I'm sorry, this is a little snarky, but I am reacting in part to having been disappointed in my first experience of Turkey. We saw two places: Kusadasi and Ephesus, and were there for a total of 6 hours in Turkey. I've only one other time taken a day-trip to another country (lunch in FYROM), and I find it unsettling. Not only that, but the Kusadasi/Ephesus excursion is a cruise ship stop, so we shared our afternoon with Disney and Princess cruise passengers. There were hundreds of people also there just for the afternoon, wearing little tags to identify their ships, or guides with Mickey Mouse signs leading them through. Some shops were "recommended" by the cruise lines, and many others had signs in front proclaiming "no hassle" with shopkeepers who stepped directly in front you to block your path, or grabbed your arm, or tried to lure your kids inside. They quote prices in dollars, Euros or Turkish lire, and "convert" (loosely speaking) on the spot between the three.
It is easy as an American who is unused to barter culture and the aggressive salesmanship that goes with it to blame it on the Turks. But I think the cruise lines play into it... they bring hundreds of passengers from March to November on a tight schedule. But the passengers barely interact with Turkish culture except there at the "bazaar" conveniently located steps from the harbor. They eat and sleep on the boat, so come to land only to buy souvenirs and such a tight schedule that there is no time for the usual Turkish salesmanship which (I've read about and Phil remembers from his visits to Turkey in the 1990s) included a lot of talk, tea, and time as well as a possible sale at the end. So we get instead this shark-like dance of tourists trying to get a souvenir of a country they haven't really seen and shopkeepers trying to make a living out of the seasonal waves of tourists.
It is easy as an American who is unused to barter culture and the aggressive salesmanship that goes with it to blame it on the Turks. But I think the cruise lines play into it... they bring hundreds of passengers from March to November on a tight schedule. But the passengers barely interact with Turkish culture except there at the "bazaar" conveniently located steps from the harbor. They eat and sleep on the boat, so come to land only to buy souvenirs and such a tight schedule that there is no time for the usual Turkish salesmanship which (I've read about and Phil remembers from his visits to Turkey in the 1990s) included a lot of talk, tea, and time as well as a possible sale at the end. So we get instead this shark-like dance of tourists trying to get a souvenir of a country they haven't really seen and shopkeepers trying to make a living out of the seasonal waves of tourists.
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| These in the umbrella hats were NOT Americans, at least! |
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