istanbul - French Street

French Street

If New York has Chinatown and Little Italy, then Istanbul has "French Street" (Fransız Sokağı). "Rue Française", with tented buildings, street musicians, cafés, bars and art centers, opened in summer of 2004.

The street behind Galatasaray High School known as Cezayir (Algeria) Street was completely renovated from head to toe by a group lead by Mehmet Taşdiken within the scope of a two-year project. The buildings and sidewalks were improved and a special music system was established. Taşdiken had close contacts with the Municipality of Paris, so the stones of the street were arranged by Parisian architects, and 100-year-old coal-gas street lamps from the Municipality of Paris were installed.Mehmet Taşdiken says "the French have a very important legacy in Beyoğlu. Most of the establishments of Beyoğlu, such as the first cafés and first movie theaters, were established by the French in the 19th century and the buildings on the left of Cezayir Street bear the signature of French engineer-contractor Marius Michel, who lived in Istanbul between 1890 and 1910 and built the Karaköy and Eminönü docks."Fransız Sokağı has a covered area of 9,000 square meters and a capacity of 3000 people together with the open-air areas. The number of daily visitors is around 6.500. The heaters on the streets allow the open areas to be used even on cold days.Various establishments in two-three story buildings have turned Fransız Sokağı, formerly Cezayir Sokak or Hayriye Çıkmazı, into a 7-day-a-week live culture and entertainment center, with cafés, restaurants, street concerts and artists, and an art gallery.

TRAVEL GUIDE 1 : BLACKSEA / AYDER YAYLASI (RİZE)

TRAVEL GUIDE 1 : BLACKSEA / AYDER YAYLASI (RİZE)

RIZEThe province of Rize is located inside the Eastern Black Sea Region is the province which displays most of the characteristics of the Region. The province is separated from other regions of Anatolia not only with its geographic structure, but also with its cultural structure. The province of Rize is a very special tourism city with its steep sloped valleys, mountains which you can climb to the peaks, glacier lakes, emerald green plateaus, historical arched bridges and castles and exuberant flowing creeks.

Ayder is toward Artvin from Rize. You need to go on after Cayeli (Çayeli) and turn South following Storm Valley (Fırtına Vadisi). Fırtına Vadisi (Storm Valley) is a national park and one of two hundreds ecological areas on the world, that must be protected.Ayder high plateau (Ayder yaylası) which is 1358 meters high, is one of the most famous plateaues of Blacksea (Karadeniz). There are hotels and boardinghouses about 25.

Ayder cures!fresh air, clean spring waters, spas are just several things “must see”.for example, it’s said, ayder’s fresh air helps asthma .. besides, Ayder Thermal Spring (Ayder Kaplıcası) is among the most important thermal springs of the country. That’s way the thermal spring is full of tourists everytime.As to Black Sea Technical University’s explorations (Karadeniz Teknik Üniversitesi), Thermal Spring water helps rheumatic joint diseases, nevre - digestive – circulation system diseases, urinary ducts and genital diseases.. also cures dermatologic diseases such as eczema, mother-of-pearl, the acnes common in adolescence..

Why visit Ayder?For the scenery, the invigorating mountain air, the hiking and trekking possibilities, and for a dip in the thermal baths. Hot springs burst from the earth, run into bathing pools, then slip through the forests, cooling, on their way to the Black Sea (Karadeniz).With your own car, you can visit Ayder on a day-trip from Trabzon. Without your own car, take a bus or minibus east from Trabzon to the seacoast town of Pazar (or, if you can find one, to Camlihemsin [Çamlıhemşin], the town up the mountainside from Pazar on the way to Ayder.) One bus makes the entire run from Trabzon to Ayder each afternoon in summer.On weekends (especially Sunday) in summer, crowds of local tourists stream up the mountainside to enjoy the fresh air and cool breeze. At other times, you may have to hitch a ride or take a taxi to cover the 19 km (12 miles) between Camlihemsin(Çamlıhemşin) and Ayder.

