Mass (perhaps crass?) tourism
When I first got to Germany I was amazed at how much Germans travel. People went to all kinds of exotic places but when I asked them about them, I got a sense they hadn't seen much at all. One woman who babysat for my kids when they were small went to Egypt twice but didn't see the pyramids! How do you go to Egypt and not see the pyramids?! They were "too far" from the hotel she stayed in, she said. "Nice hotel" was a frequent response I would get when I asked people about their trips. I just didn't get it until we took one of these "all-inclusive" trips to Turkey for the first time a few years back.
We were looking just to get away for a week in winter. The alps are about a five hour drive and I thought we could drive down there, see some snow and mountains, sled, relax. "You could go to Turkey for a week for about the same price," a friend of ours claimed. What? Turkey is a three hour flight from here, largely in the Middle East. How could that be possible? But we checked and it's true. Winter is off season for Turkey and all the prices plummet. So we booked it and went. That was our first trip there, in 2003.
We picked a hotel based on location, tennis courts and a travel agent's recommendation and ended up in Side (Seeduh) on what is known as the Turkish Riviera. Pretty much all the German trips go down along that strip on the southern coast of Turkey on the Mediterranean. It's basically hotel after hotel after hotel.
Ours was called Defne Star and was full of old Germans. I think I was the only non-German guest. We had an assigned table for breakfast and dinner. (Like on a cruise ship, my friend Scott said.) I haven't gone on that kind of cruise, but nonetheless the hotel seemed like a giant German cruise ship that beached on the Turkish coast. Or maybe a really nice German old folks' home. The food was German, everyone spoke German, the signs were in German, it was bizarre to be in this completely German environment in Turkey. And a lot of the guests stayed for long periods, eight, ten, twelve weeks. Apparently a lot of retired Germans are using Turkey as their winter haven.
In this particular hotel they offered something called half-pension plus. This means you get breakfast, dinner and all the booze you can drink from something like 11 a.m. (fortunately I don't generally start that early) until midnight or maybe 1 a.m. (that's the plus!). And I'm not just talking wine and beer here; whiskey, vodka, brandy, whatever. Well, naturally, most people aren't that interested in leaving these places to go someplace else where they might not speak German and you'll have to pay for your food and/or drinks! And so it is. People go for walks on the beach but mostly just hang around the absolutely beautiful hotel. Do they get to know Turkey? Obviously not. Do they have a nice vacation? Sure, if a nice hotel on a beautiful beach is what you want. Our response; we went back to the same place in 2004 and 2005.
We went again this year, sans kids, but to different hotels actually staying in three different towns, Kemer, Pamukalle and Alanya.
It was pretty similar to our other trips just different town and hotels. For the parts in Kemer and Alanya we had "all-inclusive" which basically means you can eat and drink almost constantly. However, I can't say the quality of the food was all that great. In the first hotel there were lots of Turkish guests largely because the time frame corresponded with a national holiday there. It was nice to be someplace where there were actually Turkish people around in a capacity other than serving since that was what it was like in our previous hotel.
Since there were ACTUAL Turkish people there, they were also in the Turkish Bath (Hamam) pretty much every decent hotel has. I've used this before in the Defne Star. It is essentially an hexagonal marble steam room with wash basins in the corners or alcoves offering hot and cold water, and a warm marble slab in the middle of the room you can lie down on. Previously, I would hang out in there and warm up and then go take a shower in my room. Imagine my surprise when I realized that the Turks actually take "baths" in the Turkish Baths! (Albeit while wearing bathing suits--it is a Muslim country, after all, and these baths in the hotels at least are "mixed".) So I started bringing shampoo and shower gel with and bathing there too! Fun! You take a metal pan that sits in the basin and use it to douse yourself with water. When the Turks were in there, sometimes they would sing. You can hire someone there to rub you down with a sponge and bubbles but that is an optional, and not inexpensive (25€) experience.
This trip I also finally figured out what the little nozzels at the back of most of the toilets in Turkey are; I've wondered about them every time I've been there but sure didn't want to ask. This time I noticed a spigot on the wall next to the toilet and gingerly turned it. Water gushed out of the nozzel all over the bathroom floor. Ah ha, one should be sitting on the toilet before one turns it on! The things are built in bidets, much more efficient than the French version which requires another entire appliance.
The Germans and the travel industry here have pretty much got this type of travel down to an art. The masses (like us!) go to developing countries (like Turkey!) where everything tends to be cheaper. How cheap? Well, like I said, January is extreme low season in Turkey because you may catch some rain. So prices are the lowest they are all year; we paid about 260€ per head including the flight, hotel, food, transportation to the hotels, and alcohol in two of the three hotels. And we had upgraded! You could do it for even less if you didn't have all your alcohol included and went from a five to a four star hotel. Naturally, this does not include any additional travel you might want to do which is why so many Germans have been to so many places and seen so little. Why pay extra to go someplace outside the hotel when it is so nice there?
Until we started these trips to Turkey, I had always been an "independent" traveler, ie. planning my own trips, not going with groups, etc. So which way is better? Well, as with everything, it depends on what you want. If you want to get educated, do it on your own. If you just want to chill, let the tour operator do it for you. Also, organized travel in the States generally seems to be more expensive than doing it on your own while organized travel in Germany seems to be cheaper. I think it is partially because Germans get quite a bit of time off (six weeks) and tend to be, um, er, thrifty shall we say.
