The very word "lyra" (libra) of Latin origin. At first it was used to indicate weights. At a later time, a certain mass of silver was called so. Now this word denotes the currency of some countries, including Turkey, Syria, Cyprus. In addition, as far back as the twentieth century, the peoples of Italy, Israel, and Malta were calculated as lyres.
Until the middle of the 19th century, the Ottoman Empire in circulation were acces, couples, sultans, kuru and other
types of money. In 1844, Turkish lira appeared as a result of the reform of the Sultan Abdul-Majid. Each of them was equal to one hundred gold piastres. For some time, the
British pound was also used in the country
. But in 1946 Turkish lira completely supplanted the English currency. At the end of the last century, this currency has seriously depreciated. It is worth mentioning at least that the smallest coin was a face value of five thousand lire, and the largest banknote - ten million. Moreover, in 2001 inflation reached forty percent, which Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan described as “national shame”.
In the early 2000s, 1 dollar was worth 1.65 million Turkish liras. The government had to go for monetary reform with the withdrawal of the means of circulation. In 2005, new Turkish lira appeared, each of them was worth a million old. In fact, six zeros were removed. Since 2009, the name of this currency has been officially changed. The prefix “new” (“yeni”) was removed. All modern Turkish coins and banknotes have portraits of the national hero Ataturk Mustafa Kemal.
Each unit of this currency consists of one hundred "cents" - chicken. Turkish lira refers to the ruble as 1:16. However, its course is rather unstable and can change literally every day. Nevertheless, recently, the Turkish lira began to gradually strengthen in relation to other currencies. 1 Turkish lira is 0.37 euros, 0.31 pounds or 0.51 dollars.
Tourists can exchange their currency on the spot, but this is not necessary. In all major cities of Turkey, tourists have the opportunity to pay in dollars, British pounds or euros. An exception is a rural or unpopular area for travelers. As a rule, in such
in the territories, plastic cards cannot be used. And in large cities, even in markets, you can pay with European and American currency. But in this case, you need to take into account the exchange rate and strictly focus on it. In general, the Turkish market needs to bargain to save money.
Another reason to do this is that there are no fixed prices. What is noteworthy, the import of foreign currency into the country is not limited to any amounts. Turkish lira is most likely to be bought at exchange offices. In the bank, the rate may be a little more profitable, but there the whole process will take a lot of time. Perhaps the most acceptable option for buyers is to buy at post offices. Experienced tourists noticed that on weekends you should not change the currency, because it is expensive. This is best done on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. A document stating the fact of currency exchange must be kept. It can be useful to tourists at customs. As a rule, such documents are issued only at banks.