Blog 10: ADANA Road trip 2: ANTALYA
Hi folks.
I’m back in Adana once again. Back from 6 great days in
Antalya.
Although this blog is really only about Adana, I will detour
briefly for the purpose of giving some tips about visiting tourist areas in
Turkey.
The blog is called ADANA Road trip 2 ANTALYA but we cheated, we went by plane. You see it's an 8 hour winding road trip and although that might be nice and by the coast, I had a 2 year old son on this trip, so... lol
Antalya, outside of Istanbul is the 2nd biggest
Tourist Destination in Turkey. It’s not so well known in Australia as Aussies
tend to head to Istanbul, Gallipoli and inland tourist attractions like
Cappadocia.
But Antalya is a huge
destination for firstly, Russians and then Germans and then European’s from all
over. It was funny to find so many tourist books written in Russian rather than
English.
Set midway up the Turkish Mediterranean Coast, Antalya
enjoys the best of Turkish weather, a lot like Adana in that in November both
cities experienced temperatures still ranging from 20’s to 30’s and sunshine! Which
is very nice considering December is when Winter hits here! Beware, like Adana also, Summer (June, July,
August) can be scorching hot. But in Antalya this is easily remedied by the
beautiful warm and calm waters of the Mediterranean Sea.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antalya
So many wonderful photos, I have only loaded a small sample here.
Antalya is a 40 minute, 40 lira plane trip from Adana (Pegasus
Airlines) Book early and you will get the cheap price we did and don’t fall for
the choose a seat and food for extra fee. You get a seat anyway and no time for
food really. Just get the cheap ticket and your there! (Be aware – 15kg check
in only and payment required for extra)
Pegasus Airlines have the best inflight safety demonstration
I have seen. It’s done all by kids in a video presentation and takes your
attention and makes you smile. Well done to them!
Antalya is a Tourist city
Antalya is a Tourist city because like Adana, it’s
surrounded by amazing if not spectacular ancient ruins, cities and
amphitheatres to amaze all. There are islands not too distant and many fabulous
seaside destinations to explore.
The difference between Antalya and Adana is Adana is 1 hour
inland and this city doesn’t capitalise on the tourist dollar. They don’t seem
to understand just how great the potential is for Tourism there is in Adana. As
a result, the Adanians (my word for people in Adana because it’s easier for
Aussies to understand that way) really don’t look after the ancient ruins of
the past, leaving them often to neglect and open to vandalism.
best preserved Amphitheatre in the World
There are some exceptions of course but on a whole I was shocked
at the many fantastic sites that had no protection. Still, that’s also the
beauty of sites around Adana. You can feel like you really are among the first
to discover sites and they are still raw, undiscovered, unexcavated. Ironically
only 4% of all discovered archaeological sites in Turkey have been excavated!
That’s an amazing statistic when you see the vast number of sites that have! So
much to yet be unearthed!
But Antalya also has the sea. There are beaches, increably elaborate
5 star resorts unlike anything in Australia and wonderful harbours, romantic
views and tourist shops in their thousands…
And so what comes with such a wonderful destination like
this, is the many Tourist traps….
First thing a tourist visiting these areas should remember
is Traffic rules. All the things mentioned in my past blog about traffic in Adana
apply here in Antalya but add to those points the following.
Taxi’s are more expensive in Tourist
destinations.
Certainly double what you would pay for a taxi in Adana
anyway.
Always enquire what will be the approximate price first
before you ride and then you have a basis to argue when they literally try to
“take you for a ride” (charge you a much higher price). If you can, ask someone
what you would be expecting to pay before you get to the taxi. Or, take a bus
from the airport, 5 lira is better than 50 lira to the same destination. But some knowledge of Turkish helps in this
regard.
Illegal Taxi’s
In turkey they sometimes have illegal taxi’s. (often
recommend to you by a shonky coast driver or person waiting to help you with
baggage – also wanting you to pay for that help) Illegal Taxi’s are drivers in
private cars without a Taxi licence. They often will charge you a lower price
for the same journey. I wouldn’t trust these as I’ve already been burnt. They
could take you anywhere and then request a higher price, or even rob you. Stick with the yellow cabs or better still,
take the bus. (In Adana, Taxis are cheap so when in Adana, Taxi’s are generally
ok.)
