Turkey (DK Eyewitness Travel Guides)

 (25 customer reviews)

In general, I like DK books. I own several of them and have a resourceful library just stuffed with the things. I learn much from them. Alas though, I fear that I was and am not overly impressed with the Eyewitness Travel Guide to Turkey being reviewed here.

I check this one from the library in order to take an armchair nostalgic trip back to this wonderful country. My wife and I (children included) lived for a total of around six years in Turkey and enjoyed ever single day of our stay. While there we traveled extensively throughout the country. Now let me make it quite clear. We were poor as church mice when we lived there and everything we did, travel, live, eat, drink, hike, camp...everything, was done on a shoe string budget. For the most part our travel was done in an ancient, temperamental, rust encrusted Citron that ran when it wanted to, and did not run when it decided to take a rest. There was no rhyme or reason to its various moods. Anyway, our travel...Read more

DK's Eyewitness Travel Guides are perfect for your next vacation or they can be illustrated journeys into new worlds you wish you could visit. These guides help me to understand the world and the 1,200 photographs, illustrations and maps in the Eyewitness Turkey Guide are stunning in beauty. I loved the two page spread of the Library of Celsus (one of the most famous Roman sites in Turkey) that is still standing after an earthquake.

While reading you enter into a world of bathing pools with the remains of marble columns, Medieval castles, Turkish baths, old harbors with remnants of city walls, waterfalls, modern cities, underground cities, rock-cut monasteries, outdoor markets, Roman mosaics, cathedrals with unique architecture, mosques with beautiful gardens and palaces.

I'd love to walk through the Topkapi Palace, which is now a public museum. The authors explain how you need to take guided tours through various sections, so that is helpful information to know...Read more

I hate to be the one to rain on DK's parade, but I don't care for it at all. I have been to Turkey before and, as my old books were out of date, I thought I would try an Eyewitness Guide, a series I've not used before.

There is lots of info in this guide, but it is delivered with all the flair of a biology textbook. The facts are there, but there is nothing to stir anticipation. There is nothing that makes you say: "Wow--I want to go there". Its hotel and restaurant recommendations, very important for independent travel, are almost nonexistent, and those there are, are almost all upper end stuff. There is no interest in the ambiance of a place--there is more emphasis on whether there is a TV in the room. I'm far more interested in a hotel's great view or a restaurant being trypcal of the region. The cuisine of Turkey is one of the reasons to visit, but food and drink are hardly mentioned. There isn't even a menu translation, an invaluable feature, unless you always...Read more