With your own car, you can visit Ayder on a day-trip from Trabzon.Without your own car, take a bus or minibus east from Trabzon to the seacoast town of Pazar (or, if you can find one, to Camlihemsin ( Çamlıhemşin ), the town up the mountainside from Pazar on the way to Ayder.) One bus makes the entire run from Trabzon to Ayder each afternoon in summer.Climate: In Rize, summer seasons are cool and winter seasons are mild while all seasons are precipitant.

General Information On Antalya !

General Information On Antalya !

The Taurus mountain range of southern Anatolia runs parallel to the Mediterranean in an east-west direction, resulting in the formation of narrow coastal plains, which are surrounded by mountains on three sides and open to the south sea. On some parts of the coast, where the mountains plunge sharply into the sea, small natural bays and peninsulas are formed. Antalya is situated on a plain which consists of two flat areas formed of falez rock at a height of 35 m, where the mountains recede from the shore. On the first rocky plain on the coast is the town centre and on the plain behind it, named Kepezüstü, small settlement units have been established. The coast is 530 km in length and borders with Eşen in the west and Kaledran creek in the east. The province has an area of 20,820 km2. The soil of the plain is made up of conglomerate, alluvium and travertine falez rocks. The Taurus mountains, formed of limestone and serpentine lands, with karst surface formations, have many deep valleys, caves, crevices and faults. In the marshy areas at a height of 300 m from the coast scrub trees, known as maquis, are found. These include oleander, wild strawberries, sandalwood, strawberry trees, myrtle, chinaberry trees, bay, chaste trees, carob trees, broom and spurge. Thyme, sage, saffron, burdock, asphodel, asparagus, blackberry, chrysanthemum and, sparsely, oak, Oriental plane, wild pear, olive and linden trees are also found. 300 metres further on in, the red pine and oak forests, and marshes with eucalyptus trees can be seen. 1200 m further on the forests with cedar, fir trees, Scotch pine, juniper and beech begin. As the alluvial soil on the plains is suitable for agriculture, vegetables, fruit and flowers are grown in greenhouses for export. Open orange, mandarin, lemon and grapefruit gardens can be seen in the vicinity, in the warm Mediterranean winds. On the east of the Antalya plain, banana and avocado are grown. Cotton is sown as an industrial plant and cotton production, along with cotton mills and textile factories, holds great potential for Turkey. Apples, pears, quince, grapes and sesame are grown on the mountainous plateaus. The regional fauna is very good for hunting tours. In Düzlerçamı on the Taurus mountains, covering an area of 10,000 hectares, fallow deer, wild goat and roe deer hunting is permitted on a controlled basis. Wolves, foxes, brown bears, martens, wild boar, wild cats and jackals are the wild species that are often found. The Taurus Leopard was known to exist until recently. Partridge, quail, turtle dove, wild pigeon, blackbird, woodcock, francolin and wild duck can be regarded as game birds. The region is well-known for its grida fish; in addition to this, sea bream, horse mackerel, black bream, gilt-head, grey mullet, gurnard, whiting, bonito, striped red mullet, needlefish, large bonito, red gurnard and red mullet are among the major sea fish, other sea produce includes hermit crab, lobster, shrimp, cuttle-fish and mussel. In addition, cage fishing is carried out in the sea at six points on the coast where sea-bass and grey mullet are bred. Fresh water line fishing is carried out in the Eşen, Dim, Köprüçay, Manavgat, Akçay and Alara rivers. The fish restaurants established within water in the Dim Creek are particularly famous. The main fresh water fish are fresh water chub, fresh water perch, carp, mirror-carp, eel, bleak and tench. There are numerous trout production farms and restaurants in those parts of the Taurus Mountains close to water and river beds. The province of Antalya is located between the north latitudes of 36,07° - 37,29° and east longitudes of 29,20° - 32,35°. Since the area is closed to the cold northerly winds, it is characterized by the typical Mediterranean climate with hot, dry summers and moderately warm and rainy winters. In the area with sunny weather for 10 months a year the temperature climbs up to 45°C in July and August. The sea breeze and the northeasterly winds blowing from inland relieve the area under this temperature.

Months
Average temperature
Seawater temperature
January
16,5
17,6
February
16,6
17
March
18
16,5
April
20,5
18,5
May
24
20,5
June
29
24,5
July
32
28,5
August
33
29,5
September
30
27,5
October
27
25
November
22
21
December
18
18