Your experience in E. Europe or Russia

[Sekhvaruli 74]

Yay! Someone who has been to Sochi! I'm really excited. Can't wait. Andrey says they're very accommodating to Americans right now because they just hosted the Olypics. I'll let you know how Abkhazia is! He's shown me pictures and told of places we should visit. From my understanding, you just apply for the visa via email and they send you a confirmation letter you use to get in. Then you have so many days to take the letter and your passport to their office so they can give you the official one.

Omg we loved Turkey! I can't wait to go back. We stayed in Istanbul for two weeks in this really cute little apartment. I'm very picky and there wasn't any food I didn't like there. I did start getting ready for American food by the second week but we just went and bought some Lays and gummy rings that tastes just like they do here and it helped. I loved the Grand Bazaar and all the history. I thought it was an amazing vacation place. I'm so shocked to hear you say that. And prices seemed to be pretty darn good to us in Istanbul. But we only ate at a restaurant a few times. We frequented one that had amazing pizza and it was like $3 for the whole thing. Was it Antalya that you stayed at most? We were going to go there but decided to just stay in Istanbul.

We only stayed one night in Istanbul and ate out only once. A restaurant at the coast we've been to charged enormous prices - in the menu the dishes were 20 to 30 dollars each. But the quality was far from the price. In the US for what we paid I could expect an awesome dinner at a lovely restaurant.

Then we stayed in Antalya for 7 days. There was no restaurant there, where food would at least look like the picture in the menu. The prices are American everywhere, but the quality is... I guess it's Turkish. I got an impression the Turks just can't cook and simply waste meat. At the hotel restaurant, though, the food was good. But extremely expensive.

I am not that picky - when my fiance and I visited Dubai and Tbilisi, I was happy with the food and the prices there.

Edited August 8, 2014 by Sekhvaruli

[fariasgio3 1]

Yay! Someone who has been to Sochi! I'm really excited. Can't wait. Andrey says they're very accommodating to Americans right now because they just hosted the Olypics. I'll let you know how Abkhazia is! He's shown me pictures and told of places we should visit. From my understanding, you just apply for the visa via email and they send you a confirmation letter you use to get in. Then you have so many days to take the letter and your passport to their office so they can give you the official one.

Andrey is right, they're very accommodating. Not only to Americans but to foreigners in general. My first trip was in 2011 and the people i have met or came across have always been nice and welcoming, even more so after hosting the Olympics. About Abkhazia you're right, the tour guide we spoke to didn't know his stuff so we booked other tours instead and then by the time we figured out how easy it was to get the visa we didnt have time to fit it into our schedule. Hope you have fun on your trip and take lots of pics!!

[Texasav8r 183]

We only stayed one night in Istanbul and ate out only once. A restaurant at the coast we've been to charged enormous prices - in the menu the dishes were 20 to 30 dollars each. But the quality was far from the price. In the US for what we paid I could expect an awesome dinner at a lovely restaurant.

Then we stayed in Antalya for 7 days. There was no restaurant there, where food would at least look like the picture in the menu. The prices are American everywhere, but the quality is... I guess it's Turkish. I got an impression the Turks just can't cook and simply waste meat. At the hotel restaurant, though, the food was good. But extremely expensive.

I am not that picky - when my fiance and I visited Dubai and Tbilisi, I was happy with the food and the prices there.

Sorry to hear your stay in Turkey was less than ideal. Tanya just returned from Antalya and said it was wonderful. She stayed at a very nice all inclusive resort hotel so meals were free and they also have agreements with other nearby properties. The food was great, the beaches were fantastic and service was phenomenal.

If you go again some day, perhaps you can give the Rixos Beldibi a try. http://tophotels.ru/main/hotel/al147427/

[Sekhvaruli 74]

Well, the hotel we stayed at in Antalya also had phenomenal reviews from dozens of people at Booking.com, and it was not cheap at all - 220 euros for a standard room. But I personally would not rate it higher then just good. Most of the disappointments were outside the hotel, though. And I don't like to book all-inclusive, since I get bored with the same kind of food all the time.

Again, I am not that picky - when we were staying in Dubai in February, I was happy with almost everything there. But Turkey turned to be totally disappointing for both of us. We are thinking about going to Egypt in October - may be, that trip will be better.

[Texasav8r 183]

Well, the hotel we stayed at in Antalya also had phenomenal reviews from dozens of people at Booking.com, and it was not cheap at all - 220 euros for a standard room. But I personally would not rate it higher then just good. Most of the disappointments were outside the hotel, though. And I don't like to book all-inclusive, since I get bored with the same kind of food all the time.

Again, I am not that picky - when we were staying in Dubai in February, I was happy with almost everything there. But Turkey turned to be totally disappointing for both of us. We are thinking about going to Egypt in October - may be, that trip will be better.

