Turkey (the country not the bird!)

Has anyone on here been to Turkey lately? I'm off on hols there in three weeks and I want to get my head around the type of food that will be available. We like to try local stuff and I don't want to miss out but also want to get my head around making sensible choices before I go.
Also, slightly O/T, does anyone have any recommendations re currency. So far I've been told to take a mix of Turkish Lira, US Dollars & English Sterling. I've also now additionally been told not to change my money up to Turkish until I get there. Any top tips gratefully appreciated!
Thanks!!

Merhaba! (Hello) - we just came back from Turkey about two weeks ago. We have been many times, its such a lovely country. Where are you going? This time we went to Dalyan, which was fabulous.

First of all money - better rates out there than here, plus they will accept sterling and euros, and you can just draw TL out of the cash machines too. I wouldn't bother with dollars, imho. Were it me I'd probably change a few quid up so that you've got some ready money, and either take the rest as sterling and change it there or just draw it out of the bank. Do NOT, whatever you do, change either at Gatwick or Dalaman airport - terrible rate and fees high.

Food. Turkish food is in my opinion one of the nicest cuisines in the world. Lots of good stuff for low carbing - grilled meats, chicken, seafood etc. There are also quite a few sort of casserole things - guvec - fish, seafood, lamb, chicken. You can always get 'touristy' food eg pizza, egg and chips, but have to say we don't bother!

Starters can be 'meze' style where you have small dishes shared between you, or more substantial things eg one night I had the best prawns I've ever had - just described as 'garlic prawns' on the menu, they were the size of small lobsters, so fresh, beautiful.

I'd probably avoid Borek (cheese pastries, fried) but things like aubergine salad or antep ezme (chilli/tomato salad - hot) are lovely and not too horrible on the fat/carb front. Lots of different cold veggie starters available. Vine leaves are nice, and my absolute favourite is stuffed aubergine.

Adana (I guess this is what translates to Doner) is spicy minced meat in a kebab style - mine came with piles of salad, and you could ignore the wrap that comes with it. Kofte - meatballs - very nice. We also (strangely) had a couple of very good steaks in dalyan - plain grilled fillet, beautiful.

I could go on about this for hours but fear it is turning into a bit of a food porn type thing!

Puddings - they're not big on puddings, preferring 'coffee and cake' in the afternoons. Baklava is lovely, of course, but stuffed full of sugar.

For beer try Efes and be wary of the Raki....

HTH and have a fabulous time. I'm really quite green with envy!

I went to Turkey about 2 years ago, but took travellers cheques that I changed in my hotel.

As for food, are you full/half board or self catering? Me and HB regretted going half board because the hotel food was rather vile tbh...But there is a HUGE market (I'll find out name and pm you) where they sell vegetables galore, fish and meat. If I remember rightly we had a coach trip excursion to get there.

The restaurants we went to varied too - where we stayed it was very touristy. So pizza restaurants, grills and pasta.

It depends where you go though. Have you looked online to check out your area properly?

Goodd Luck x x x

PS I went before I started CD, obv, and ate what I wanted (and drank as much beer as I felt like!) and came back 2lb lighter than I went...I think if you eat authentically, its essentially a healthy menu. Their fruit and vegetables are so much nicer than our forced, imported things - oranges, melons, tomatoes, aubergines in particular actually TASTE of something!

I want to go to Turkey

Ha ha Lexie I am going in 3 weeks time. Cant wait !!!!!!

i went to turkey last year, the food is all types chicken being one of the most popular thing on most menus!!(ooh and kebabs!!) They all do "all day" cooked breakfast but they dont have "real" sausages or bacon (pork) because of their religion apparently.
All the locals PREFER english cash and you get better deals if you give them it (everyone takes it!!)
Make sure you DO NOT book excursions through your tour operator as they are really expensive (locals are upto 90 x cheaper)
At the markets you will hear lots of "cheaper than delboy" "cheaper than stealing from the salvation army" (which was odd Lol)
They can be very forceful so do not look interested in what they offer you, just to be nice!!!
I went to marmaris....where are you going??

I'm going to Olu Deniz and am very excited about a week in the sun! We're staying in a hotel on a bed & breakfast basis and I'm hoping that the breakfast will be cold meats etc.

Thanks everyone for all your tips & advice - you've been brilliant as usual! Fingers crossed I don't do too much damage to my weight loss while I'm away but at least I know that I can get straight back on CD the minute the plane lands and I'll shift the extra weight quickly.
Thanks again!

Lexie_dog said:

I want to go to Turkey

Click to expand...

Me too!!

Will we both fit in the suitcase???

x

I'm sure we could fit you both in!

yesssssssssssssss.. so need a holiday!!!

hope you have a great one.
I have friends who go to Turkey every year and they love it!

x

Hi ya, i've been to Turkey about 5 times now and absolutely love, thinking of going again later this year. We usually change up half our money at the airport into Lira then take the rest Sterling, I think it was mentioned earlier, they are normally quite grateful for Sterling. I always enjoy the food, I find they have a lot chicken and lamb, I don't think you will have a problem eating sensibly over there.

Have a fab time!!