Turkey - TSS Service Scandinavia (DAY3)

Finally day 3. After the first real traveling day, we had really enough. We were afraid that this will be like this whole trip, and we won't enjoy it at all.
We got up early in the morning, because we had long distance to travel. We started around 7 o'clock and drove to Kapaddocia.
We had to go through the mountains, which were really high. We were driving at around 1100 meters, which was equal with being really cold and snowing.

The view which we saw was really amazing. All the high mountains, beautiful places, amazing panoramas. It was worth of seeing, especially for someone who loves mountains.
On the way we were stopping at the most common central stations and touristic bazaars. Everywhere we went, we had to pay for something. Bathroom = 1 Turkish lira or 0,50 Euro cents. Warm drinks, souvenirs. We just "had to" buy something.
Cause our trip was suppose to be really long (we suppose to get to our hotel around 21-22), we took the free sits at the back of the bus and slept almost all the way through.
We stopped several times, but only 2 times that day to see something exciting (museum, places worth of visiting. Basically places which were not bathrooms) The first place where we stopped was Karatay, Konya. We went to the museum, where all the Muslims were looking really weird at us. I am not exaggerating. Once we were walking and we were waiting in the line to get to one of the small museums, and suddenly all Muslims decided to went in front of us. I felt like I am an intruder there, which wants to steal something from them. It wasn't nice. I also wanted to see the part of their culture, but apparently it was inappropriate.

It happened even that when we entered one of the museums, small (13-14 years old) Muslim boys knocked the door exactly next to my head. This was not a nice knocking. They were standing outside and looking really not nice at me. So when we went out and they went in, I did exactly the same. I am not one of this polite people which will take every crap. No no no.
We had more than 1 hour at this museum. No offence, but this museum is not something you wanna see. Especially not something you wanna pay for. There is one big museum, where you can see all the important books and so on. If you are really into this kind of stuff - you might like it thou. I didn't.
That's why we decided to go out of the museum's gate and go the the more public place. To our surprise, just outside, it was a really beautiful big open area place, where people were going for a walks.

We went a little bit further. Already there people looked really not nice at us. I felt like a monkey in ZOO, where everyone is looking at you, and you are behaving weird, because do you don't know what else to do.
Right across the street was an entry for the big cemetery. We decided not to go there, since people already looked weird at us. And right after happened not nice incident. In front of us was walking a Muslim's family. 2 or three adults and 2 children. Suddenly the small girl (around 8 years old) spotted us behind, and her behavior just shocked me. She literally RUN to the front (I guess) brother, she started walking backward and pointing fingers at us. Then the brother turned and he started also telling something to the family. Suddenly whole family started walking slow, so they could walk behind us. When I turned, they were all looking mad and angry at us. Exactly for WHAT?!
I am so sorry, I don't know what they were saying, but I felt SO not nice. I have never felt more uncomfortable.
We went on the other side and they were still looking at us. Seriously? In the center of Konya? Dear Lord...

Right after came a bus to bring us for another place. It was an old place called Aksaray - Underground City. We were really disappointed, because for visiting it we got only 45 minutes, and for places like Petrol Station with a lot of souvenirs shop, we got minimum 1 hour...
But we enjoyed our 45 min. It was amazing. Walking in the tunnels, climbing down at the ladders, finding new places, where not so many tourists have been that day. Amazing. I am just in love in caves and places like that.

We loved that place. Just maybe because it was different from what we could see in Denmark? Or maybe because we could hide from all of the Turkish people, which were just yelling for you to buy something? Seriously, I swear - some of them were even standing at the grass, under the trees. In the places where you at least expect them. With no light, just yelling for you so you can see them.
Right after we drove to the hotel in Kappadocia. We were all very tired - almost whole day in the bus.
Hotel was called Dedeman and I really enjoy this place. Maybe because we stayed there for more than just one night, but really. It was a very big, nice place.
I also met a lot of polish students, which came there for practices, and they told me that this is the only place they are sure that the food was made with the highest focus on hygiene. I trust them, food was really good and none was jumping to you, when you reached for something to drink. They were patient and polite. Huge plus for Dedeman hotel!

