We have been lucky enough in our life together to be able to travel to many places and experience many different cultures. On this trip, we have two more to add to our list. I want to state outright that I am painting with a VERY broad brush and realize that these statements are really only applicable to the people we happen to have interacted with during this week. Assuming that they are a representative sample may not be appropriate but I am doing so anyway.
We knew nothing about Turkey before arriving here. I still feel like we know next to nothing. But one thing I do know is that smoking is very much still a thing here. This is the first place I have been in decades where smoking is allowed indoors and pretty much everywhere! There’s an ashtray in our hotel room and on every table in the bars and restaurants. It’s so weird! The smell of smoke comes through the vents in our bathroom which is mildly unpleasant. You might think that it is the guests that are smoking so I shouldn’t put it down to the local folks. The guests do smoke (more on them in a minute) but so do the staff. In fact, we took the opportunity to have a spa day yesterday and during my massage, the masseuse put some hot stones on my forehead, covered my face with a towel and stepped out for a smoke!!!!
We also didn’t pay attention to the religious calendar when choosing our destination. We are on holiday in a primarily Muslim country during Ramadan. I have no idea who is fasting but I know that the queues for food after sundown are MUCH longer. And many of the food services workers look very grumpy, especially at lunch, which may be completely unrelated but I know it would annoy me to watch people eating (so much eating!) when I was fasting.
Now let’s talk about the cultural differences we have with our fellow guests. We have been to many places where we struggle with language but this is the first place I can remember where English is not commonly spoken even by the staff. In fact, the staff are definitely multilingual, speaking Turkish, German, and Russian before English. The vast majority of the people vacationing here are Russian speakers. And they have very different perspectives on personal space and no respect for queues! On more than one occasion, an entire Russian-speaking family has decided that they were more deserving of a place in line than I was and just jumped in line in front of me. Again, I know that these may be the exception to the rule (insert joke about British tourists on holiday here!) but it does seem to be pretty common for those that are here. They are not all Russian mind you. They come from many of the former Soviet states (that I improperly refer to as the “Stan” countries) as well as Georgia and Estonia. At least that’s what I can gather from the Rolling Anarchy biker club jackets that have become very common here in the last day or two.
So children, today’s lesson is that just because you are well travelled and know that different places have different cultures, that does not mean that you don’t be surprised by how those cultures manifest while on holiday. And now a picture of pretty scenery.
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