Calis Beach and Fethiye Turkey Discussion Forum
Turkey Related Subjects => Cost of Living in Turkey => Topic started by: Rimms on October 24, 2012, 16:07:02 PM
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We have just stopped off for a drink in a very ordinary looking pub in the Sultan Ahmet district of Istanbul. We got two beers, a cheese burger and a bowl of soup. The bill....... 61 lira ! I thought they had made a mistake, but not so. 50cl of draft Efes was 13.5 lira, if we had chosen a bottle, that would have been 14.5 each.
In a funny sort of way, I didn't really mind paying that much, it's such a brilliant place to be. Maybe packed lunch tomorrow ?
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As someone once said to me when I remarked that the price of Efes was actually cheap here and that it would cost a lot more elsewhere in Turkey... don't waste your breath Nichola it is not what people want to hear.
That said there are loads of cheap places to eat even in the Grand Bazaar which I am sure you will spend some time, but have a look off the beaten track for the best and more traditional eateries (even in the Grand Bazaar) and I promise you, you won't be disappointed by the quality or shocked by the price.
Alcohol you will pay more for where ever you are.
Have a really great time it is a truly wondrous city :)
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We did notice prices where more in Istanbul, but as you say we did not mind paying either, as it's such a great place.
if you want to buy any souvenirs we found the Government run Gift Shop in the ground of Topkapi Palace really good, and much cheaper than elsewhere, you don't have to pay to go in as it's before the entrance. Everything is priced and lots of the items are made in Turkey and are better than the usual tourist tat.
Have a lovely time. ;D
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I wouldn't mind betting you were in the North Shield George.
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The North Shield was expensive!
We found the places in Sirkeci a lot cheaper
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Well girls we had better start saving!!!
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Nichola.Any cheap places to eat? In fact everyone any cheap places to eat and drink.? all advice welcome.
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Enjoy a cheap meal on your first day by eating at Dalaman Airport :D
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I wouldn't mind betting you were in the North Shield George.
Bloody hell Baz, you must be a mind reader ! The North Shield it was.
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Quite easy really George, most places are 10/12tl for Efes, only the North Shield was 13.5tl, that is of the ones we went in ;)
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Nichola.Any cheap places to eat? In fact everyone any cheap places to eat and drink.? all advice welcome.
Eating was quite reasonable, it's the drinks that knock the price of a meal up.
Also it's like Calis of yesteryear with the hassle, of the "just come and look at my menu" type. A lot of places also do not sell alcohol, so if you want that drink with your meal ask before you sit down.
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How much will a large Efes be in Calis in May next year ?? ??? ;)
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How much will a large Efes be in Calis in May next year ?? ??? ;)
It is said that the most accurate predictor of prices is a hotel mini-bar.
Look into one and you will see what will be the price of beverages in 10 years time.
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How much will a large Efes be in Calis in May next year ?? ??? ;)
A very fair question GordonA. I would suggest that it will depend on the exchange rate at the time and I would be grateful if someone would tell me what that will be. :D
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Anne, I wish I could name a few places for you but I just eat where ever really. In the Grand Bazaar there are some nice small (not posh touristy) places in the Turkmenistan area up behind the Post Office but some are really out of the way near some of my wholesalers and you wouldn't never know they are there.
Avoid places outside the front of the Bazaar we got cheated there and Doğan was furious. They tried to over charge us, same old story and there is a vile gözleme place on the right as you walk from the Bazaar back down towards Sultanahmet; packed with tourists, woman in windo making the pancakes, expensive and the most disgusting gözleme I have ever tasted.
A bit further down also on the right there is a place called Sultanahmet (before you get to MacDonalds) which serves traditional Turkish food which you can choose from the counter. I used to like it there because their house wine was quite nice and not many other places on that stretch serve alcohol.
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There is one place I really like in the main street where all the hotels are in Sultanahmet. I like this area for night time if you can't be bothered to walk far and its always buzzing with loads of places to eat at various budgets. Not cheap as such but not expensive either called Albura Kathisma. I wrote a review on Tripadvisor 21Nov11.
Always check the menu and prices and always check the bill and query if necessary.
