Time in Istanbul

Since Istanbul is situated mostly in Europe, the time here is European of course. Or rather Eastern European, according to the geography. So if you fly from Europe, you won’t need time to acclimatize. Only Americans and Asians or Australian people will have to get used to, the continent’s change is not a joke.

Istanbul is unique in that you can know exactly the time even if you... have no clock. The fact is here is a huge number of mosques. And from all of them five times a day you can hear a call for Muslims for prayer. It’s called "Mohammedan prayer". These calls are regular and you can synchronize watches according to them. The only thing it’s better not to come in the mosque during prayers just to stare. Of course, no one would say you a word, but the divine service is an intimate thing.

Get ready for the fact that Friday is a working day in Turkey. Yes, in all other Muslim countries this is a weekend, but Turkey is a secular country. And they work on Fridays here.

Work hours of most institutions in the city can be compared with average European. For example, banks are working from 8:30 till 12:00, then they have lunch. The work continues at 13:30 and lasts until closing at 17:00. For such institutions weekends are usually on Saturday and Sunday. Private institutions (for example, the exchange) often work seven days a week and on weekends.

Shops in Istanbul are open from 9:30 to 19:00, and lunch is usually from 13:00 to 14:00. But very often the seller seeing the client immediately opens the door. Grocery works till 22:00, but many of them work during the whole week. Covered Market and Egyptian Bazaar do have weekends, but they are touristic places of interest. They are closed on Sundays.

Istanbul bath works much longer - from 6:00 till midnight, seven days a week.