Cars, taxi’s and motorised bikes and scoters
will use the same narrow roads and pedestrian pathways as you.
So always be on the lookout. Take nothing for granted! In Antalya
cars and bikes also will use the Tram ways as well so there is nowhere you can
trust to be free of traffic. Be aware! Cars rule, they will go through red
lights more times than less and they will frequently fail to stop at pedestrian
crossings with traffic lights. (They totally ignore pedestrian crossings
without lights).
Read my earlier blog about traffic.
Tourist price and Turkish price.
There are two prices at Tourist shops. Tourist price and
Turkish price. Be prepared to barter hard and walk away easy. If they really
want the sale they will chase you.
To be fair, I need to set some perspective or you may get
angry or tense at the bold, if not down right (Aussie expression sorry)
aggressive approach most tourist shop workers use.
In turkey, the average wage is between 450 lira to about 850
lira. That’s per MONTH!! Not per week or fortnight as most westerners work on.
Given the lira to Aussie dollar, that’s about $300 to $450 a month. Some things
in Turkey are cheaper, like fruit, market clothing, rents, house prices but you
are still paying much higher prices for things like alcohol, electric,
electronics and way higher prices for petal!! So that leaves very little to
live on.
Now most of these Tourist industry workers live on commissions
or a small retainer plus commission. They work 6 to 7 days a week, some up to a
13 hour day or more depending on where their shop is located.
They have to be very skilled to get your dollar, often
learning 2 to 4 languages (which all costs money). Add to this, the Tourist
season might stretch for 4 to 6 months, after which many are not wanted in the
down time. So what they make in Summer often needs to sustain them through the
non-season months. Or they need to travel elsewhere to find work.
It’s a tough life so when you walk past them, in your
designer clothing, simply being able to afford international travel means you
look like $$$ and they need them.
So try not to be too offended by their aggressive approach.
In Antalya it’s not as bad as the Grand Bazar in Istanbul (a place in which you
are literally hunted!!) but it can be intimidating to the Aussie Tourist.
Understanding the Aussie customer
(For my Turkish Friends)
For all my Turkish friends reading this, you need to
understand the Aussie mentality.
Back home in Australia we like to shop quietly, “browse
before we buy” (bakiyorun!). No body anywhere yells at you when you shop
in Australia.
An Aussie shop keeper generally, lets you into their store
without pressure, stands back and watches, waits till they see a sign from you
that you want help or waits for you to ask a question. Sometimes they may
approach and say “may I help you?” but never will they stand outside the door
of a shop and harass you to come in. We
do have what we call “sprookers” to stand outside maybe 1 shop in 1000 advertise
a one off sale (normally people with Irish accents are best at this), but they
are rare and like only for 1 day.
Aussie shop keepers always wait inside, often behind the
counter. So to an Aussie, the Turkish way of selling can be intimidating and scary.
Often the result is we Aussies will walk past shops we really wanted to look
inside, simply because we didn’t want to be harassed. Aussies can become angry at this style of
selling. This is made worse by the fact that Aussies and naturally sceptical,
mistrust what you tell them anyway. Sorry, that comes from our Convict heritage
and our mistrust of authority! Lol
Example: In Antalya this trip, the food shops venders were the worst
of all for me as made very much intimidating pressure for us to eat there. One
even picked up my son and proceeded to carry him up the stairs for us to
encourage us to eat there! (three times my son was picked up by venders whilst
in Antalya) Talk about seeing RED! My wife and I took our son back and turned
away only to be pressured by another food shop vender who cornered us into
eating with them. The seat and place to eat was perfect, but we got up and left
before he could take the order because on principle, he was too aggressive. I
did not want to eat at a place I was intimated into eating. If there was no
pressure I would have eaten there no problem! It’s just like that for Aussies.
Friends in Antalya
But to save the day, I met some really great Turkish Tourist
shop venders and made some great friends. I am so pleased to make new friends
with Savas and Can and their friends. These guys gave me some great insight
into their lives and also life in Turkey. They have a great little store beside
a coffee shop and are very friendly and as a result, we spent most of our
tourist dollar there. Trust is a good thing! Thanks guys for making me feel
welcome in Antalya. And the beer was
great too! lol
SIMPLE TURKISH
SHOPPING WORDS
So saying all that, here are some simple words to use when
shopping and any Tourist place in Turkey. I have spelt them how they sound to Aussie
ears.
