We are doing RS Best of Turkey in May and plan to buy sheets and towels as our shopping project. Does anyone know ...
1) Any shops to recommend other than Egin Tekstil, which is Rick's pick? A shop called Jennifer has a nice website and reviews.
2) Are sheets available for US-sized mattresses?
3) Is shipping a somewhat economical possibility? We can't lug around a house worth of linens in the carry-ons Rick has trained us to use!
Linens are heavy and depending on how much you would purchase might make shipping unaffordable. I ran into this problem once and solved it by purchasing a good quality used suitcase. All items went into the suitcase which went through as free checked baggage and I had my carry-on in the cabin with me.
You don't have to shop where Rick shops, pick what you like at the price you're comfortable with. I am pretty sure a tourmate of mine shopped at the Jennifer's Hamam shop, she was a textiles person and liked what she bought there. The website says they make queen and king size sheets and also that they ship. It's probably not going to be cheap to ship but you can ask - AFAIK only rugs are given special shipping rates by the Turkish government. You could pack some foldable duffel bags in your luggage and put them in deep storage on the bus, but plan for any extra baggage charges on your way home.
Thanks, I was unaware that "deep storage" was a possibility. I suspect that's what we'll do!
I should clarify - you don't get unlimited deep storage on the bus, but there will be room for an extra suitcase or duffle. You just need to alert the guide and driver (so the latter doesn't pull the bags out every time you switch locations). A couple on my Turkey tour had come from 4 weeks in other countries and left two pretty good sized bags on the bus. Just know that when you get to Kusadasi, you'll have to porter all the luggage yourself without help, and make sure you don't forget to unload it!
I've shopped at Jennifer's Hamam and it was nice. Also nice was to have a woman in the store. I was happy about that after the intensely make dominated retail spaces.
You can find some absolutely beautiful things in the Grand Bazaar. But look around there. There is a range of stores and some of are nicer than others. Absolutely beautiful quality. if you look.
We went to Derviş natural textiles and the man was a wealth of information. He has a big stock although we didn’t look at sheet sizes.
He shrink wraps all purchases and also has a shipping business that we will look into for future purchases.
