Review of Istanbul Traveller Website - http://www.istanbultraveller.info

Today we review http://www.istanbultraveller.info. This website is part of a massive group of over 100 city websites, produced by the Cosmic Travel Network of Toronto, Canada.

The website provides traveller information for a tourist preparing to visit the city of Istanbul, Turkey. The home navigation consists of:
*Accommodation -
***Apartment Rentals and
***Cheap Hotels in Istanbul
*Getting There
***Istanbul City - Information about the city of Istanbul
***Travel to Istanbul - Reasons why you should travel to Istanbul
***Trains - Train transport in and around Istanbul
***Airport - Information about Istanbul Airport
***Airport Transfers - How to be transferred from the airport to your destination

*Getting Around
***Tourist Information - A travel to Istanbul guide
***Istanbul Transport -The local transport infrastructure and how to get around Istanbul
*What to do
***Nightlife in Istanbul - Insight into the nightlife and clubs around Istanbul
***Sightseeing - Places to visit whilst in Istanbul
***Amazing architecture - A guide to the various architectural delights of Istanbul, including the The Hagia Sophia
***Culture & lifestyle - Discussion about the culture and lifestyle of Istanbul
*Places to go
***Istanbul Beaches - Information about the local beaches available to visitors to Istanbul
***Football in Istanbul - Basic information about Football in Istanbul
***Istanbul Tours - Information about tours in Istanbul

***Istanbul Food - A guide to the local food, which will be available to you
***Istanbul Restaurants - A brief guide to popular restaurants in Istanbul
*Useful Information
***Photos - A photo gallery of Istanbul

***Videos - A collection of videos about the city
***Weather - Information about the weather you can expect in Istanbul


The site provides a lot of different sections of information about Istanbul. It is ideal for the visitor who wants access to basic level information. The content tends to be concise and brief, ideal for skim reading. If you want more substantial and access to more detailed content, you will need to find other Istanbul related sites.

Marmaris, Turkey Travel Review? http://www.marmaris.org

Today we review the website http://www.marmaris.org, this website promises to teach you everything you need to know about Marmaris.

Looking at the home page navigation there are links for:
* Visitor Info
*** Why Marmaris - Information about why you should choose Marmaris for your holiday
*** Marmaris Videos - A range of informational videos about Marmaris
*** Marmaris News - The latest news, events and happenings about Marmaris
*** FAQ - Answers to the various questions you may have about the city
*** Turkish Phrases - An interesting section about phrases in Turkey
* Things to Do
*** Caunos - Details of how to go on a day trip from Marmaris to Caunos
*** Rhodes - Information on how to book a day trip from Marmaris to Rhodes, Greece
*** Pamukkale - Information on day trips from Marmaris to Pamukkale
*** Jeep Safari - Details of Jeep Safari trips you can book from Marmaris
*** Turkish Bath - If you ahve ever wanted a Turkish Bath, details are provided here
*** Rafting - Information on how to book a day out rafting
*** Diving - Fancy diving? This page tells you all about diving from Marmaris
*** Ephesus - Details on how to book a trip to the ancient city of Ephesus
*** Turkish Night - If you want a Turkish night out, visit this page
*** Cleopatra Island - Details of how to book a trip to Cleopatra Island
*** Boat Trip - Aegean Coast boat trips, how to go about booking them
*** Beach Party - Book a beach party, somewhere near Marmaris!
*** Water Parks - Visit the Atlantis Water Park or the Aqua Dream Water Park
* Nightlife
*** Nightclubs - A guide to popular night clubs in Marmaris
*** Talk of the Town - A review of the "talk of the town" night club
* Places to Eat
*** Restaurants - A guide to some of the restaurants of Marmaris
*** Cafe Bars - A guide to Cafes and Bars in Marmaris
* Places to Stay
*** Hotel - Information about the Romance Hotel, Marmaris
An image of the Romance Hotel, Marmaris
*** Apartment Hotel - 1 apartment available for rent in Marmaris
*** Villas for Rent - Details of 2 Marmaris villas available for rent
* Private Tours
*** Private Boat Tours - Information about boat tours, you can book from Marmaris
*** Private Gulets - 2 Gulets available for hire in Marmaris
*** Private Land Tours - 2 Tours available to visitors to the area


There is also useful information on the homepage about:
* Dalaman Airport Transfers - Details about how to get transferred from Dalaman to your hotel/apartment
* Rent a Car - Information on how to rent a car from the Marmaris area
* Forum - Visit the forum to ask/answer questions about Marmaris and also to read other answers
* Marmaris Maps - Maps of the Marmaris area
A Map of the Marmaris area, taken from the Photo Gallery
* Photo Galleries - An extensive photo gallery of c750 photos of the Marmaris area
* Google Currency Converter - A handy currency converter
* English to Turkish Translator



Overall the website has a mass of information about the city of Marmaris. A search on Google suggests there are about 1350 pages.

