My wife, father in-law, and I spent a week in Istanbul two years ago. Many historic Christian churches and other historic sites to visit. Two events stick in my mind. We went to a small family run restaurant by our hotel. I paid for the meal (very inexpensive) and when we got up to leave I put some money on the table for a tip. Our waiter called me back and was shaking his head ‘no’, but he did not speak English. Another person had to translate. The waiter was telling me that the tip was already included in the bill, and that I did not need to leave anything extra. Another night I bought a hot pastry from a street vendor. The sign said 2 lira (about $.70), so I gave him 2 lira. He looked at the coins and started shaking his head ‘no’. I am ashamed to admit that I thought he was going ask for more, even though the sign said 2 lira. Turned out the pastry I pointed to did not cost 2 lira. It only cost 1 lira, and he wanted to give me back one coin.
I spent a couple of years there in the 70’s while going to high school. Dad was in the Air Force. It was great back then and super inexpensive.
No TV. Very little up to date news. I contribute my time there to not being indoctrinated in the liberal mindset many or possibly most schools at the time were pushing. I doubt it would have stuck though being so independent minded as I am.
From what I understand it has changed a lot in Izmir since then. Good memories though. Back then the city people were very westernized and loved anything American. Levi’s went for quite a premium and we never gave a thought about walking around the city at night. No way would I do that now. It’s a shame the world, and particularly the middle east, is so screwed up now. These days I get the feeling Americans are tolerated rather than welcome like we used to be. Sad really.
Heck; I look forward to the day when we conservatives don’t feel like we are under attack by our own freaking government all the time.
I went to school with some students from Turkey, and they were stand-up guys who were proud of their country’s alliance with the US. That being said, I wouldn’t visit there just because I don’t think non-Muslims should visit Muslim countries.