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Turkey has about 1,200 kilometers of inland waterways, none of which offers a vital line of transportation. Not included in that amount is the channel formed by the Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmara, and the Bosporus, linking the Black Sea with the Mediterranean Sea and forming one of the most important water connections in the world.

Roads are Turkey’s most important domestic transportation system, although only 130,000 kilometers of paved roads were in service in 2004, and little expansion has occurred since the 1950s. More than 250,000 kilometers of existing roads are unpaved. The state and provincial system includes about 65,000 kilometers of roads, of which 1,900 kilometers are classified as highways. Main highways radiate from Ankara in central Anatolia; Istanbul and Izmir in the west; Adana in the south; and Erzurum and Diyarbakır in the east.

The most important recent addition to the system is the Ankara-Istanbul toll road. Because the number of motor vehicles increased by more than 5 million, Turkey’s city streets are very congested, several major road and bridge projects were under discussion to link Anatolia more effectively with Europe.

In some of the museums or palaces you are not allowed to take pictures or use flash, before you go in, just check if there is a sign with a camera crossed over, which means keep you camera in your hand bags, or check them in. Also, as an universal rule you are not permitted to touch any of the artifacts displayed.

Photographing the Turkish ladies in the rural areas may offend them. The procedure is, just direct your camera towards them, if they say no, or mean it with gestures, just leave it. Some people including ladies love to be photographed, and will probably give you their address hoping to receive a copy from you.

Public restrooms are available at the town centers, museums, restaurants, mosques and gas stations and usually a small service charge is expected ( 15 c. ). It is sometimes hard to find a European style (sitting closet) closet especially in rural areas. Western style can be found at gas stations and restaurants along the major tourist roads. In any case, it is advised to have your own toilet paper and Kleenex where it is unavailable at public rest rooms. The usage of the

squat toilet can be summarized as follows:
Briefly, pants are rolled up to the knees, and the upper part, along with underpants, lowered to the knees. Items capable of falling are best removed beforehand; retrieving them will likely be impractical.

You squat by first bending the upper part of your body forward (to maintain balance), then lower yourself by bending your legs, coming to rest quite naturally (and comfortably) on your haunches and legs. Reverse to rise. Aim is more important in squat toilets than in sit toilets, so don’t fire indiscriminately.

Cleaning up is likely not to involve toilet paper, unless you brought your own. This is done using a container to bring water to your waiting left hand, which will splash it on the appropriate areas. Wash your hands when finished with soap. Now you know why the social use of the left hand is impolite in many parts of the world. If you do use paper, do not deposit it in the toilet (unless there’s no plumbing involved), or you will probably clog the plumbing. There is likely to be a wastebasket handy: the soiled paper goes there.

Smoking is not permitted in flights, public places, most tour busses and public transportation. The Turkish people do smoke a lot, you would easily recognize that nearly 80 percent of the population smokes cigarettes. By the way Turkish tobacco is top quality and you should buy your cigarettes in Turkey as they are delicious and cheap