holiday....safe muslim country??, page-17

re: re:groundzero- holiday....safe muslim country? Try Turkey

Get out of the cities and into areas like Capadoccia, or down on the coast, but stay away from Pommie and German favourite places. They are sh*t. Bodrum is my favourite place on the Med coast. Crusader castle, secret harbour, the mausoleum - the tomb of King Mauolus - 1 of the 7 wonders of the ancient world. Strolling at dusk along the foreshore with Turkish families enjoying the breeze after a hot day.
Better Greek and Roman ruins than in either Greece or Italy.The people are very friendly, language isn't a problem as the children have to learn either English or German at school, so if you start talking to someone and they disappear with much chatter and hand gestures, it's just to get you some apple tea while you wait for the son or nephew to come and translate. Kids will come up to you and want to talk - practise their English. Don't be afraid to travel by Dolmus (the local bus) - the Turks will look at you indulgently - and after remarks have flashed everywhere in Turkish - someone will ask in broken English where you are from - They love Aussies. Everyone has a relative living in Melbourne! Never say anything dis-respectful about Attaturk and be smilingly polite and you won't have a problem. The food is a bit acidic to my taste but not a problem perse. NEVER buy a meat anything from somewhere that doesn't have a high turnover of food. ONLY drink bottled water - even the Turks do. Don't worry about the Police/Army everywhere (by our standards) tourism is Turkey's number 1 money spinner and they'll quite often put a guard outside a hotel to keep the local criminals away.

Beautiful place, beautiful people who'll try and talk you into living there...they need the foreign income...and they are genuinely curious about Australia. We had an Iman open a closed Mosque for us - incredibly beautiful mosaic walls being restored. We naturally gave the restoration fund a donation, but the Iman, who came in with us, let us stay as long as we liked and was obviously pleased about our reaction to their beautiful Mosque. Next time I go back - I'll be seeing the Black Sea Coast, a lot of it by Dolmus.

cheers
Lekki