Contrary to the perception of many, Turkey is an extremely safe and touristfriendly country,

especially in the places most often visited by tourists.  I frequently walk

around Istanbul at night and feel safer doing so than I do in Washington, DC or New

York City.  As in traveling to any big city, however, I suggest that you constantly be

aware of your surroundings, avoid wearing expensive or flashy jewelry and avoid

carrying large amounts of cash.

The most hazardous part of your trip to Turkey will be your encounters with

Turkish drivers.  Driving in a car or taxi, or simply crossing the street in Turkey can be

hazardous to your health since the drivers do not always obey traffic rules and often

travel at a high rate of speed (if you want your taxi driver to slow down, just say Yavaş

(pronounced Yavash in English), which means slow).  Consequently, Turkey has one of

the highest rates of accident fatalities and injuries to pedestrians in the world.  The U.S.

Embassy in Ankara has a Turkey-specific driver safety briefing on the Consular

Information Sheet on Turkey at: travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1046.html. This

travel warning states:  “Drivers should drive defensively at all times and take every

precaution while driving in Turkey. Drivers routinely ignore traffic regulations including

driving through red lights and stop signs and turning left from the far right hand lane.

These driving practices cause frequent traffic accidents.”  I think you get the idea.

However, this should not deter you from renting a car in areas outside Istanbul, such as

in Cappadocia or along the Aegean coast.  Anyway, as a general rule you are better off

minimizing the amount of driving in Turkey that you do yourself.

As for do’s and don'ts from a cultural perspective, unless you know the

person you are speaking to very well, it is not a good idea ridicule or insult Atatürk, the

founder of the Turkish Republic and Turkey’s first President (you will see photos and

other pictures of the very dapper Atatürk everywhere.  For more information on Mustafa

Kemal Atatürk see:  www.Atatürk.com/index2.html).  Second, it’s also not a good idea to

ridicule or insult the Turkish army, the Moslem religion or the Turkish flag.

When visiting a mosque you must remove your shoes and show the kind of

respect that you would in any other house of worship.  Women should not wear short

skirts to mosques and it is a good idea to bring along a scarf just in case it is required

(the rules vary from mosque to mosque).  Men wearing shorts should not have any

problems in the well-visited mosques, such as the Blue Mosque in Istanbul

(Sultanahmet Camii in Turkish).

If you like to smoke, you will be in heaven in Turkey.  A large percentage of

the population smokes cigarettes and you can light up virtually everywhere, including

restaurants.  Although some of the major restaurants in Istanbul have so-called "nonsmoking sections,"

it doesn't do much good when virtually everyone in the place is

smoking.  For a true Turkish experience, you should try smoking Nargile with some of

the old-timers in a Nargile café.  Nargile is a sweet-flavored tobacco smoked out of a

large water pipe.  There has been a recent new found in interest in Nargile and Nargile

cafés have popped up everywhere.  A classic spot to try Nargile is in the Nargile café

located in the Sultanahmet (the old city) of Istanbul, halfway between the Blue Mosque

and the Grand Bazaar.  It is on your right (east side of the street) as you head to the

Grand Bazaar.  If you don't want to smoke, the Nargile cafés are  an interesting place to

people watch and to drink Turkish coffee or tea.