Camel rides in turkey

[Mary&Jim]

Hi everyone,

 

We are sailing to Turkey in May. Originally we were supposed to stop in Egypt, however, because of all the problems in Alexandria plans changed to Istanbul. My dh had his heart set on a camel ride. Does anyone know if in Ephesus or Istanbul this might be possible?

 

Thanks,

Mary&Jim

[KirkNC]

I don't recall seeing them but that does not mean they were not there. The only place I recall camel rides were in Tunis.

 

Kirk

[cowgrrl]

Perhaps somewhere in Ephesus. Istanbul is very modern (I compare it to NYC) so no camels. The only camels I saw on my trip (not a cruise) were at town called Aspendos close to Izmir IIRC. Antalya had some too outside a beautiful park/waterfall area.

[KirkNC]

If you do find them, wait until you come back, the price dropped from 10 euros to 5 in Tunis.

 

Kirk

[xcomet]

HI there

We were in Ephesus last summer, no camel rides that I saw. But the virgin mary house was awesome!

[jodie84124]

We rode camels in Petra (obviously NOT a cruise). It was uncomfortable and smelly. We both actually had rashes on our legs and we had on jeans! The donkeys were a lot more fun, which really surprised me. The horse carriage rides thoroughly distressed me as our driver kept whipping the horse to make him run faster and he was frothing and sweaty and seemed in distress. It's all about money and despite offering to pay with NO ride just to give the horse a rest, he was ready to offer a ride to someone else. I hated how the animals were treated.

 

We see tons of camels here in Saudi. They are beautiful from afar..imo...but here they are truly 'just another version of beef'. They are eaten and milked and that's it.

 

JMHO...Jodie

[UKBayern]

Camels are definitely something of north Africa and the Middle East, I have never ever seen camels in Turkey anywhere.

 

Jodie is right by the way, camels are smelly and vicious animals. They spit and bite and are grumpy.

[cruisemom42]

Camels are definitely something of north Africa and the Middle East, I have never ever seen camels in Turkey anywhere.

 

Jodie is right by the way, camels are smelly and vicious animals. They spit and bite and are grumpy.

 

Actually camels are found throughout Turkey. Unfortunately, the Turks like to use them for camel fighting (or wrestling) -- just Google it. However, you will be hard put to find them in Istanbul or at Ephesus.

 

BTW, most people don't realize camels were not found in ancient Egypt; they were not introduced there until the Persians brought them around 525 BC.

 

Camels are not my favorite animals, but here is a photo of the cleanest, nicest-tempered one I've run across, in Syria. He is almost smiling:

 

[Keith1010]

I have never seen any camels in or around Istanbul.

 

Keith

[marylizcat]

As Cruisemom said, there are lots of camels in Turkey. You see them in the villages in rural Turkey quite a lot. They offered camel rides when we were staying on the south coast near Dalaman. That is near Marmaris, where some cruises call.

 

Where are you stopping for Ephesus? Is it Izmir or Kusadasi?

 

If it is Kusadasi, I should think it is possible that there is somewhere in the area that offers camel rides. Kusadasi is a very large holiday resort full of Europeans staying there for two weeks, who might well want to do a camel ride. Therefore I think it would be worth asking a taxi driver if he can take you to a place for this. Maybe on the way back from a visit to Ephesus.

[Judyumcer@aol.com]

They have a camel at the bottom of hill. the near the exit in Ephesus. You sit on it have a picture. We saw it twice so it is probably still there. And we saw another one in Cappadocia, Turkey, giving rides side of the road. We went to Egypt and were told by the cruise people not to get on one. They are full of fleas and dirty and mean. Also, don't let anyone put turban or hat on your head. They are very dirty and probably have lice. They want to put a hat on you for a picture. And they are very aggressive. Camels also spit!

[Kiwiz]

The only place I ever saw camels being offered to tourists for rides in Turkey was in Kapadokya. I lived there and used to travel a lot, as another poster said they are pretty much domestic livestock if they are owned by the locals. You will certainly not see them in Istanbul - it's a massive metropolis and you'll see all sorts of other things but no camels.