Reflections on Turkey / Erinnerungen an die Türkei

We're back in Salzburg where it's icy and snowy and still winter. You know it's a good vacation when you've forgotten what the weather is like back at home and getting off the airplane into the cold is somewhat of a shock. Turkey really is a lovely place. We had high hopes but not high expectations, so were tremendously surprised at what we found.

The food at the hotel was outstanding, catering to an international clientele, but also offering traditional Turkish fare. Turkish cheeses are typically soft and salty. There is a feta-like cheese which is presented with a variety of spices and herbs, so that you can have it taste slightly different every time you eat it. The desserts are sweet and sticky, many drizzled with honey which is thinner than the honey we are used to, but is marvelous at make an ordinary cake or biscuit something memorable. Also noteworthy are the dried apricots, which were available at every meal, and were so fresh that it was hard to stop at just a couple.

The Turkish people seem to have a great appreciation for children, which was great for Nikolas. People patted his head and stroked his cheek with a ready smile constantly. When people spoke to him, they would use German as a first language after Turkish, and sometimes switch to English, depending on how he responded. We'd be walking somewhere in the hotel and hear, "Nikolas!" being called behind us and find a woman from the sauna or an animation team (entertainment and activity leaders) member just wanting to say hello. It was genuine kindness unlike I've seen elsewhere.

Nikolas likes to play with other children more than he likes to play with us, which is the way it should be. He could probably make friends with a door knob if given enough time. It didn't matter what language of communication, but he befriended different children almost every day. First there was 9-year-old Alikan, a Turkish boy living in Berlin. Then came 2-year-old Tarac, a Turkish boy with an American mother. Then came his 12-year-old "Lieblingsmädchen" (favorite girl) from Vienna, whose name we never did find out nor did she ever play with him, but he liked to follow her around. Next he befriended 3-year-old Tobias, on holiday from Leipzig with his grandparents. His final friend, for quite a number of post-mealtime coloring and car driving sessions was 3-year-old Melissa, a Turkish girl living in Düsseldorf.

We did not do a whole lot of touring, mostly because there's not much in touring for Nikolas which means there's not much in touring for us. The time we spent in Antalya was enjoyed by all, and the rest of the time spent without any mandatory schedule, except for meals of course, was ideal. The beach was sandy enough and warm enough to spend hours on. The indoor pool was warm enough and large enough to really have a good time in. Nikolas put a lot of swimming skills together and came home a much more able swimmer. The outdoor pools and slides and snack bars were shut for the winter, offering water to look at and places to sit, but nothing more. I would love to go back when the outdoor hotel life is up and running, but then again, it might be wilder and louder and busier than the peaceful tranquility what we enjoyed this time around.

The Antalya tourist board deserves a lot of credit for their ingenuity in creating a tourist destination. It is certainly worthy of being a tourist hot spot, but it wasn't too long ago that the resorts all closed in the winter because no one came. But now, with Sun Express flying weekly or twice-weekly flights from ever major and minor German-speaking city, and tour operators from other countries bringing people in, the resorts are busy. Antalya is also being developed as a winter soccer training site, a place for teams to come and get some warmer weather play time in. Every day we saw teams running up and down the beach, and we read that 1,000 teams from Turkey, Germany, Austria, Russia, the Netherlands, South Korea, and Japan had stayed in area hotels in the month of January! That's a lot of soccer players.

We've come home with many great memories, and hope that one day we will get back to Turkey. Until then, Nikolas dances on (we call this the pretzel eating wobbly ankle dance)...


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