Good-bye Turkey

Everything is a little bit broken
Whether it’s a toilet constantly flushing, broken door handles or shoddy construction: in one way or another, everything in Turkey is a little bit broken. And when things break, they often either get a temporary fix (that stays forever) or … none at all.
I’ve seen dozens of windows fixed with a plastic bag taped over it. Showers leaking onto the bathroom floor is a common occurrence in almost every hotel (there is an additional drain in the bathroom floor anyways)

No shits given attitude

• An unannounced half-day power outage just… happens, apparently.

• Sidewalks are repaired with new cement, but no signs ar posted (and of course they’re not blocked for traffic). The result: footsteps of various creatures in the fresh cement.

• When having a beer at the seaside, empty bottles are just thrown out of the window.

• The water at a hotel is just shut off in the morning for one hour. Why would you inform anybody?

• When the electric water heater causes a power outage by triggering the RCCB, you just remove the RCCB

Great highways
Most overland “Dxxx” roads (let’s call them highways) are in excellent condition. 2 lanes per direction, vast shoulders, almost no dirt. Yes, they can be used by bicycles. and tractors. And horses. And as long as you’re not in or close to a bigger city, cycling here is a breeze

Turkish doors are the worst
I hate Turkish doors. Seriously. The door handles suck. The front doors often don’t close, unless you force them to. The doors handles of many apartment doors are ridiculously hard to press down. On more than 1 occasion I had trouble leaving the bathroom again because the door wouldn’t open upon.

Everybody seems to know talks to each other
Turkish people are easier to interact and talk to each other than in other countries I’ve visited so far. In no country, people have

Everybody is on the phone, always
We know driving a car is notoriously boring. Which is why Turkish drivers need some distraction, such as a phone pressed to their ear or on the steering wheel…