Turkey’s First Apple Store opens in Istanbul Zorlu Center

When the first Apple Store On February 4th 2014, opens its doors in Istanbul Zorlu Center, Turkey will join 14 countries which have Apple Store. The huge Istanbul Apple Store will span across 2,000 meter squares and sell Apple products like Mac PCs, Apple Software, Apple TV, iPods, iPads and iPhones as well as 3rd party products like accessories. The Apple Store in Istanbul will feature cubical glass ceiling architecture which is currently used in only 2 stores in USA.

Istanbul Apple Store will also offer personalization services for purchased Apple products. For example, customers will be able to write their names behind iPad tablets using lazer or select the specifications of Mac computers before they purchase them. Like all Apple Stores, Apple Store in Zorlu Center will also feature Apple repair services.

Turkey is one of the focus areas of Apple and it is reported in Turkish media that Apple’s CEO Tim Cook will be in Istanbul for the opening of the Apple Store. Apple eventually plans to open 4 Apple Retail Stores in Turkey.

Zorlu Center in Istanbul will be home to Turkey’s first Apple Store which is scheduled to open in Feb 2014.

Tim Cook will also visit Ankara and meet Turkish President Abdullah Gul to discuss Fatih Project. This educational project involves 10.6 million tablets and Apple has given proposal for the project, which is not concluded yet, in June 2013.

Apple has opened its iTunes Turkey last year.

Currently Apple has 420 stores in 14 countries including United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, France, Italy, Germany, China, Hong Kong, Japan, The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzeland. The largest Apple Store in the world is currently located in Amsterdam’s Leidseplein Square.

Zorlu Center is composed of three residential towers, a 184 room Raffles İstanbul Zorlu Center hotel, a 2,300 seat Zorlu Center for Performing Arts Center and a large shopping mall. The Zorlu Center Shopping Mall is home to 200 shops ranging from Turkish luxury department store Beymen to international names such as Valentino, Stella McCartney and Pucci. On the European side of Istanbul near city’s business and finance center in Levent, it is also easily accessible from Asian side through Bosphorus Bridge.

No more on arrival Turkey visa by April 2014

By 10th April 2014, on arrival visa to Turkey (visa stickers issued at border points) would no longer be issued. But do not worry, you will not need to queue in Turkish Embassies. There is now a better option which seems to be easier and more convenient. Instead of on arrival visa, visitors to Turkey will have to buyTurkish e-visa online before arriving to Turkey.

Turkey’s Culture & Tourism Minister Ömer Çelik has announced this change in London in November:

Turkish Minister of Culture and Tourism Omer Celik stated on Monday that stamp visa or banderole visa system would be lifted on April 10, 2014 so that the use of e-visa would be more widespread.
Celik attended the meeting of G20 Tourism Ministers in British capital London on Monday. Speaking at the meeting, Minister Celik stated that there was a ten percent of increase in the number of tourists who visited Turkey this year when compared to last year. He added, there was a 22 percent rise in tourism revenue compared to last year, and these rises were closely related with the visa applications.
Celik noted, “In the past decade, we have lifted visa procedures with more than 30 countries, made visa agreements with more than 50 countries within the opinion of that visa exemption opens the way for tourism. Only assessing Turkey’s tourism statistics shows us how correct was our visa policy and how much success we made. With the policies that we follow and the close attention that our country receives, the number of tourists who visited Turkey in the year of 2002 was under 13 million and in the ten year period, so in 2012, that increased to 35.7 million people.”
Source : Turkish visa applications to change

With e-visa, applicants now can obtain their visa electronically after entering required information and making payment by credit card instead of waiting in a queue upon arrival to Turkey. To apply e-visa to enter Turkey, visit Turkey e-visa web site.

First Snow of the Winter in Istanbul

December is one of the coldest months in İstanbul. It is very likely that you will have some rain, chilly winds and maybe even snow. This is the surprising part: heavy snow started falling on İstanbul’s outskirts on 11 December 2013 and continued until 13 December 2013. Actually this was the first snow of the winter in İstanbul and the city has been affected by the snow for three days. Everywhere was covered by the snow which created wonderful scenes from different views of İstanbul.

