Rick Steves’ Travel Blog

While I was trying to be on vacation during this Turkey trip, I was also collecting ideas for future TV episodes and making sure our Best of Turkey tour is the best value possible for our tour customers. As I always do when taking one of our tours, I send in a report to our tour operations staff and guides. Here is a sampling of my feedback for this tour:

Great trip in every way. I am really happy and impressed by how the tour is true to the ETBD spirit. If you made no changes because of these suggestions, it would still be a great tour. The mechanics of the tour as Mine did it were spot on. Nice work! But here are a few suggestions, proposals, ideas, and feedback to be considered for our Turkey program:

The Whisper System is a winner in Istanbul. It makes touring more relaxing and enjoyable for all. Experiment to learn what causes static. Try listening with Bose headsets (it’s a different experience — almost too good; I’m not proposing that, but it is interesting).

The mid-tour feedback is great and well done. And, while you do need to respond, you can address concerns without overreacting (it’s just one voice out of 25).

Walking fast is important. Keep walking fast and just explain you won’t turn a corner. Start talking when most of the group is there. Those who choose to lag behind are free to do so without causing all to wait for them.

For meals, maximize variety — eating experiences with more variety and less quantity. While some cultures love people by throwing vast quantities of food at them, this does not impress Americans. It makes us uncomfortable. The Aphrodisias lunch (pide, salad, mushrooms) was served family-style and perfect. Nice variety, fast, not too much, great for sharing, good for social fun.

The dancing surprise is OK. A little more real music that evening (even by amateur musicians) would be great. Consider explaining the instruments. Tell about the culture of dancing in Turkey — how men dance together, snapping, flirting, etc.

The dervish evening was a powerful memory, but I’d explain to people really clearly that it is not a show but an actual ritual. It’s slow and otherworldly, and there’s no applause when it’s done.

Be careful to respect Christians on the tour. Many people come with a keen interest in Biblical history and footsteps of St. Paul. I think the guide’s leadership is important to promote an atmosphere of respect and thoughtfulness from a religious (Muslim or Christian) point of view. Ideally, it is ecumenical — a kind of generic, all-inclusive approach that people of all faiths can embrace.

One highlight was meeting people — real people. The magic of this tour (which distinguishes it from others) is your talent and ability to get us into homes. The more, the better.
Rest stops are excellent. I like the efficiency of the big bus meals and stops. Bravo Turkey!

Punctuality was good. Establish departure time clearly (as you do). Sometimes it helps to have everyone repeat the time. To physically say it, they will remember better.

For group meals, it is very important for the guide to be sure there is smart seating (no gaps, not too tight, no extra chairs, easy access rather than a long single table against the wall, remove ashtrays). People are reluctant to scoot down a long line to sit in a place where they will make five people move if they need to get up. An extra chair or setting often means there is a gap socially in the seating, and then someone is cut out of the conversation — a major problem, but easy to avoid.

The meals should be a cultural education and fun sampler. Ask for any taste treats from the kitchen and let people have a tiny taste. Explain the food, introduce people to new stuff, do things en masse for experience, exposure, and economy (e.g., 6sütlaç for 24 people, one box of Turkish delight for the group after dessert, an assortment of various baklava desserts cut into small pieces and placed in the center of the table, a strange new drink with a little sample for each). Pay for these little extras as a tour expense.

More “group think”: Buy one newspaper and share it on the bus, put a box of pistachios for anyone to dig into in the back, pick up souvenir brochures/postcards/etc. assuming people are making a scrapbook. I’d buy a box of some treat at each stop and share it (tiny bits) on the bus after we roll out. More sampler food (e.g., baklava).

Know the history in the Western context. Few Western Christians know who St. Basil is. He may be big in the East, but he’s new to us. A serious history of Atatürk and the establishment of the modern country would be good in Ankara.

Assume tour members have no broad understanding of ancient history or art. So, at ancient sights, teach Greek, Roman, Byzantine history using the little things we see as a rack upon which to hang a bigger/broader understanding. For example: the plumbing under the streets (Roman engineering and social justice when it comes to who gets water for what), Roman roads (importance of communication to rule a vast empire), the walls built after region was conquered by Rome (why none before and why needed after). Discuss Atatürk in the context of European colonialism, and the Turkish army in the context of NATO.