So I've now been to Turkey four times and I've never been to Istanbul! Unbelievable. I plan on going, really, just as soon as we can find the right package.
We were looking just to get away for a week in winter. The alps are about a five hour drive and I thought we could drive down there, see some snow and mountains, sled, relax. "You could go to Turkey for a week for about the same price," a friend of ours claimed. What? Turkey is a three hour flight from here, largely in the Middle East. How could that be possible? But we checked and it's true. Winter is off season for Turkey and all the prices plummet. So we booked it and went. That was our first trip there, in 2003.
We picked a hotel based on location, tennis courts and a travel agent's recommendation and ended up in Side (Seeduh) on what is known as the Turkish Riviera. Pretty much all the German trips go down along that strip on the southern coast of Turkey on the Mediterranean. It's basically hotel after hotel after hotel.
Ours was called Defne Star and was full of old Germans. I think I was the only non-German guest. We had an assigned table for breakfast and dinner. (Like on a cruise ship, my friend Scott said.) I haven't gone on that kind of cruise, but nonetheless the hotel seemed like a giant German cruise ship that beached on the Turkish coast. Or maybe a really nice German old folks' home. The food was German, everyone spoke German, the signs were in German, it was bizarre to be in this completely German environment in Turkey. And a lot of the guests stayed for long periods, eight, ten, twelve weeks. Apparently a lot of retired Germans are using Turkey as their winter haven.
In this particular hotel they offered something called half-pension plus. This means you get breakfast, dinner and all the booze you can drink from something like 11 a.m. (fortunately I don't generally start that early) until midnight or maybe 1 a.m. (that's the plus!). And I'm not just talking wine and beer here; whiskey, vodka, brandy, whatever. Well, naturally, most people aren't that interested in leaving these places to go someplace else where they might not speak German and you'll have to pay for your food and/or drinks! And so it is. People go for walks on the beach but mostly just hang around the absolutely beautiful hotel. Do they get to know Turkey? Obviously not. Do they have a nice vacation? Sure, if a nice hotel on a beautiful beach is what you want. Our response; we went back to the same place in 2004 and 2005.
We went again this year, sans kids, but to different hotels actually staying in three different towns, Kemer, Pamukalle and Alanya.
It was pretty similar to our other trips just different town and hotels. For the parts in Kemer and Alanya we had "all-inclusive" which basically means you can eat and drink almost constantly. However, I can't say the quality of the food was all that great. In the first hotel there were lots of Turkish guests largely because the time frame corresponded with a national holiday there. It was nice to be someplace where there were actually Turkish people around in a capacity other than serving since that was what it was like in our previous hotel.
Since there were ACTUAL Turkish people there, they were also in the Turkish Bath (Hamam) pretty much every decent hotel has. I've used this before in the Defne Star. It is essentially an hexagonal marble steam room with wash basins in the corners or alcoves offering hot and cold water, and a warm marble slab in the middle of the room you can lie down on. Previously, I would hang out in there and warm up and then go take a shower in my room. Imagine my surprise when I realized that the Turks actually take "baths" in the Turkish Baths! (Albeit while wearing bathing suits--it is a Muslim country, after all, and these baths in the hotels at least are "mixed".) So I started bringing shampoo and shower gel with and bathing there too! Fun! You take a metal pan that sits in the basin and use it to douse yourself with water. When the Turks were in there, sometimes they would sing. You can hire someone there to rub you down with a sponge and bubbles but that is an optional, and not inexpensive (25€) experience.
This trip I also finally figured out what the little nozzels at the back of most of the toilets in Turkey are; I've wondered about them every time I've been there but sure didn't want to ask. This time I noticed a spigot on the wall next to the toilet and gingerly turned it. Water gushed out of the nozzel all over the bathroom floor. Ah ha, one should be sitting on the toilet before one turns it on! The things are built in bidets, much more efficient than the French version which requires another entire appliance.
The Germans and the travel industry here have pretty much got this type of travel down to an art. The masses (like us!) go to developing countries (like Turkey!) where everything tends to be cheaper. How cheap? Well, like I said, January is extreme low season in Turkey because you may catch some rain. So prices are the lowest they are all year; we paid about 260€ per head including the flight, hotel, food, transportation to the hotels, and alcohol in two of the three hotels. And we had upgraded! You could do it for even less if you didn't have all your alcohol included and went from a five to a four star hotel. Naturally, this does not include any additional travel you might want to do which is why so many Germans have been to so many places and seen so little. Why pay extra to go someplace outside the hotel when it is so nice there?
Until we started these trips to Turkey, I had always been an "independent" traveler, ie. planning my own trips, not going with groups, etc. So which way is better? Well, as with everything, it depends on what you want. If you want to get educated, do it on your own. If you just want to chill, let the tour operator do it for you. Also, organized travel in the States generally seems to be more expensive than doing it on your own while organized travel in Germany seems to be cheaper. I think it is partially because Germans get quite a bit of time off (six weeks) and tend to be, um, er, thrifty shall we say.
So I've now been to Turkey four times and I've never been to Istanbul! Unbelievable. I plan on going, really, just as soon as we can find the right package.
posted by Terry at 2:13 PM