İstanbul, one of largest cities in the world with a population approximately 14 million, is located between two continents. The city is divided by Boğaziçi (Bosphorus) Strait and extends both on the European and on the Asian (Anatolia) sides of the Boğaziçi (Bosphorus). Since İstanbul is  a transcontinental city, straddling Boğaziçi (Bosphorus) in northwestern Turkey, between the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea, the city receives air streams from Balkans, Siberia and Marmara.

İstanbul is also one of the most significant cities in history. Considering its long history, İstanbul has been a contact point of several civilizations and has served as the capital of four empires; respectively Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, the Latin Empire, and the Ottoman Empire. İstanbul was also selected as joint European Capital of Culture for 2010. The historic areas of Istanbul were partially listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985.

Istanbul Bosphorus under snow. Seen from Bogazici University campus (European side)

Rumelihisari under snow in December 2013

General information about the climate in İstanbul is as follows: İstanbul has a transitional climate between a temperate Mediterranean climate and a temperate Oceanic climate with warm to hot, moderately dry summers and cool to cold, wet winters since it is bordering the Sea of Marmara which connects the Aegean Sea and the Black Sea. Generally speaking winters are cold, with low temperatures averaging 4–5 °C (39–41 °F). Snow showers are rare (luckily we had one between 11- 13 December ), but it rains frequently. Starting from December till March temperatures are around 5-10 °C in İstanbul. Snow and strong winds negatively affect city transportation especially ferries. People prefer shopping malls or covered areas during colder season.

Approximately 11.6 million foreign visitors arrived in İstanbul in 2012 and tourists usually prefer summer and spring times. However during winter, sights are less uncrowded, prices for hotels are lower. After seeing the pictures of İstanbul in snow; it would be nice experience to try to visit İstanbul during winter times.

Qatar Airways flights to Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen Airport to start in May 2014

Most of the international flights to Turkey arrives to Istanbul Ataturk Airport which is at almost the end of this large city on the European side. This is OK for many because much of the tourist attractions in Istanbul is on this side of the Bosphorus. But if your destination is Asian side or other cities near Istanbul such as Bursa, Izmit and Sakarya then you will need to “cross the bridge”. This may mean hours of drive in traffic as well as other conveniences (there is no direct airport shuttle from Istanbul Ataturk Airport to Anatolian side of the city and it will cost a lot to take taxi to there).

Recently, I have taken a flight from Singapore to Istanbul on Qatar Airways and landed in Istanbul Ataturk Airport while my final destination was Umraniye on the Asian side. I had to take a 2 hours long public transportation to reach there (yes I am stingy). If there was a Sabiha Gokcen flight I would just take a shorter airport shuttle and then taxi.

Fortunately, increasing number of international flights are arriving to Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen Airport. Qatar Airways is the last one and one of the few which opens Asian side of İstanbul to long-haul international flights from Africa and Far East. By May 22 2014, the Doha based airline will fly to Sabiha Gokcen. The 4x weekly flights will be served by Airbus A320 aircraft in 2 class configuration with 12 Business Class and 132 Economy Class seats.

This will allow passengers to access Asian side of Istanbul as well as some other major industrial cities in Marmara region such as Izmit, Sakarya and Bursa. And not only Qatar Airways passangers: the airline has recently joined oneworld global airline alliance which is the third largest in the world. Oneworld members include American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, LAN Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas.

Qatar Airways will commence flights to Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen Airport in May 2014.

Qatar Airways have started flying to Turkey in 2004 with the commence of Doha – İstanbul Ataturk Airport flights. Increased demand resulted in introduction of Ankara – Doha flights in 2010. In 2013, Qatar Airways has responded to increased demand for flights to Turkey by replacing narrow body Airbus A320 aircraft on Istanbul route with wide body Airbus A330 and increasing the frequency of Ankara – Doha flights. Doha – Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen route will be the 3rd route of Qatar Airways to Turkey. With these flights total number of Qatar Airways flights to Turkey is increasing from 14 to 18.

Qatar Airways offers transfer in Doha to Istanbul which makes it a cheaper alternative to fly to Istanbul from Far East such as Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, China and Japan.