I’d give a primer to the Muslin faith early in the tour (five pillars, who The Prophet is, how organized religion is run in Turkey compared to the rest of Islam).

The Q&A in the local home was a real highlight. This is critical and should be great even without good questions like our group generated. Jumpstart questions if necessary.

Print up a “cultural scavenger hunt” page for the market (to be used in all tours at any market): e.g., leeches — find them, why, cost; animal-skin cheese bag; children buying baby chicks; old people with traditional wear; cigarettes with health warnings; and so on.

Explain that wine is not a good value because of taxation so tour members feel OK about skipping wine. (There is really nothing special about Turkish wines, but travelers feel obligated to seek out the good wines.) Beer is better value. Do a raki tasting with an expert. Demonstrate fun ways to pour and drink it.

Anytime the guide can buy an experience to save time and money for the group and create a memory — do it! Little moments: talking with shepherd, ice cream, apple bananas, halva, cologne on bus, etc. — great guiding. Maximize this. Brainstorm more examples of how we can do more of these micro-experiences. There are literally thousands.

Getting early start (last three mornings at 7:30) is great. Sightseeing without midday heat and crowds — wonderful.

I am concerned that the Istanbul hotel is gouging people who arrive early. Can we negotiate a fair price or find an alternative? Tour members told me they were charged a horrible amount per night before the tour. That is a betrayal from them (considering our loyalty to them over the years). Our tour members should not be easy money just earned money.

Tour hotels are great. Meals are great. Bus and driver are great. Guide is great. Itinerary is thoughtful and great. Rick is very happy. Thanks a lot for all the good work to all our Turkish tour partners!

It’s tradition that we have a kind of sharing time with skits, poems, and songs with dessert after every tour’s last supper. As a thanks to our guide, Mine (pronounced mee-nay), I wrote this little collection of images and insights she organized for me and our group. The festive dinner was a wonderful capper for a great tour.

Olive Pits on My Breakfast Plate
Stacking olive pits on my breakfast plate, I sort through the sounds, flavors, and feelings that are my souvenirs of Turkey.

As I stand in the basket of my balloon, the rhythmic bursts of flame punctuate Mustafa’s jokes while warming my wide eyes. Illogically, the stripes on his epaulette make me feel safe as we lift off.

On the market square, hourglasses of sweet chai and the clatter of backgammon dice among unshaven men — men who may look scary to people who never leave their TV — make it clear: We’re all children in the same playground.

In the mosque, I struggle to get comfortable sitting cross-legged on the well-worn carpet. The imam explains that the mark of a good call to prayer is how the muezzin stays in the right mode. Spending time with him, I ponder why craving to understand and be close to God drives societies apart rather than bringing them together.

In the market, the old woman — her deep wrinkles evidence of a life lived close to the earth — earnestly tries to sell me a leech swimming laps in an old plastic water bottle.

In the hammam, sprawled with five bus mates on warm marble, like slabs of tourist meat in wet underwear, I surrender to my burly Turk, ready to be tenderized.

Stepping into our hotel with flowers lavishly bedecking the lobby, someone asks, “Was there a wedding?” The man at the desk says, “No, a circumcision.” For many Turks, a circumcision is the greatest party — “like a wedding without in-laws.”

In this remote corner of Turkey, many men still take macho to dizzy heights. At the corner tobacco shop, when buying cigarettes, they choose the pack that reads “Cigarettes can cause death by cancer” rather than the one that reads “Cigarettes can make you impotent.”

Walking across town to the home where the family was preparing a traditional dinner feast, I noticed children in

the field bursting with joy and laughing wildly. I thought, “Happy kids.” Then I realized they were laughing at me — a big, gawky American man walking through their vacant lot wearing baggy pants with a floral (and decidedly feminine) pattern. I’m hoping the joy of baggy pants — perfect for when you want to be naked but can’t — will follow me home.

Good travelers strive to get out of their comfort zone. And the hallmark of a great travel experience is that when a trip does get us out of our comfort zone… we actually find ourselves in it. When we travel, like that balloon lifting off a wild Anatolian field, we are — at least for a while — free from the bonds of our culture and ready to experience our world with a different perspective. What becomes of that freedom and perspective after our balloon touches down is up to each of us.