Istanbul: Prices

“Dizem que pretenção e água benta cada um usa a quantidade que quer”

In Portuguese people say "Pretension and Holy Water, each uses as much as wanted". Well, people there use and abuse them: there had been a reduction of six zeros in the Turkish currency exactly one week before my arrival, thus the value of the Turkish Lira was 1:1 with the Swiss Franc. Unfortunately the offer and the quality of goods in Turkey cannot be compared with that of Switzerland; therefore it is shocking the quality of life against the prices there. Istanbul is really expensive; I would say it is even more expensive than Lisbon, Madrid, Berlin, Cologne, and Vienna; similar to the prices in Zurich, Paris and London. For example: an espresso - 5CHF; bottle of mineral water - 4CHF; decent meal - never less than 65CHF; breakfast - about 20CHF; an entrance to the Haman - 10 to 20 CHF + tips... and so on