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Istanbul Bosphorus
Turkey is surrounded on three sides
by sea (the Aegean, Mediterranean, Marmara and Black Seas) and has
a magnificent coastline with large resort
cities as well as many smaller seaside towns and villages. The
country is self-sufficient and grows a huge range of high quality
fruit and vegetables which are sold very cheaply in markets and even
on street-corners.
There is a large selection of
restaurants and cafes where you can get delicious dishes at prices
to suit every pocket. In fact, most things in Turkey are cheap and
it's easy to attain a good standard of living on quite a small
income.
People in Turkey are warm,
community-minded and hospitable to foreigners, so you will soon feel
at home. In summer, of course, the sunny weather, superb beaches and
exciting outdoor activities mean that you will never be at a loss
for something to do, but there is also plenty to occupy you in
winter, as there are mountain resorts for winter sports and
mountaineering, large modern shopping malls, concerts and cinemas
and still a wealth of historical places to visit.
Turkey is now one of
the most popular destinations for patients travelling abroad for
medical treatment, cosmetic surgery and dentistry. For people from
the US, the main reason for choosing Turkey is the low cost of
treatment, often less than a quarter and sometimes as little as a
tenth of the cost at home. For people from the UK and Canada, it is
the prospect of immediate treatment, avoiding the misery and
frustration of lengthy waiting lists for much-needed operations, as
well as the prohibitive costs of elective or cosmetic surgery.
Turkey also offers patients the opportunity to recuperate in a sunny
climate amid beautiful surroundings and in a range of accommodation
at prices to suit every budget. Other reasons for choosing Turkey
are:
*
Modern, hygienic hospitals
with 5-star facilities and ISO 9001 certification
* Internationally qualified, English-speaking surgeons and
specialists
* The latest advanced medical
equipment and techniques
* Medical System based on US model
* Excellent patient care and service from highly
qualified medical staff
* Favourable exchange rates mean that top-quality private treatment
is available at affordable prices
* Not too far or too expensive to travel
Turkey is one of
the main countries
which promote
medical tourism and it is
now moving into the new area of
"medical out-sourcing," where
hospitals subcontract services
such as overnight use of their computer systems and
laboratory facilities to the overburdened
medical care systems in western countries.
Turkish Medical
Institutions serve an estimated 15,000 foreign patients every year.
Western patients usually get a package deal that includes flights,
transfers, hotels, treatment and often a post-operative vacation.
Some of the medical tourism destinations covered by
us are:
Antalya
Istanbul
Izmir
Ankara
Fethiye Oludeniz
Little Known Facts
About Turkey
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Istanbul is the only city in
the world to be situated on two
continents, Europe and Asia. In its thousands of years of
history, it has been the capital of three great empires - Roman,
Byzantine and Ottoman. |
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The oldest known human
settlement in the world is located at
Catalhöyük, Turkey, dating back to at least
6500 B.C. The earliest landscape painting in history was found
on the wall of a Catalhöyük house, illustrating the volcanic
eruption of nearby Hasandag. |
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Two of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
stood in Turkey - the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus and the
Mausoleum of Halicarnassus in Bodrum. |
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Coffee
first came to Europe
in 1683, when it was discovered in the abandoned belongings of
the Turkish army who had been laying siege to Vienna. In Turkey,
a form of fortune-telling is practised by interpreting the
shapes left in the cup by the coffee grounds. |
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The first coins ever minted were done so at
Sardis, the capital of the ancient kingdom of Lycia, at the end
of the seventh century B.C. |
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The word "turquoise" comes from
the French for "Turkish",
and came to stand
for the beautiful colour of the Mediterranean Sea on the
southern Turkish coast. |
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The Turks first gave the Dutch their famous
tulips and started the craze for the
flower in England and the Netherlands. Bulbs brought to Vienna
from Istanbul were so intensely popular that by 1634 Holland
was in the throes of "tulipmania". People invested money
in tulips as they do in the stock
exchange today. This period of elegance and
recreation in 17th century Turkey is
referred to as "The Tulip Age" and this is
reflected in its many tulip-patterned textiles and ceramics. |
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The most valuable silk carpet in the world is
at the Mevlana Museum in Konya,
Turkey. Marco Polo's journeys in the thirteenth century
brought him here, and he remarked that
the "best and handsomest of rugs" were to be found in Turkey. |
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Many important events surrounding the birth of
Christianity occurred in Turkey. St John, St Paul and St Peter
all lived and preached in southern
Anatolia. Tradition has it that St John bought Virgin Mary to
Ephesus after the Crucifixion, where she spent her last days in
a small stone house (Meryemana Evi) on what is now Bülbüldağı
(Mount Koressos). It remains a popular pilgrimage site for
Christians to this day. |
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Many archaeologists and biblical scholars believe
Noah's Ark landed on Ağrı Dağı (Mount Ararat) in eastern Turkey
and photographs taken from space show an intriguing boat-shaped
anomaly. The late Apollo 15 astronaut, James Irwin made several
expeditions to Ararat in the 1980's in the hope of finding
traces of the Ark. |
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The seven churches mentioned in the Book of
Revelation are all found in Turkey: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum,
Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea. |
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A cave known today as the Grotto of St Peter, or
Church of St Peter, is believed to be where the apostle Peter
preached when he visited Antioch
(Antakya, in southern Turkey). It is widely considered to be one
of the earliest Christian houses of worship. In 1963, the
Vatican designated the site as a place
of pilgrimage and recognised it as the world's first church.
Every year on June 29, a special service held at the church is
attended by Christians from around the world. |
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Anatolia is the birthplace of many historic
and legendary figures such as the poet Homer, King Midas,
Herodotus (the father of history) and St Paul the Apostle. |
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St Nicholas known as Santa Claus today, was born
and lived in Demre (Myra) on Turkey's Mediterranean coast. The
village contains the famous Church of St Nicholas with the
sarcophagus believed to be his tomb. |
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It's said that the
first man ever to fly was Turkish. Using two wings, Hezarfen
Ahmet Celebi flew from the Galata Tower over the Bosphorus to
land in Usküdar in the 17th century. |
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