The Home Page has a Google Page Rank of 4 and the Alexa Rank is 1,127,199 - these are both quite impressive and suggest a popular site. http://www.marmaris.org is strongly recommended for those fact-finding ahead of a trip to Marmaris.

Review of All About Turkey from Burak Sansal - http://www.allaboutturkey.com

Today we review http://www.allaboutturkey.com, this is a website produced by tour guide, Burak Sansal.

With a Google Page Rank of 6 and Alexa Rank of 225,944 the site is certainly popular with both search engines and visitors, this is always a good sign!

The website is available in eight languages (English, Italian, Spanish, French, German, Russian, Arabic and Hindi) - surprisingly with this many languages there is no Turkish version.

The navigation on the front page takes the visitor to the following links:
* Regions of Turkey - This provides information about the seven regions of Turkey - Marmara, Aegean, Black Sea, Central Anatolia, Eastern Anatolia, South East Anatolia and Mediterranean. Clicking on any of the regions drills down to further detailed content
* Top Tourist Sites - About 70 Tourist sites are detailed here. Click the link and read up on your favorites. Two examples would include Mount Ararat and Diyarbakir
Aspendos Theatre near Antalya
* History - For a Tourist site there is a very detailed historical section. There are about 100 pages covering all kinds of historical Turkish topics. Examples include Christianity in Turkey, Ottoman Women and Kenan Evren.
* Culture - There are about 75 pages of information, jam packed with interesting content about Turkish Culture. These are broken down into the following sub-sections: folk culture, arts, turkish cuisine (e.g. Turkish Tea), sports, literature & entertainment, architecture (e.g. Turkish Baths in Istanbul), government, animals and other (e.g. Marriage in Turkey)
Whirling Dervish
* Islam - There is a large section on the Islamic faith in Turkey. Once again, this is unusual for a tourist site, but provides great background and awareness for the potential tourist. Of particular interest to tourists are likely to be the major mosques of Istanbul and religious sites in Turkey.
* Tourism Info - So only now, do we get around to the tourist information! There are 34 sections of information, which provides masses of items of interest for the tourist. I didn't want you to miss this info, so the headings are all detailed here:
Local time in Turkey, Getting to Turkey, Passport and visa information & Visa Fees for Turkey, Turkish holidays, Historical and cultural sites, Fairs, festivals and events & Events Calendar, Turkish facts and statistics, Interesting facts about Turkey, Turkey's physical geography, Detailed Road Map & Interactive Maps,
Seas of Turkey, Turkey's lakes - Van Lake & Tuz (Salt) Lake, Turkey's rivers - Euphrates & Tigris, Turkish climate, Earthquakes in Turkey, Tulips of Turkey, Turkey's flora & fauna, National parks, Thermal Springs (Spa), Yachting regulations & Marinas, The Turkish flag, Solar Eclipses in Turkey, Buying property in Turkey, Marriage for Foreigners in Turkey, Foreign embassies and consulates in Turkey, Turkish embassies and consulates abroad, Turkish information offices, International airlines in Turkey,
Hostels in Turkey, Hotels in Istanbul & Ankara & Izmir, Restaurants in Istanbul & Ankara & Izmir & Antalya, Hospitals in Istanbul & Ankara & Izmir & Antalya, Useful phone numbers and Area codes in Turkey
*My Tours - This is a section detailing the tours offered by Burak Sansal. Well worth reading through if you like the thought of an organised tour to Turkey.
*Photos Gallery - There are 32 photos in the gallery, these are high quality. All images included in this review are from this gallery.
Balloon Trips in Cappadocia
*About us - There is additional useful information about the site in this section


To conclude, the site has very rich content. I think there is something for anyone who is interested in a trip to Turkey. What I like about this site is that it fills gaps missed by other websites and provides that difficult to find sort of content, or I never thought about that. This website is highly recommended and well worth a visit.

Also catch-up with Burak at:
* Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/pages/All-About-Turkey/315572777976
* Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/allaboutturkey
* Blog - http://allaboutturkey.com/about.htm#blog
* RSS Feed - http://allaboutturkey.com/about.htm#rss

Fun in Bodrum a review of http://www.bodrumfun.com/

Today we turn our attention to the massive tourist destination that is Bodrum. The website we are focusing upon is exclusively devoted to all things Bodrum, the website is called http://www.bodrumfun.com/ - so why not have some fun in Bodrum?

