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Turkish sleeping
car trains are great fun,
and a real bargain.
Each
compartment in a Turkish
State Railways (TCDD)
sleeping car (yatakli vagon) converts
to sleep two people.
Each
compartment is carpeted and has a sink with
running hot and cold water for washing
face and hands, a tiny towel and
bar of soap,
mirror, clothes
hangers, luggage
rack, small cabinet,
window to
the outside
(with roll-up
blind and thick velvet light-blocking
curtain), heating,
fan or air conditioning, ash tray,
and a waste receptacle. The piped-in
music system never seems to work
(thank goodness).
The
220-volt low-amperage electrical
outlet over the sink is
designed for electric shavers. It
will recharge your mobile phone,
camra battery or laptop computer,
but it may cut off after awhile.
Just unplug your device, wait a minute,
and plug it in again, and it will
work for awhile again.
The
newer
TCV2000 sleeping cars
have small refrigerators for
drinks and snacks in each compartment,
though the minibar-sized refrigerators
are not all that
cold.
The berths have
comfortable inner-spring mattresses,
sheets, blankets and pillows. A movable
ladder gives access to the upper
berth.
There
are toilets at each
end of each sleeping car, usually
a flat "elephant's
feet" toilet at one end, and a raised western-style
commode at the other end. The TCV2000
cars also have a tiny shower.
Sleeping
car fares are inexpensive by
European or North American standards:
TL80
single, TL120
for two persons (taxes and service
included) on the overnight Ankara
Express between Istanbul and Ankara,
Turkey's most expensive sleeper
train (and my favorite). Meals,
drinks and porter's tip are extra.
Unlike couchettes or passenger
cars, sleeping compartments
are private: one person
or a couple rent
the entire compartment, assuring
privacy.
Each
sleeping car has its own porter who
makes the beds in the evening,
converts them to seats in the
morning, brings drinks and snacks
to passengers in the compartments,
announces meal times, and generally
sees to passengers' comfort and welfare.
Sleeping
compartments can be locked from
the inside by their occupants, but
only the porter can lock a compartment
from the corridor.
A
sleeping compartment berth isn't
as long or wide as a regular bed,
but is fairly comfortable unless
you're over six feet (183 cm) tall
or particularly wide. However, I
find that the porter's way of making
the bed—with both the top and
bottom sheet, and even the blanket,
folded in half and tucked in, doesn't
work for me. I always tear the sheets
and blanket off and re-make the bed
to my liking.
If
you are sensitive to light when
you sleep, you should bring something
with which to cover the compartment's night
light, which comes on automatically
and is very bright (Turks don't like
sleeping in pitch dark). A 4-inch-by-4-inch
(10 cm by 10 cm) square of cardboard
and some sticky tape would be good.
Also,
the spring-loaded window
shade may
refuse to stay all the way down,
so jam a slip of paper into the space
on the side between the bottom rail
and the side track. That holds it.
The
top part of the compartment's window can
usually be opened a bit for fresh
air if you wish, but only if the
window shade is all the way up.
Otherwise, fresh air-conditioned
air is admitted through the vents
at the top of the compartment, and
exits through the vent beneath the
window.
Please
read this
safety notice about sleeping
car travel.
For
any sleeping car trip, I usually
pack a 1.5-liter bottle of
water and some snacks.
Sleeping cars are usually ready
for passenger boarding about one
hour before departure, so if you arrive early at
the station you can relax in privacy
rather than wait in the dismal waiting
room.
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