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There was one place recommended to us by Gorgeous Bird on here, Pierre Lotti (I think it was called) roof top restaurant, it's on the main road from the Blue Mosque to Cemberlitas tower there is also a mausoleum opposite, magnificent views, and I had a fantastic steak wrap for 19tl
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It's like Hong Kong here today being a Bayram public holiday, the streets and squares are jam packed with people and how someone isn't mown down by one of the trams as pavements funnel into single file walkways at many points is beyond me. The North Shield isn't representative of the city, in fact Istanbul is surprisingly good value in many of the places we have been today, the hop on / hop off bus tour was less than half the price we paid in both Paris & Barcelona, we took a 90 minute river cruise which was 20 lira each and really nice, fish half bread kebabs by the waterfront at 5 lira were delicious, a side street cafe almost opposite the North Star sells large draft efes for 6 lira and last night our hotel roof top restaurant meal overlooking the Bosphorus was not only delicious but also excellent value and compatible in price to the Yacht hotels in Fethiye.
The markets and street traders seem to be really good value, the one thing that I did notice is that everything has a price displayed, leather belts, shoes, scarves, slippers etc and all at what seemed to me to be far cheaper than in our markets.
Overall, Calis is still cheap by comparison but obviously that's expected against what must be one of the premiere visitor destinations in the World.
Anyway, just waiting to watch a free show here, about this time of night, the birds come flocking in to roost on the buildings and in the trees in Topkapi park, if you've ever seen Alfred Hitchcock's film, The Birds........ It's a sight to see. I really wish I had been available to take the DSLR camera course that Nichola arranged to capture the spectacle. Anyway, must go, here they come.
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George public transport is free during Bayram if I remember rightly although there are some places closed too like the Grand Bazaar!
Re the course no worries there are going to be opportunities that can be tailor made available next year to suit every one and I'll be posting about these soon.
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Alcohol prices may rise again if they don't earn the money they expected from the last round of increases it was recently reported in the Turkish press...
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I remember my first visit to Turkey 18 years ago and used to go to the local shop for my fags. Every day we saw the tax man going in and the owner with his head in his hands said 'Taxes go up again tomorrow'! Was the old money then and it was like 1 old penny over a week ;D
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Our friend who moved to Turkey more than 10 years to go was telling us that at that time he could buy about 8 loaves for the equivalent of 1 lira. Now that is what you call inflation.
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Stand by for all the "dough" jokes :(
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We have just stopped off for a drink in a very ordinary looking pub in the Sultan Ahmet district of Istanbul. We got two beers, a cheese burger and a bowl of soup. The bill....... 61 lira ! I thought they had made a mistake, but not so. 50cl of draft Efes was 13.5 lira, if we had chosen a bottle, that would have been 14.5 each.
In a funny sort of way, I didn't really mind paying that much, it's such a brilliant place to be. Maybe packed lunch tomorrow ?
I went to Scarborough once and the beer was £2.50 a pint. Then when I was in London it was nearer to £6.00. How can you compare Calis with Istanbul. They are a million miles apart in just about every way conceivable just like London and Scarborough. Probably the only thing Istanbul and Calis have in common is that Turkish is the main language spoken in both places.
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We went to a restaurant in an Hotel in Istanbul. It is called The Orient Express Hotel. They have a menu outside and you get the lift up to the rooftop restaurant where you have a fabulous view over the city and down to the water and the boats. There was a firework display the night we went. We both thought the prices were really reasonable. They do have an outside section and one under cover with glass walls.
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This is getting even spookier, in a city that holds 20 million people, Baz identified the pub we went into and now Jacquie has identified the hotel we are staying at and the restaurant we ate at the on Wednesday night !
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It's quite simple Rimms once you join CBF you become physic and are tuned in via our mental conductor The Venerable Wizard Scunner. ;) ;D
We also went into the pub mentioned, think the name draws you in.
We stayed around the corner to you in the Sirkeci Konak which is the sister Hotel to the Orient. If you go around they have a basement pool and sauna, a really good fish restaurant on street level and on the roof top, a restaurant and bar and also sun loungers. We had a room with a balcony looking directly on the park next to the Topkapi Palace and used to watch the parrots with homes in the bottom half of the trees and the storks right on the top. :o
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And to top it off, walking among the tens of thousands of people near Topkapi, we bump into Rushie from the Eyna. I'm now worried that CBF have developed their own version of find my IPhone and are tracking our every move !
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Well being members of CBFand your best friends we certainly are tracking your every move, and wait eagerly for your nightly update of what you've done and where you've been. Will be sad when tomorrow the update comes from home . Love and speak later.
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Mental conductor ? You're straight off his Christmas card list !