Personal

PERSONAL

During my visit to Istanbul in the winter of 2012, I enjoyed everything that the country had to offer. Even though the official language was Turkish, we found that many of the people there spoke English, which was very useful.  The general behavior to us as tourists from the UK and America was generally friendly but we did have a few confrontations where the behavior towards our nationality was not friendly but instead aggressive.

During our stay, we visited many historical monuments and places that gave us a understanding of what Turkey historically was. Great places to visit for this experience are the Hagia Sophia, the Bosporus, and the many mosques that are laid throughout the cities. A place that I had a great time seeing was the Hagia Sophia with its massive dome structure. 

Another great expirence that I had was the food. The food in Turkey consists mainly of vegetables, meats, and fish. Salads are very common, as well are meat kebabs of lamb or beef.  A other meal that is frequently eaten is fish, especially for costal cities that lay on the Aegean Sea, Bosporus, or the Black Sea. We mainly ate at the smaller family owned restaurants that were in the city and the smell of cooking kebabs and food was thick inside.

Turkeys cities are very busy and have lots of traffic. The streets are almost always filled with loud, speeding cars who have to get somewhere. I do not recommend driving yourself in Turkey, mainly because the streets are crazy and require lots of skill.