Frommer'sTurkey: From the Blue Mosque to the Blue Lagoon (Frommer's Complete Guides) [Paperback]

Lynn A. Levine (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 25, 2004 | Series: Frommer's Complete Guides (Book 12)

You'll never fall into the tourist traps when you travel with Frommer's. It's like having a friend show you around, taking you to the places locals like best. Our expert authors have already gone everywhere you might go—they've done the legwork for you, and they're not afraid to tell it like it is, saving you time and money. No other series offers candid reviews of so many hotels and restaurants in all price ranges. Every Frommer's Travel Guide is up-to-date, with exact prices for everything, dozens of color maps, and exciting coverage of sports, shopping, and nightlife. You'd be lost without us!

Frommer's Turkey explores the highlights of a country that is an amazing and diverse treasure trove of architectural styles and ancient ruins, most of which are still being excavated. You'll learn how to navigate the chaotic bustle of Istanbul, buy a rug and get the best deal, find the best and most undiscovered ruins, and the ins and outs of getting a Turkish bath. Readers also get language and etiquette tips, exact prices and directions, logistical advice, detailed two-color maps, and much more.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

This brand-new guide explores the highlights of Turkey, one of the crossroads of world civilizationan amazing and diverse treasure trove of architectural styles and ancient ruins, most of which are still being excavated.

This guide shows readers how to navigate the chaotic bustle of Istanbul; where to buy a rug and how to get the best deal; where to find the best and most undiscovered ruins; how to chart a successful sailing trip along the Mediterranean coast; which beach resorts not to miss and which to avoid like the plague; the ins and outs of getting a Turkish bath; and how to have an unforgettable Cappadocia experience by staying in a hotel carved out of one of the regions limestone caves. Readers also get language and etiquette tips, exact prices and directions, logistical advice, detailed two-color maps, and much more. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Back Cover

Experience a place the way the locals do. Enjoy the best it has to offer. And avoid tourist traps. At Frommer’s, we use 150 outspoken travel experts around the world to help you make the right choices. Frommer’s. Your guide to a world of travel experience.

Choose the Only Guide That Gives You:

• Complete coverage of architectural ruins, artistic masterpieces, glorious beaches, and more.
• Outspoken opinions on what’s worth your time and what’s not.
• Exact prices, so you can plan the perfect trip no matter what your budget.
• Off-the-beaten-path experiences and undiscovered gems, plus new takes on top attractions.
• The best hotels and restaurants in every price range, with candid reviews.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 444 pages
• Publisher: Frommers; 3 edition (June 25, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764544519
• ISBN-13: 978-0764544514
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,934,892 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Try Lonely Planet, Blue or Eyewitness Gds--anything else!, April 8, 2001

By 

vcrs (Madison, WI, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Frommer's Turkey (Frommer's Complete Guides) (Paperback)

Disclaimer: I don't pretend to be a Turkey expert. However, my experience during a 12-day trip Turkey is consistent with other guides much more than this one.

The author sometimes seems to be generalizing from experiences she had, to say that everyone will have the same experience (I didn't--and found other guides more reliable in terms of what to expect on a social & cultural level). Furthermore, many times I find myself wondering about the depth of research--asides like "(unless my guide was pulling my leg)," (p.101) are alarming and tend to indicate a lack of reliability and attention to detail (which extends to misspelled Turkish words--e.g. efendem for efendim). There was a sort of shallowness throughout that I can't pinpoint but which I found disappointing.

Even more startling are the omissions. Just for a sampling, the book gives no information on Edirne (Adrianople), Iznik (Nicea), or Kutahya; within Istanbul, it skips some of my favorite--not insignificant--mosques and churches (Rustem Pasa, Mehmet Sokullu Pasa, Sergius & Bacchus), the Bucoleon Palace ruins, and even the Theodosian Land Walls (which are mentioned in the introduction but the "see chapter 3" is a dead end). For even the most mildly curious about history/architecture, there is very little here. Even for those who only want to shop, the info on carpets conflicted with what I have read elsewhere (and saw with my own eyes--a fine carpet at 10 knots per inch? Shouldn't it be double that?--again, I'm not an expert, so correct me if you know otherwise) Anyway, there are much better guides out there. I won't pretend to have read them all, but for Istanbul the Eyewitness Guide was fantastic, and for the rest of Turkey, while Lonely Planet Turkey has many flaws, omissions are not one of them--it is encyclopedic (a term mysteriously used for this book by a reviewer on the flyleaf). The Blue Guide is also extremely helpful.

Better luck with the second edition.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars This book is by far the WORST Frommers publication, August 14, 2006

By 

James A. Frissina "jfriss" (florida) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Frommer's Turkey (Frommer's Complete Guides) (Paperback)

I always use Frommers books for my vacations, but I have to tell you that this book is the biggest waste of money I have ever spent on Amazon or any other book store for that matter. The author obviously has not done her job here. Be careful, you just might wind up in Iraq if you follow her guides. This book is very vague and confusing throughout. You can not trust her hotel recommendations. How in the world can she justify putting Apricot hotel in Istanbul in this book. This guy is a crook. This hotel should be taken out of this book completely for it's opportunistic behavior. Have you ever heard the phrase BAIT AND SWITCH? BUYER BEWARE? Well, that should be the heading for all her recommendations if they are all like the Apricot hotel in Istanbul. My advise to the author, have a chat with the guy who wrote the Frommers Italy book, you can learn alot from him.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Indispensable Guide, July 6, 2005

By 

Belmont Reader "Belmont Reader" (Belmont, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Frommer'sTurkey: From the Blue Mosque to the Blue Lagoon (Frommer's Complete Guides) (Paperback)

Our battered and dogeared copy of the Frommer's Turkey guide was an indispensible guide on our trip to Turkey. We are independent travelers who like to get out on our own, away from tours, and this guide was perfect for our needs. We used it to plan our trip, modifying Ms. Levine's suggested 2-week itinerary to match our needs. The guide also provided us with plenty of off the beaten path suggestions of where to stay and eat. We found the reviews of accommodations and restaurants particularly accurate in terms of quality, though would have liked to see a few more restaurant recommendations -- this is one area, I think, where Frommers guides in general feel a bit thin. The book also has lots of historical and cultural information and "surivival tips" that made for good reading (and re-reading) during long airport waits and on downtime -- I found myself reading this book more often than the novel I brought along. This guide also works well in conjunction with the Eyewitness or Insight guides (we have found this for other locations too), as the latter seem to provide better at-a-glance cultural information and have superior maps. Yes, prices were more than what were listed in the book, but this is not the author's fault. In any case, after a couple of days in Turkey we could get a sense of "budget," "moderate," and "expensive" prices and estimate these categories in the guidebook accordingly.

I am impressed by how much ground is covered in this guide. We appreciated the attention given to some places and experiences that we didn't find mentioned in other guidebooks to Turkey. Traveling distances and times seemed entirely accurate, and they helped us to budget our time efficiently.