERY
Authentic or replicas of old jewelery are available at few places along
the
tour. Especially the jeweler at Ephesus has excellent examples of old
jewelry.
TEXTILES
Material with wood block prints, scarves with OYA, lace, suzanis
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