Going to Turkey!

[Soheir_Iceland]

In 3 weeks from now I will be travelling to Turkey to have a Lasik eye surgery and will be staying there for a week with my husband and son.
We will be staying in Kusadasi.

So I ask you, have any of you been there? Something you would recommend? And what about belly dance? Some place to see dancers that are better than other? And what about markets, costumes etc? Im actually more into the egyptian style, but I would defenetly love to check it out!

Soheir

[amorylutz]

Hi Soheir! I've been to Turkey but not necessarily for bellydancing. I visited a good friend of mine there. As for bellydance performances you should be careful because, as far as I know, there are lots of places for "tourists" and the quality is not perhaps the best. You could definitely do some lessons. Check out Ahmed Ogren's website.

http://www.turkishgypsydance.com/eng.asp

He's a great Turkish Rom dancer and he might be able to recommend some places in Istanbul to see some good dancing. You could also send an email to Artemis in DC...she might be around to make some recommendations.

As for costumes, if you find yourself in the Grand Bazaar you'll see lots of stalls with cheap "tourist" bellydance costumes. Tell the people there that you are looking for professional costumes and they'll point you in the right direction. You could also go to *Shira*'s website for some recommendations. Of course, find out where Bella, Marta the Legend or Sim Moda is and go there, too!
Sultanahmet is the old city where you'll see all the old sites (Blue Mosque, Aya Sophia, Topkapi Palace, Grand Bazaar) but also check the Egyptian Spice Bazaar (in Eminonu) and the Taksim district (young, hip, cafe-culture). A great website for help is:

http://www.turkeytravelplanner.com/index.html

The guy who runs this site is a writer for Lonely Planet and Frommer's Guides.

Good luck! Istanbul is great...lots to do and see!

[Soheir_Iceland]

Thanks

But I´m not going to Istanbul. I´m going to Kusadasi, wich is quite far away from Istanbul, but close to Izmir.

[amorylutz]

Oops! Duh.....it's right there in your post! Still, check the "Turkey Travel Planner" website because he's got tips for ALL of Turkey :)

Good luck!

Rebecca

[palmier]

From Kusadasi you can make easy daytrips to Ephes, Priene, Millet ,Didim ( not all in the same day of course, Ephes takes a day on its own.) , you can also visit pamukkale ( a few hours away).

there is a place in Kusadasi where they have a bellydance show , i think it was called kervansaray hotel , i went a long time ago...

For costumes you better go look in izmir, in Kusadasi you will probably just have the usual cheap bellydance stuff for tourists. i remeber buying a couple of costumes in izmir 8 years ago...i visited a few costume workshops in Izmir ,they were all on the street but i cant remeber the name of that street right now.

have a good time in Turkey : )