“Bakiyorun” pronounced “Buck-u-rum” which means “just
looking” or “just browsing” (Buck = look) That’s a great word I use often to
gain a bit of space to look and breathe.
When they say Hoshgalden, (Welcome) you can say either
“Merhaba”(Hello) or if you feel like it “Hosh-bull-doc” (good to be here)
If you don’t want something you can just say “York” (I don’t
want). Depending on the circumstance you can simply then walk away then, or
keep walking if you’re walking past the store (they strongly encourage you to
come in as you walk past shops). Or, if you want to look at something else when
you’re in the shop, or if bargaining, say “York” to indicate you’re not happy
with that price. “York” is a wonderful word!
“Ev-vet” means “yes” “Hi-it” means “no” but I just use
“York” for no mostly. But if you really want to stress “no means no” then use
“Hi-it” nice and firm. Body language and simple hand (but polite) gestures work
too.
If you buy something or are pleased with something, say
thank you “tes-sheck-ular” or “tes-sheck-ular ar-din-um” (I thank you) They will reply
“Besh-shed-de” (You’re Welcome)
If they want you to come into stalls they will say “Bod dem”
(Come in) or “Gel” (come)
If you want something you can say “Is-stu-rum” (I want) and
point.
To ask the price of something, say either “uch lira?” or
“uch Euro” how much lira or Euro depending what currency you have. Or you can
say what I say “nic ca da?” (How much) and point.
If you don’t understand something say “Oz Turk ghair” (“Little
Turkish”)
NUMBERS
Simple numbers in Turkish
Beer = 1
Icky = 2
Doosh = 3
Dirt = 4
Besh = 5
Altern = 6
Yetty = 7
Sea-kissed = 8
Doocost = 9
On = 10
Then the numbers below in front of each numbers above to make numbers 11 to 100
15 would be "on besh" 24 would be"year dirt" and so on.
10 = on
20 = year
30 = off tooz
40 = kurk
50 = el lear
60 = art mish
70 = yet mish
80 = sec san
90 = doc sun
100 = youz
Lastly
When you walk past as Turkish tourist shops they will be
lined up all along the street waiting for you. By the time you get to them they would have
made some speculation already on what nationality you are and try to engage you
in simple language of your own saying the following things;
My friend, my friend, can I show you something??
Do you want to look inside? Very interesting things
Where are you from? Germany? Russia? Aussie Aussie Aussie,
oy oy oy? Etc lol
My friend can I tell you something?
My friend, you break my heart!
You from Australia? I have an uncle in Australia! (Turks are
everywhere remember so this could be true, or just a pick up line! Lol)
In Adana they simply say “Bod-dem” which is basically “welcome,
please come in”. (good approach to this Aussie)
The strategy is basically to engage you and draw you into
their shop. Once they have you there they will probably offer you chi (tea)
different types which they may also try to sell you the tea leafs or tea flavoured
powder. (it’s nice tea and won’t cost you anything to drink but listening to a
sale pitch normally)
It’s a different matter if you accept things like nuts, or napkins
or somebody thrust food in your hands, they will argue you accepted and so need
to pay. Be aware!
Remember earlier blogs. Wallets front pockets, deep. Always beware
of you money and valuables. Body belts below clothing are great.
The Tourist shops in Antalya are incredibly interesting and
there is much to see, so do explore. Many shops may be a repeat of the last so
get used to hearing the same things over and over, but generally they all have
something different aswell. But there is so many great things to buy, just don’t
rush, despite what they say, there’s always time to come back and yes they will
accept the lower price offered later also.
Remember if you really want something; go to a few shops so
you can gauge the prices. Then make an informed choice.
Never accept their first price.
When I go in alone to a shop as a Tourist, because I look
like a foreigner, I generally get given a price sometimes twice as high as
Aylin, my wife who is Turkish. The same item, 5 minutes later can be so much
lower when she asks in Turkish. So be prepared to bargain. Normally you should
be able to bring it down by a third. But remember, these shop workers really
rely on commissions to live so don’t expect wholesale prices. But it is nice to
feel you have a bargain though.
The next blog will be back about Adana.
Good to be back here.
Cheers
Andrew
