Travel & Holidays in later life
LEARN BELLY DANCING IN ISTANBUL
On the motor-coach in from Istanbul airport to the city centre, the tour
guide said: "Don't think of this as a holiday. By the end of your stay you'll be
footsore and weary. You'll be on the go every day and most nights. But, by the time you
leave Turkey, I'll guarantee that you'll all qualify for your belly-dancing
certificates."
Reg Butler was travelling to the Turkish capital as part of a mixed group. Some tour members were taking an intensive three-night weekend
break. Others were staying a full week, or combining Istanbul for a two-centre holiday
with a beach interlude.
I chatted with a businessman who had the figures all worked out. Adding in the single-room
supplement, he gloated that his package-tour price was less than one-half the cost of
paying regular air-fare and hotel separately.
Travel Facts

Visit our holidays,
breaks and travel options pages
TRAVEL FACTS
A 'pay on arrival' visa fee of £10 is currently in force.
Short breaks are featured by several UK tour companies and also by specialized
Anglo-Turkish travel agencies. Ask your local agent for brochures.
Spring and autumn are the best seasons. A winter break can be a gamble. The weather
changes course about every three days: cold and bright when the winds blow from the north,
via Russia; wet and foggy when the winds come from the Aegean. Cold and bright can be
delightful, with a sparkle to the air, but the wet days can be miserable. Istanbul's
winter weather is little different from London, and one should dress accordingly.
Avoid the taxi pirates who lurk at tourist locations and refuse to switch on their meters.
Even those who queue outside hotels can be dodgy.
More information: Turkish Culture and Tourism Office, Fourth Floor, 29-30 St James's Street, London SW1A 1HB
Tel: 020 7839 7778.

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A cheerful sub-group of four salesmen and their wives were even luckier. They were getting
the whole thing free! As reps for an engineering company, they were being rewarded with
"incentive tours" for exceeding their sales targets. They said "it really
gave us something to work for!"
A house-party atmosphere soon built up. As the guide had warned, Istanbul is so packed
with sightseeing interest that sore feet and swollen ankles were
inevitable.
The basic package included room and continental breakfast. Sightseeing tours cost extra. A
half-day city sightseeing featured the great mosques, Hagia Sophia and a variety of Roman
remains.
Especially varied was a whole-day expedition that started with a boat trip up the
Bosphorus, paused at a fishing village for an excellent fish lunch, and then returned to
Istanbul for an afternoon at the famed Topkapi Palace and finally the great Covered
Bazaar.
The Galata Bridge departure-point offers a fantastic panorama up the Golden Horn, with
hillsides stepped high with ancient and modern buildings, mosque minarets and towers.
Beat-up old ferry-boats chug back and forth across the Bosphorous, trailing wind-socks of
belching smoke as they commute between Europe and Asia. A myriad smaller craft and
fishing-boats go about their business, dwarfed by rust-coated tramp steamers and trim,
well-painted passenger liners and cruise-ships.
The ferry-boats make occasional stops, punctual as a bus service, at delightful waterside
villages. In the bright sunshine, photographers have plentiful colour-picture shots: blue
and yellow summerhouses, green fishing-boats, and timber restaurants and cafes built out
on piles over the blue Bosphorus. Some of the waterside mansions, set in luxuriant
gardens, are owned by the wealthiest families in Turkey.
Ashore, the greatest highlight is Topkapi Palace - former home of Turkish sultans, the
centre of the Ottoman Empire for some 500 years. The Harem quarters alone comprise around
400 rooms. At full strength the Harem housed about 500 people, including the black
eunuchs, up to 200 concubines and the Sultan's children.
Buildings in the sprawling palace display all the riches of the sultans, including the
world's rarest collections of Chinese and Japanese porcelain. The Treasury features enough
jade and emeralds to turn even a millionaire green with envy.
The famed emerald dagger which starred in the film 'Topkapi' is safe behind thick
plate glass. Candlesticks are a hundred-weight of solid gold encrusted with 6,666
diamonds. The pear-shaped 86-carat Spoonmaker's Diamond was found by a pauper who swapped
it for three wooden spoons.
The whole area from Topkapi to Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque is packed with more history
and sightseeing interest than almost any other place on earth. 
Within walking distance is the Covered Bazaar, with 4,000 shops under one roof. Entire
sections are devoted to each trade. Jewellers' stores stand shoulder to shoulder, each
window glittering with gold bracelets, brooches, rings and cuff-links.
Other sections feature sheepskins, suede and leather coats; brassware; carpets; alabaster
ornaments; kaftans and blouses; shoes and sandals. A shoppers' paradise - especially for
those who pick up Oriental haggling!
A typical 'Istanbul by Night' featured a well-known fish restaurant beside the Bosphorous.
A starter of raki was followed by Turkish wine and over twenty mysterious dishes of hors
d'oeuvres, vegetables, bits of fish and meat. There was dance music, comedy acts and some
luscious belly-dancing.
As the party loosened up, we were lured onto the floor to practise Turkish dancing. By
midnight, all of us - young, middle-aged and senior citizens alike - were fully qualified
for our belly-dancing certificates.
For a contrast in Turkey, consider this alternative
TURKEY - The
south coast paradise of Öl
deniz and Lykiaworld
"Books to read - click on cover pictures" or
click on the links below
"Lonely
Planet: Istanbul" by Tom Brosnahan - an excellent
guide to the lifestyle in Turkey's biggest city, by the
founder of the Lonely Planet series.
The Harem: Inside the Grand Seraglio of the Turkish Sultans
- take a glimpse into the lives of the Ottoman emperors, and
of the women in the Harem, closely guarded the eunuchs.
"Blue
Guide City Guide: Istanbul" by John Freely - A detailed
guide around this confusing city, with a selection of 21 walks
mapped out and well described.
"Istanbul:
the Imperial City" by John Freely - A combined
history and guide, a biography of the city, from early Greek
settlement, through Byzantium and Constantinople to present-day Istanbul.
"Classic
Turkish Cooking" by Ghillie Basan - A well-illustrated and readable account of Turkish cuisine, including
classical recipes from the Ottoman palace kitchens.
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