Prior to my visit, I had not spoken to anyone, English, Greek or otherwise, to see what they thought of the place or indeed, the people. Why would I do that? After all, I knew enough about the Turks on the mainland, or so I thought. I had been assured that they were, and still are, barbarians. More than that, I had been told that they were "behind the times", such comments giving me the impression that they lived in squalor and poverty. I was led to believe that they lived in old dilapidated buildings. This was partly "proven" to me, by virtue of the way that the buildings in Northern Cyprus, following the Turkish invasion, were allowed to deteriorate. Hotels, shops & homes, previously owned by the Greek Cypriots, and thus already "built and ready" for the Turks after the invasion, were not maintained, and left to crumble. So, with this picture firmly in my head, it followed that I would be of the opinion that, if the Turks could not maintain what was already there, then the existence of cities or towns which would resemble the "civilised west" in their native Turkey was an impossibility.

 

What a culture shock on arriving!!! The small, unimposing airport gave no clue of what was to follow. On the way to Kusadasi, many of the dwellings resembled the buildings in Cyprus. So much so that my eldest daughter was also completely shocked at the similarities between our ancestral home, and the home of the "enemy". The roads, the architecture, all looked so familiar, and even the people looked like the typical Greek Cypriot. When you added the sun, the pure blue sky, and the smell of cooking wafting through the air, you could well have been in Nicosia or Larnaca.

 

However, more was to follow. My daughters had both expressed a slight worry, when I initially informed them that we were going to Turkey. When I told them that I had checked and there really was not a problem with us going, despite our nationality, they both stated that they would not be admitting to being Greek whilst holidaying. In fact Natalie, my youngest, took her Greece football top complete with the name "Charisteas" on the back, to Turkey, but said she would only wear it to bed.

 

On our first day, arriving at around 7pm in Kusadasi, we unpacked and then went out to dinner. The restaurant we chose served a selection of food, some European, some Turkish, and some very very Greek, although it must be said that Greek and Turkish food is extremely similar. The waiter who served us asked where we were from, and the girls replied "England". The waiter acknowledged this and turned to bring us the menu. I immediately felt I was betraying my roots, and very quickly a voice blurted" Yes, we are from England but we are not English!"

He turned back, and asked what nationality we were, to which I replied (almost defiantly), "We are from Cyprus". His reaction completely threw me. Firstly, he replied in Greek, "That's wonderful. How are you?"  Then proceeded to tell me that his father was born on one of the Greek islands and that he, the waiter, came to Turkey as a young boy. Whilst taking all this in, I heard Greek i,e, from mainland Greece, being spoken on the table behind me. Once the waiter left to put our order in, I turned and began to engage in conversation with the three men behind me, who were all from Athens. They told me that they had visited Turkey a number of times. I asked if they had ever encountered any problems, due to their origins, and they assured me that there was no problem whatsoever in being a Greek or Greek Cypriot in Turkey. I could see that the girls were now beginning to realise that their fears (and my uncertainties) were unfounded, and had been based on other people's bigoted views.

 

The holiday itself was a joy. How could it fail to be? The people were very friendly, far from barbaric, and the majority of traders could speak English - I am sure that English was not a particularly popular language during the Ottoman Empire, but this is modern Turkey, which has done much to shed the reputation it took hundreds of years to acquire. The food was superb (I refer to the native cuisine), and on the whole, it was a great experience. I would certainly look to going back to Turkey again.

 

The only negative? Extremely poor service, communication, and general standards in some of the hotels, including the one I stayed in. Holidaymakers should not resort to eating out, when they have already paid for their food on a half or full board basis. I met many families who had to do this, and indeed, my children who are not as fussy as many, were so fed up with the unimaginative breakfast buffet which was exactly the same every day, that we opted to have breakfast out, for our final 4 days.

 

My only advice for the people of Kusadasi, and the region in general is to not become a slave to tourism. There are many instances of holiday destinations being so determined to cater for the tourists, that their own identity and culture, are forgotten about, in their eagerness to comply with the ideals of the visitors.

Keep your roots, and allow the visitors to see what you are offering - do not offer the visitors what they want, at the risk of losing part of your own, unique culture.

 

Oh, and one last thing - see you all again.