Buy Fodor's instead
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I have visited Istanbul around nine times and Izmir about seven. This guide will really take you to the wrong hotels and restaurants. The cultural guide is ok despite a rather boring layout, esp. maps. But the restaurant suggestions are disasterous: where do you find Istanbul's best gourmet, Corne d'Or, or the intellectual bastion Yakup 2, or the best chicken and mezes in Istanbul (Hanedan), or the nostalgic charm of Istanbul's 1930's belle epoque (Rejans)? Instead mediocre places are recommended which will give the dogmatic reader a mediocre holiday. Also, Lonely Planet does not mention the new hotel in Izmir (Crowne Plaza Izmir) which receives raving critics. Does it not know of it yet? And no mention of restaurants like Bonjour, British Grill & Pub, Colonial (at Hilton), only overprized fish restaurants. Is not this 2007 version only a lazy blueprint of the previous, I wonder?
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I enjoyed travelling with this book as a Turk!
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My Canadian girlfriend and I spent 2 weeks in Turkey and travelled 3,000 km with Lonely Planet in our hands all the time.
As a Turk, it was a little bit weird for me to travel Turkey by reading from a foreign source. However, I really enjoyed reading the reviews and following their hotel and restaurant suggestions. I had difficulty in taking some of their comments but honestly they were right and with no prejudice. Their hotel and restaurant recommendations are limited but usually satisfying. The insight into Turkish culture was very helpful to my girlfriend. Most of the time, I felt like I had only little to add.
To sum up, very helpful insights into Turkish culture, good travel tips, detailed information about historical places and average information on hotels and restaurants. I recommend this book coupled with "Small hotels of Turkey - 2006" as a perfect guide for travellers.
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Dissappointment, previous issue much was better
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Yes, the book is very detailed and very useful. But the pictures are misleading. Lonely Planet has become orientalist. Turkey is not just beaches and peasants with headscarfs. Where are the normal people? Come on Pat Yale and Tom Broshanan, you both have lived in Turkey! Why there are no pictures of the young girls in miniskirts and their boyfriends who together roam the streets of Istanbul, Trabzon, Ankara, Izmir, Antalya, Giresun, Bursa while talking to their cellulars and going to pubs at night????? Maybe they look too "western" and normal to make it to the pages of LP! --- Even though these people are a majority in Turkey where 60% population is under 30years!!!!!!!! This time LP was a great dissappointment. It is not voicing the reality of Turkey, but the way foreigners (=rest of Europe) *wants* to see it. Shame on you Pat and Tom!
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A useful guide for all travellers to Turkey
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Kusadasi has amazing beaches , nightlife and excellent seafood restuarants. I would highly reccommend to my fellow travellers that it most definately should not be overlooked as a place to stay to either prepare your journey around Turkey, take in the many day drips it has to offer, such as Ephusus and Selcuk, Pammukale,The National Park or just to chill out and relax. Followed the good write up on "The Golden Bed Pension" in Kusadasi and may I add ,that not only is it suitable for all ages,couples,families and the solo female, it is a popular retreat for the gay travellers. It has terrific views of the sea from the rooms and the terrace bar, with nighly B.B.Q. and male and female belly-dancers. Kusadasi is more than just a Port for the weiry travellers from Samos and The Greek Islands embarking on the delights that Turkey offers.
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the best guide to Turkey so far
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The book is very good but there are some misleading pieces of information. On the facts for the visitor, Pat Yale advices a female traveler to ask for aile (/family) sections in restaurants. Well, there are not many of these restaurants and in fact, it sounds strange that a tourist would ask for such a place, like she would not see straight away how the restaurant is like. The only places that are not "meant" for women are male dominated cafes, called "kirathanesi" where men play cards, smoke and drink. And you can see from the door right away that women are not extremely welcome to those places. Same applies to Greece and Cyprus.
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