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Nightlife
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The population of Turkey is about 73 million and each year Turkey attracts more than 25 million tourists. As a visitor, you will definitely enjoy Turkey as long as you know what to do, where to go and where to have fun. There is something for everyone in Turkey: museums, beaches, history, clubs, bars, nightlife, snow, forest, lake etc.
Turkey's newfound economic prosperity and cultural shift to the West has stimulated many new nightclubs to open for business in recent years. Istanbul has the largest variety with an abundance of clubs in the Taksim Square area that stay open until the early hours. Some clubs have a strong Turkish character, with live Turkish music, while others are fairly indistinguishable from those in western Europe and play anything from house and techno to heavy metal. Istanbul also has quite a few jazz bars. Cover charges tend to be on the high side.
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Belly dancing is a Turkish tradition but these days it tends to be put on mostly for the tourists. Shows are often staged at large hotels. The tradition is to tip the dancer by placing a folded note in an appropriate part of her costume.
Turks like to dine in tavernas called meyhane, where traditional food is accompanied by folk music and dancing. Traditionally these were all-male, rather sleazy establishments but most modern-day meyhane are comfortable places for foreign visitors of either sex to visit.
There are theaters with concerts in Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir and most towns have cinemas, although the recent advent of home DVD players is now taking its toll.
Turkish baths (hamam) are popular and a Turkish institution. Even the smallest town will generally have a hamam and larger towns and cities usually have one for each individual neighborhood. Baths are either designated specifically for men or women, or a single hamam will have separate opening times to accommodate males and females.
In July 2009, Turkey introduced a ban on smoking in public places including restaurants, bars and cafes.
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