| On planning my first trip to Turkey this past | | | | initially planning phase and didn't even bother bringing |
| September I initially bought Turkey (Eyewitness | | | | it with me on vacation since I had purchased Rick |
| Travel Guides). Having bought other books in the | | | | Steves' Istanbul for my three days in the capitol and |
| series (Egypt, India) I had a general idea of what to | | | | then ended up booking a private tour of Ephesus and |
| expect. The Eyewitness series typically offers a | | | | the surrounding areas. |
| broad overview of a country or area, complete with | | | | Eyewitness: Turkey had a small section up front that |
| a lot of pictures, some "cultural awareness" sections, | | | | focused on Istanbul, which was sufficient and |
| and a little bit less history than I personally like. | | | | provided a list of the usual historical sites, a picture |
| However, being as I wasn't exactly sure what I | | | | guided tour of the Hagia Sofia and Topkapi palace as |
| wanted to see in Istanbul, I figured it was a good | | | | well as a list of accommodations. Some of the other |
| place to start. | | | | sections, like Ankara, had more details of what to |
| As expected, Eyewitness: Turkey provided a broad | | | | see and do but nothing about getting there and not a |
| overview of the country complete with gorgeous | | | | lot about the history. |
| photos and a nice regional breakdown. The book | | | | I really can't hate on Eyewitness: Turkey too much |
| covered most if not all of the major cities and | | | | though, because I knew what I was getting when I |
| historical sites and offered a bit of background on | | | | ordered it and that's exactly what I got. I actually |
| the history of the sites themselves. In early vacation | | | | think this was one of the more in-depth Eyewitness |
| planning mode, this book seemed to work well, | | | | books, but after getting the Rick Steves' Istanbul I |
| offering me pictures of sites that I wanted to see | | | | didn't even touch it. |
| and suggesting various accommodations. However, | | | | This book is best suited to early vacation planning, |
| once I had decided that I wanted to go to Ephesus, | | | | and if you're taking a guided tour of Turkey as a |
| the book offered me nothing for logistics and I was | | | | whole. This is not for those who are looking for the |
| left to figure it out on my own. | | | | how-to's of getting around and other concerns of |
| Overall I didn't really use this book much after the | | | | "do-it-yourself" travelers. |