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Time
differences
Time difference with France : + 1 hour all year
round
Telecommunications
Telephone
You can telephone from the post office using
tokens or a meter system. These "centres of Turkish
life" are often open at night.
To phone Turkey from France : Dial 00 90 + the town
code + n° of your correspondent
Ankara : 312
Istanbul : 212 (western bank) or 216 (eastern
bank)
To phone France from Turkey : dial 00 33+
It costs less to phone France from Turkey than vice
versa.
Airports
Istanbul : the Mustafa Kemal Ataturk airport is 20
kms out of town. It takes between 30 and 45 minutes
to get there depending on the traffic
Ankara : the airport is 30 kms out of town
The price of a taxi to town is 145 FF
The airport
tax is not included in the price of the airticket.
It costs about 220 FF.
Car rental
It is necessary to have your driving licence and
your credit card to rent a car.
Avis is represented in all the main towns in
Turkey
Telephone n° of the central reservation office
: 20 216 454 1111
Some other agencies
Adana : 322 4350476/322 4533045
Ankara : airport : 312 3980315, town 312
4672313/14
Antalya : airport 242 3303073/08, town 242
2481772/73
Bodrum : 252 3162333,airport 252 5230201/1542
Istanbul : 212 2412917, 216 4918701/02, airport 212
6620852/212 6630646
Izmir : airport 232 2742172/74, 0232 3422020
Marmaris : 256 6144600
All Avis cars
are completely equipped, have done less than 15,000
kms and have an average age of 3 months. The
vehicles are carefully prepared and checked between
each rental using a procedure containing 7
obligatory control points. The cars are rented with
a full tank.
Renting from Avis automatically means that the car
passengers, renter and/or driver are covered by a
third party insurance as well as an insurance
covering repatriation and the immobilization of the
vehicule in case of an accident.
You can reserve a car :
- from your travel agent
- from the international reservation centre at 0
820 05 05 05
- or from any Avis agency
Avis has an interactive network worldwide, a client
can reserve a car instantly from anywhere in the
world.
We recommend that you pay your rental using your
accredited Avis card or with another credit card
accepted by Avis : American Express, Visa,
Mastercard, Diners.
Through a simple free membership system, Avis gives
identity and/or payment cards, which are a real
help for a rapid and efficient service.
REASSURING :
No on-line payment, you can pay Avis directly at
the agency when you return the car
RAPID : Avis has the quickest car rental
reservation service on the web
ECONOMICAL : The cheapest rates on the market are
available on the Avis microsite
COMPLETE : You can rent a car anywhere in the
world.
The Avis network : 5000 agencies in 172 countries,
is now on-line!
EFFICIENT : Find your town (you don't have to fill
in the country), enter the date and click on
estimate
PRACTICAL : You only have to fill in 4 boxes and
you will receive an e-mail confirming the
reservation.
You can even rent a vehicle at the last minute just
round the corner or ... on the other side of the
world.
Your suitcase
Take a suit and tie for business meetings and chic
restaurants.
Light clothing for June - September, a sweater for
the evening.
Don't wear provocative clothing : shorts or low-cut
dresses. To visit a mosque, both men and women have
to cover their legs and shoulders and take off
their shoes.
Winter is cold and rainy.
Information
Public Holidays :
1st January : New Year
23rd April : Childrens' Day
30th August : Victory Day
29th October : Republic Day (declaration of the
republic, 29th October 1923).
7th November : Constitution Day (1982).
Also religious Muslim holidays, Ramadan.
Opening times :
Opening hours of local administrations in Ankara :
8h30 to 12h30 and 13h30 to 17h
in Istanbul : 9h to 18h
Opening hours of companies in Ankara : 9h to12h30
and 14h to 18h
in Istanbul : 9h to 18h
Security :
You should be careful, there is a certain level of
political violence
Don't accept any package without having inspected
the contents, you could risk getting mixed up in a
drug traffic.
Banks
The hotels and the casinos give a third more than
the banks which are not in a hurry to keep their
rates up to date as they fluctuate at an amazing
speed. The best place to change money is in the
exchange bureaus.
There are more and more cash distributors.
Banks are open from 8h30 to 12h and 13h30 to 17h
from Monday to Friday.
