While you let me lead you through this post, please play the song below, which, at the moment of writing, is one of the coolest pieces that the Turks listen to on their beaches.
Omer Faruk Bostan, ladies and gentleman, singing on some long instrument that resembles a banjo...but it's not! This motherfucking piece of song will get you through 3 prosecco glasses and a shot of vodka (a lot of Russian people in Turkey, I tell you, so vodka is something easy to find everywhere). It will keep you dancing, getting you in some kind of fucking trance. Beat that trance Armin!
These Turks know how to get you moving, really and now that I'm back from my vacation, right before telling you Steemit, the whole story, THAT is the memory I made: that shot, right there. Me, my son, some friends I've made, in the back, and that moment, on that boat somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea.
But there were also other incredible moments that I think I've managed to capture. Like this one below. Look at the faces of those two. Ready to rumble all day long.
And this little movie that makes me giggle every time I watch it.
The Turkish Cliche
Turkey is cheap. Not the bird, but the trips there. You get to go a little bit across the Sea than Cyprus, for less than 1000 euro, 2 adults, 1 kid and all the food you can eat. We decided to go again this year, even though it's the second time now, in a row. That's it anyway. It's nice but I've got to change this "pension style" resorts.
The place I've been to, can't be called a hotel. From the sea, it looked like a fucking fortress.
I mean, when I wanted to make a complaint and the receptionist pointed me to the place I had to go to place it, it was like 500-600m away. I got there to make the complaint, but you know, something like out of a Romanian bureaucracy movie, I had to move back for some reason. They were discouraging you to do stuff, because of the distances you needed to move to. After you make more or less 1 kilometer just to move through the complex, you just want to rest. The heat is not helping either.
For them, it's an industry. And it's an industry that makes resorts like the one below, be just a speck of dust on the whole plethora of choices.
The Curse of Free Food
If you have the stomach of a horse, you can eat until your belly pops. It's all about the quantity but the quality isn't bad either. Every day two soups, it's like heaven for me. I'm a soup girl. And it's ok if you eat meat too. You get a lot of meats, stews, grills and other meat dishes.
But they throw so much food. And that's because of the tourists. You can see people taking food on a plate until they make the Empire State Building over there. When they were having two plates, each on one hand, you could see them balancing food like a pro waiter. I have waited in line 5 minutes to pick up a donut. I was drooling to get one and the lady in front of me took all 6 remaining donuts.
WHY??!!
Are you going to eat all 6 fucking donuts?
It was looking like a bad story give away session. Like people from the sewage, having been starved for decades, now they are allowed to eat whatever they want. The human being is transformed to a brute when hunger strikes. Being in a closed resort, getting to know people from one day to another, is not helping, you know?
Everything in this sector is overly provided, I mean there's too much waste when it should be none.
The 10 dollar policy
You could buy whatever extra with 10 USD here. The average Turk would sell to you his last goat for 10 bucks. This is like the 5 euro for the Policemen in Bulgaria when they catch you speeding. You always have to have them ready to be spent. It's like a "let me pass" card you've got on you all the time in games, in order to be able to skip levels.
Right outside the gates of the fortress we've stayed in, it was a bazaar-like thing. Some streets, not necessarily a village but more like gathered buildings in order to put some shops inside them to serve the people of the resort, when and if they come out.
FAKES!
Fakes everywhere of course. But the average peddler was there to tempt you with his large smile, and the normal saying: "10 dollars! It's not fake!". Of course it's not.
It's like you've got to buy. You know you are buying bullshit, something you will never wear and in the best case scenario you'll pass it on to someone else, more in need than you. You feel like you are helping an economy in need.
And of course the perfumes. That industry of chemicals that is made just to seem similar with the real ones. Though some better fakes exist in the market and they may fool the untrained eye, these guys here were at the bottom of the feeding chain, really. I didn't buy any though, but these are the worse fakes you could get your hands on. Until your port of destination, you will get your suitcase filled of cheap perfume smell, that in most cases is oily as shit!
In this "resort gates" bazaar, life is very dandy and chill. It's so hot outside usually, that these guys manage to get on this "remote-sleep mode". They only function when the tourists are around. When they smell the average tourist getting closer they activate their sensors and go from "airplane mode" to "full connection" mode and they start selling their thing.
They are natural born sellers. They will hunt you down with their offers. You usually have to buy something. It's like a toll to let you visit the bazaar. At times I had the impression they were just clinching to my leg, not letting me go.
But they are very nice people and always polite.
Conclusions
I've had an interesting time in Turkey but as I said higher, that's the last time, at least for the short future. Don't really know what I'll choose for the future, but for sure it will be something with less custom control. They have taken everything out and they checked every little thing we've had. Yeah, it's a pain in the ass to put it back again.
As you see, I haven't talked a lot about the activity on the beach because there were so many things you HAD to go to, before going to the beach, which was pretty far away compared to the nearest pool. Still, the water is impressive and in spite of the fact that the landscape is a little bit arid, on that day, on the boat (the first picture in this post), having a great time and enjoying the open sea, SHE was the main character. I will come back with an article and a video montage about that.
I'd love to visit Turkey one day :o
STOPIf you want to see the worst average people can be, just offer them all-inclusive. It took me only two months working in a all you can eat restaurant to lose the hope in humanity. Great article :)!
Hello @vargart,
Cheers!
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Next week I'll be there too. My family will fly in Belek to an 5-star Ultra All Inclusive. Last time we were in Turkey was 10 years ago. It's time to repeat that semi luxury type of adventure, because sometimes the 5 turkish stars are the same with the 3-4 european stars, excepting the abundance of food and drinks :)
Super blog @vargart
Ma gandeam .. atunci cand am vazut farul, corabiile, marea ... ca pentru un astfel de spectru peisagistic ar merge o astfel de muzica :-)
Bosphorus Strait
https://dsound.audio/#!/@luciannagy
Numai bine