Understood. I am pretty much the same way, but if I see several options for restaurants and a few other properties that have share agreements, then I will usually give it a shot (all inclusive). I was considering Turkey as a place to visit next summer...I will need to research this further I see .

My future in-laws just returned from Egypt and had a blast. I will ask where they stayed and pass that on for reference.

[Dave&Roza 748]

Understood. I am pretty much the same way, but if I see several options for restaurants and a few other properties that have share agreements, then I will usually give it a shot (all inclusive). I was considering Turkey as a place to visit next summer...I will need to research this further I see .

My future in-laws just returned from Egypt and had a blast. I will ask where they stayed and pass that on for reference.

My wife's aunts go to Turkey each year and have a very good time and it is cheap by Kazakh standards--this means it is very cheap by US standards. I cannot say about the condition or quality as I have not been to Turkey, but my wife tells me it is okay and that is from someone that has been in the US and Turkey. I recently was in Gdansk, Poland, for work and stayed at a Hilton there. It was amazing how varied the reviews were on the hotel. It was okay. Was it worth $250 per night, well I do not think any hotel is worth that much. The $25 per day for the breakfast buffet was a bit steep, but considering what they had in terms of sea food, I think it was reasonable. By all means research it and if you do decide to go to Turkey, I would recommend going in with an open mind.

Dave

[Meghan&Andrey 51]

We paid about $600 for 14 nights in this apartment in the old district of Istanbul. We were next to this quaint little park and a few yards away from all the shops on the street. It was really perfect. I fell in love with their rotisserie chicken. I still crave it to this day! Its been 6 months and I swear I think about it every other day. I don't know what I'm going to do if that's what I crave during pregnancy cause I haven't found any spices to compare to what they rub on their chicken over there. I'm seriously going back just to stock up on those spices! The pizza at the restaurant by the Bazaar was absolutely amazing. That's where we went then night before Andrey left and he proposed to me there (:

The restaurants down by the sea are outrageous and the food isn't that good. We mainly bought food at the market and brought it back to the apartment to eat. Vegetables, fruit, sausage, cheese, of course chicken, and some bread. You would be amazed at how similar their Wal-mart type stores can be to ours! So, I guess if you want the full touristy experience where you eat at all the restaurants for every meal and you go to the most expensive ones, yes, its quite expensive and the food is somewhat strange. But we just went about it a different way. And the food up by the Grand Bazaar and over by the Blue Mosque wasn't so strange and foreign since those are where the tourists go. There was even a Burger King there and right down from our apartment was Dominos. I freaked and we HAD to get some pizza from there haha Turkey isn't for everyone. But it will always hold a special place in my heart. I have pics of Istanbul if you ever want to see!

[Sekhvaruli 74]

Probably that's the clue why we hated the food in Istanbul - we ate at a restaurant by the sea. I guess they charge you for the sea view and good food is something optional.

[abella 13]

Some pics of my 4 trips

http://s753.photobucket.com/user/abelljo/slideshow/Trips%20to%20E%20Europe

[Meghan&Andrey 51]

Some pics of my 4 trips

http://s753.photobucket.com/user/abelljo/slideshow/Trips%20to%20E%20Europe

Wow thanks for sharing! That was pretty awesome. Now I feel like I've been there (:

[akdiver 3]

Be careful around banks. Sometimes they get robbed.

[Dave&Roza 748]

Be careful around banks. Sometimes they get robbed.

Thant's only in the US and Canada. There was a news report last week about a Russian bank in the Ukraine and the people were throwing rocks and all kinds of things at the windows. Did not look like anybody was stealing any money. They were just expressing how they felt about a Russian business being in their city. Even the demonstrations in Ferguson, MO are mild compared to what goes on in FSU countries. I like watching the dashboard camera footage people upload. I think everybody carries a baseball bat with them. Defiantly a different way to deal with other people that p!ss you off.

Dave

[Dakine10 5,452]

Be careful around banks. Sometimes they get robbed.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/509058-wanted-for-bank-robbery-in-russia/#entry7174567

[Turboguy 6]

Well I have been to the FSU about 25 times starting around 1993 or 4 and with the last trip in 2006. I have been to perhaps 20-30 different cities in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus and Azerbaijan. All of the trips were great. I will agree with the others that Sochi is beautiful with great weather. St Petersburg during the white nights was also cool. For a tourist St Petersburg is hard to beat. In my early trips it was interesting to see how fast life in Russia changed. I have also been to a lot of countries in the rest of Europe, England, France, Spain, Italy, Monaco, Belgium, Holland, Germany and a few other places such as Thailand, Japan, Egypt and more.

[AmyWrites 593]

I lived in Moscow for a few years. It was an amazing experience and I had a blast, but not a place I'd raise a family in. Other cities in Russia? Maybe. But Moscow is too "big city" for this rural South girl.