My travel writing friend and colleague Tom Brosnahan has created the most delightful site.
It may not be as flashy and graphically-oriented as some sites, but TurkeyTravelPlanner.com
delivers pure steak -- when other sights barely deliver the sizzle.
Tom has been to Turkey so many times, he should be able to run for office.
His expertise on Istanbul alone is worthy of Hall of Fame honors as an informative sharer of practical information.
Before the events of July 15, I began planning a trip to Istanbul.
There is no shortage of online information about the historic and fabled city.
Read Orhan Pamuk's autobiographical book on his beloved city and you will want to book the next flight on Turkish Airlines.
I research and write about travel all the time, so I think I'm a pretty good finder of facts and hidden secrets.
Let's just say, I barely knew the European side of the Bosphorus from the Asian, nor the Sea of Marmara from the Golden Horn...until I stumbled upon Tom's site.
I'll write more in the coming days.
But I truly don't have words grand enough to endorse this site.
It has the basics, it has the quirky, it has the practical.
Links are logical and allow you to expand from the basics on the Hamam (Turkish Bath) to learning the lowdown on the famous, most expensive, most beautifully-designed and most inexpensive local facilities.
I quite possibly could have, even after my savvy research, been staying on a noisy street, surrounded by tourists and paying $150 per night more for a relatively cookie cutter lodging.
Through Tom's site, I found a place that is well-located, in more authentic surroundings, operated by a family legendary for hospitality expertise and booking for a nightly price that will just about pay for my airfare in savings vs. staying at a chain hotel.
TurkeyTravelPlanner.com has this kind of in-depth information on the entire nation, not just Istanbul.
Even if you have no immediate plans to see the great mosques, museums, vistas and people...Tom's site will over some of the most-entertaining armchair travel you've ever found yourself lost (that's a good thing) in.
click to visit the Istanbul section of Turkey Travel Planner
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