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MAY (Mayıs,
mah-YUHSS)
May
usually brings perfect weather throughout
Turkey, with long sunny days
and not much rain. It also
brings tourists: May is
the businest month for individual
tourists who like to travel on their
own or in small-group
tours and stay
in boutique
hotels, so prices are
highest and advance
reservations are essential.
The Istanbul
Tulip Festival may still
be affording wonderful splashes of
floral color throughout the metropolis.
Also in Istanbul, the Hıdrellez
Festival, held in Ahırkapı during the first week in May, is
the modern expression of an an age-old Anatolian
celebration of spring. More...
Though
May is the perfect time to take a Blue
Voyage yacht cruise or visit
the torrid Southeast,
it's still chilly in central-east
and northeast Anatolia.
The tourist
season begins in earnest in
May, and thus also do the sound
and light shows at the Blue
Mosque in Istanbul.
They last until October.
Atatürk Remembrance
and Youth & Sports
Day (Atatürk'ü Anma
ve Gençlik Spor Bayramı, May
19)
is a national holiday, commemorating Atatürk's
birthday (1881) and his arrival
in Samsun in
1919 to begin the War
of Independence that resulted
in the foundation of the Turkish
Republic.
Celebrations
on May 29, Istanbul Conquest
Day, recall the conquest
of the city by the Ottomans from
the Byzantines in
1453.
The Islamic minor
festival of Regaip
Kandili falls in May
in 2012 and 2013. More...
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