No French bank has an agency in Ankara or
Istanbul.
Banque du Bosphore
8 rue Euler
75008 Paris
Tel 01 56 89 90 90 Fax 01 47 20 02 36
Schools
There are several schools in the country.
Guides
- Guide Bleu.
- Guide Michelin.
- Guides Turquie (collection Petite
Planète).
- Discovery Guide to Eastern Turkey and the Black
Sea Coast (from Michael Haag Limited, PO Box 369,
London NW3 4DP, England).
- Aziyadé, Fantôme d'Orient et les
Désenchantées by Pierre Loti
- Si j'oublie Constantinople by A Londres
Businss : (in French)
- Exporter : coll. "L'Essentiel d'un
marché", CFC3 2000
- Kompass Turquie : KOTUR2000
-Annuaire des implantations françaises :
French Trade Commission in Istanbul Ref E14999-99L
(170 addresses)
- Les procédures d'importations et le
transport international : French Trade Commission
in Istanbul, Ref A9900031A
- Annuaire des 100 premières entreprises
industrielles du secteur agroalimentaire : French
Trade Commission in Istanbul, Ref A10783-99L
Observations
Tourism
Istanbul
The best way to go into the town is by the
Bosphorus, preferably with a dolmus (sea
taxi).
If you apply to the foundation which manages the
restoring of the yali, these ancient summer
residences of the Ottoman empire notables, built in
pine or in oak wood, you can visit the most
sumptuous ones : the Kibrisli yali, the Ostrorog
yali where Pierre Loti slept, the Sadullah yali
where the interior is as beautiful as the most
beautiful harems.
In the cafés which edge the roads old men
sit behind their glasses of rosemary or mint tea
playing at cards, with their jackets hanging above
their heads, holding the end between their gold
teeth they suck on their hookahs which are filled
with their favourite mixture : jurak or
tombak. Time stands still.
In the mahalli hamam (the local baths) the
men put themselves in the hands of the giants on
duty who knead them with a dry glove on the warm
marble slabs and then wash them down with cold
water. It is in the steam of the hammam that
tongues loosen and real conversation takes
place.
Visit the mosques, the Topkapi palace museum, the
blue mosque, the only one with six minarets, which
was built in the beginning of the 17th century by
the famous architect Sinan.
Foça (Phocea). The birth place of the
founders of Marseilles. The vestiges of Troy are
only a few kilometers away.
Kusadasi. Known for its Club Med which is near the
antique sites of Ephese, Priene, Milet, the temple
of Didymes (oracle of Apollo). Lovely hotels.
Marmaris. Beautiful beaches of Belek, Kas, Jemer on
the Lycian coast
Antalya (Attaleia). Minaret, Hadrien's door,
ramparts.
Side and Alanya. To the east of Antalya, a
fortified town built in the centre of Hellenistic
ruins, superb museum.
Silikfe (Seleucie). Interesting excursions to the
citadel of Seleucia, the abyss of Hell (Cehennen)
and of Paradise (Cennet), the ruins of Kanlidivani,
the sea castles of Anamur, Corycos and Kizkalesi,
the port of Mersin.
Tarse
(Tarsus); Adana and Antakya (Antioche). Pilgrimage
site of the voyages of Saint Paul. In Tarse: the
church of the Kings of Armenia, which has become a
mosque. Adana is the region of the castles of
Cilicia. Antakya has one of the most beautiful
mosaic museums in the world.
Pamukkale (Hierapolis) : tourist region
Konya (Iconium) : tourist region of the Egridir
Lake.
Cappadocia : a very popular tourist region : Church
of Tokali, underground cities
Edirne (Andrinople) and Turkish Thrace : Mosque of
Edirne, the imperial mosque built by the same
architect as the Blue mosque in Istanbul, battle
fields of the Dardanelles between Gallipoli and
Smyrne.
Trabzon (Trebizonde) and the Black Sea. Port
forming a trio with Sinop and Samsun, traffic with
Odessa.
Ski runs on the Uludag, the byzantine walls at
Nicea (Iznik)
(see also "Main Towns")
Shopping :
Handicrafts : carpets, jewellery, copper
objects, ceramics, leather
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