A sample screenshot of BodrumFun.com

The main areas of navigation that appear at the top of the page are:
* Home - A link to the Home Page
* News - The latest news from the Bodrum area. Fore example "Bodrum is the place to be for Middle Eastern Royalty".
* Highlights - The latest information on Bodrum highlights and events.
* Culture - A review of the culture of Bodrum over the centuries. Learn about the Bodrum Ampitheatre, Bodrum Castle, Zeki Muren Museum and the Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology as examples
* Shopping - Advice about shopping in the Bodrum area
* Restaurants - A guide to restaurants in and around Bodrum
* Hotels - A review of 4 of the leading hotels in and around Bodrum
* Nightlife - A guide about the Halikarnas club in Bodrum

Also on the home page are a leading article, this is a recent article discussing Bodrum. There are also 5 recent and 5 popular news links.

The Bodrum Ampitheatre

Overall I found the site well worth a visit. The site can quickly be read as there are only about 90 pages, but the quality of the content there is very good.

Visit this site for sure, if you plan to make a visit to Bodrum in the near future.

Turkey 4 Travel a review of http://www.turkey4travel.com

Today we focus on the website, turkey4travel.com - At the time of writing this was ranked at 1,632,034 by Alexa and the Home Page had a Page Rank of 4 - so overall a fairly popular site.

Screenshot of home page of Turkey4Travel.com

So what's within the site, what is there to see? The Navigation is:
* Home Page - The usual, a link to everything else on the site
* About Turkey - Some interesting facts, such as map of Turkey, regions, cities and natural facts
* Turkey Facts - General facts. The Turkish Flag, a lot of general information, embassies and consulates in Turkey
* Where to Go - A tourist guide to locations such as Istanbul, Antalya, Mugla, Aydin, Izmir and Canakkale - Click the link and read up information such as monuments, landmarks, ancient cities, museums, churches, mosques and touristic places.
* Turkey Weather - Brief information about what to expect from the Turkish weather
* Transport & Tourist Offices - A list by country of the tourist offices for countries around the world, useful information!
* Health & Safety - Information about health services and how to remain safe in Turkey
* Turkish Money & Currency Info - Information such as exchange rate, credit cards/ATM's and how to get a VAT refund
* What to Buy - A guide to items to buy in Turkey, e.g. leather, carpets, silk, earthenware, etc
* Visa & Entry Requirements - Information about visa requirements and how to gain entry to Turkey, information provided per country

In the middle of the homepage are three sections of additional content:
* Recent Entries - Details of recent articles added to the site, as an example - Istanbul, 2010 European Capital of Culture
* Popular Destinations - Content about popular destinations in Turkey - Click the link and read information about it, for example the Hagia Sofia Museum in Istanbul

The Blue Mosque in Istanbul - http://www.flickr.com/photos/myhsu/

* Popular Holiday Places - Details about tourist resorts such as Altinkum, Fethiye, Marmaris, Bodrum, Bozcaada, Belek, Side and Antalya

Overall the site is an excellent place to go to find out useful information for your trip to Turkey. I even found the Google Adsense adverts both relevant and interesting, these included some good priced offers for trips to Turkey.

If the website isn't enough, you can also join the Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/turkey4travel.

Turkey Herald, Turkish News Delivered Online - Review of http://turkeyherald.com

Today's review is of the Turkey Herald website - this can be found at http://www.turkeyherald.com

Some of you might be thinking, is this stretching it a bit to be a travel website? Well actually no, the Turkey Herald contains a lot of information relevant to the traveller, they promote themselves as "Online Tourism News". I would say any potential visitor to Turkey should checkout the site and read some of the latest and archived news stories.



For example today's headlines relevant to Tourists include:
1) Orhan Academia Opens in Kusadasi
2) Havva Hanım delights with garden breakfast on Turkish Aegean
3) Golf in Turkey

If you look through the site and use the search you will find a rich variety of travel related articles.

Sections of the website include:
- Areas - Content for Alanya, Antalya, Bodrum, Dalyan, Didim, Istanbul, Kalkan, Kusadasi, Marmaris and Olu Deniz
- Property - Sales, Vacation Rentals, Mortgages, Insurance, Currency Exchange, Buying Advice, Questions,
- Travel - Questions, Car Hire, Flights, Currency, Travel Currency, Travel Shopping, Climate, Food & Drink, Restaurant Guide, Visas, Weddings and Public Holidays
- Leisure - Golfing and diving in Turkey
- Guides - A range of guides to Turkey
- Lifestyle - Expat, relocating to Turkey, Residents Permit and Working in Turkey
- Interactive - Articles, Have Your Say, Turkey After Dark, Bar Spy, Recipes and Your Photos
- Contact - General contact details, includes advertising rates and writing for the Turkey Herald
- Forum - There is a forum, but to be honest this seems to be infrequently used
- Photos - There is a photo gallery, which at the time of writing had about 1,300 photos about Turkey, e.g.



There really is a lot to read on the website. The only thing I can advise is to make a visit and decide fore yourself. In the meantime, all I can say is that the site is highly recommended.