Bodrum Information!
While, being located 270 km south of Izmir, on the Aegean coast of Turkey.Bodrum inhabitants are around the count 30.000 and earn their living by fishing and boat building.
Other activities such as agriculture, weaving (the village Mumcular is famous for its carpets) and tourism, which has become the most important industry in the last few years and in important source of revenue for Turkey.
Nowadays, Bodrum has become not only a tourist centre but also a visiting place for famous Turkish and foreign artists and also an art centre, which is a source of inspiration.
Buses
The bus is still in Turkey the main form of transportation. Every town, every area in Turkey can be reached from the bus station, the *otogar*. Otogar is a word combination,("Oto" means car, "Gar" comes from the French word Gare for station).
Go there and you'll find all bus companies - tickets can be obtained right here.All buses have good comfort and air conditioning
Money Matters
Turkish currency is the Lira (TL) and the inflation rate still is very high (between 70 and 80%.) So prices in this country change quickly.
Don't change at home, change in Turkey! The rate is a lot better here. Unless you've just won the lottery!
Check your money and receipt before leaving the bank Get used to the colour and denomination of the Turkish Lira (TL) before going out to spend them. Spread them out somewhere and have a good look (and a small gloat at the millions!).
Calculate an exchange rate to fit each note, and round up or down so you can remember it. E.g.: 1,000,000TL (1 Million) is about half a pound - something like that. When you buy something, make sure you understand how many TL are needed, shopkeepers often write the sum down to avoid confusion, and count your notes out carefully
Anyhow many of the restaurant owners or shop keepers are used to western currencies.
Dolmus
The Dolmus (dolmush) is typically Turkish and can be found everywhere. These are mainly minibuses travelling relatively short distances.A dolls usually waits and starts in the bus station until it is full and then leaves.
You can board a dolls anywhere on its route by signalling it to stop for you. Similarly you can get off at a convenient point anywhere along the route. The destination of the dolls is posted in the windscreen.
In summer, the latest hour of departure of the minibuses or dolls is 24.00. This kind of public transport is cheap and efficient and works very well all over Turkey.
National holidays
Official holidays are:
January 1st - New Year's Day
April 23rd - Children's Day
May 19th - Day of youth and sport
MIA 27th - Day of constitution
August 30th Victory Day.
October 29th Republic Day.
Religious holidays
In Islam there are two big religious festivals. During the fasting time(Ramadan or Ramadan), Muslims are forbidden to eat, drink, smoke or have sexual intercourse between sunrise and sunset. These 4 weeks fasting time is followed by the Sugar Fete,(Seker Bayrami), when people visit each other and offering sweets.
Traffic
Your first impression of traffic in Turkey will be shocking: queue jumping and honking cars, specially taxis who are not bothered about traffic lights and over taking in most impossible places.Pedestrians appear to have suicidal tendencies.
Bikes and motor-bikes without light and opposite the One-Way street - that's absolute normal. Statistics show that Turkey has the highest record of road accidents.The average driver , drives without any consideration to other road users. Their primary weapon is their horn.
Drinking water
Water from the tap is mainly water for use, like for washing, you should not drink it.. To have drinking water -we recommend the usual mineral water in those plastic bottles.
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