The conclusion of our day: watch out in the places, where there is not so many tourist - people might be rude. Remember to take out your own luggage from the bus, unless you want to pay luggage boys to carry it for you ;) Don't visit museums, which you simply know nothing about and remember to have a lot of 1 lr for bathroom. Always.

Turkey - TSS Service Scandinavia (DAY 2)

I just find out something disgusting about our trip, but this I will leave for the last day... I am so mad!

Our day 2 started normally. We got up, we ate breakfast, we watched out to not drink anything illegal (or something we had to pay a lot) and we had to prepare our self for the first trip from the "full package".It was a boat trip on one of the Turkish rivers. We were still not decided if we want to go. We went to the lobby, where our guide suppose to wait for us (and our payments) We met there a danish ladies, which were trying to explain our guide that they want ONLY the normal package. He pretended he didn't understand so we got involved and translated everything. Then we heard from our guide "So you don't want to see this lovely views from the boat, nice dances, you don't want to eat lunches and so on"... Ladies replied "NO". They were already annoyed about the guide. 

We still couldn't decide. After some time we made a decision - we are taking the full package. "We are in Turkey only once and this is our holiday. Screw the money".

So we went to the bus and got driven to the nearest mosque. We got a chance to explore it from inside, since it wasn't prayer's time. The mosque (in place called Manavgat) was really beautiful. We had to take our shoes off to get in. The first thing which attracted our attention was it's splendor. Expensive carpets, amazing inside. They must spent a lot of money there. 

Our first observation that day was that Turkey doesn't have money for cleaning up their place (everywhere were rubbishes and dirt) but the mosques are so insanely pretty and full of splendor. 

Next, we got in the bus again and drove to the destination of our trip. Kargicairi Deresi river. Our first surprise was the boat.

Our guide sounded like it was the very nice boat with nice inside. It wasn't. It was an old wooden boat, which had two floors. At first we sat upstairs, since the weather was really generous (it wasn't raining!). Then we saw the second surprise - the river. Brown, dirty and disgusting. We seriously couldn't believe that this was our goal. 

But we swam, And swam. And swam. Probably it would be much more enjoyable if it would be summer. Unfortunately it was the end of January, which didn't make it specially warm. 

At the boat, almost every 5-10 minutes, we got asked if we want something to drink. Of course you had to pay for it extra. Of course they were also looking really weird at you, when you didn't want to buy anything. Suddenly we heard our guide telling that we got to our destination. The real ocean. Unfortunately it started raining, but we still enjoyed it as much as we could. 

 After an hour of walking on the beach, we got back to the boat. Suddenly we saw some people taking pictures of our group guests. We both knew how this will end. They will come with printed pictures and ask them to pay for it. And of course it happened. Some older people thought that the pictures are nice souvenir from the trip, but they got really disappointed when they had to pay for them. Of course you "didn't have to", but they already did it, they look so nice and of course you will get some lovely discount. Bleh. 

We were very disappointed about the whole trip. The only good thing was the food, which was included in the price. 

You could chose between grilled chicken and a fish. First I ordered the fish, but after seeing it, I decided that chicken might be a better solution for me ;) 

The whole trip cost 39 Euro (if you wanted to buy it without the full package) After discussing the whole boat trip, we decided with Jeppe to tell the guide that we really don't want the whole big package. We decided that we will only pay for this trip, to avoid disappointment with the next trips. 

We knew that our guide won't be so happy about the decision, so we made up a lie. We said that we calculated everything and that the whole BIG PACKAGE is out of our pocket. This was the only solution for him to give up and don't make it sound like he will have a big problem, because he already send the list and the money for his office (no, we didn't pay yet, we were waiting for the cash machine first) 

No matter how our guide was trying to convince us to take the whole package, we stayed with out decision. This was mainly pure contrariness - the more he was pushing, the more we were rejecting. I hate being forced to do something. 

After coming back to the hotel, we got to BUY some souvenir from the hotel shop. I wrote that we GOT to buy - yes, we almost got forced. We went to play pool and suddenly, after leaving, one of the Turkish sellers invited us to his shop. We don't want to be rude, so we went in. Then he started offering me different stuff. From bracelets, til some hanging talismans, which suppose to "save you" from unfortunate situations. We didn't want to buy anything but he was keep pushing. When we completely didn't want to even negotiate, he started being aggressive and persistent. So I said I have only 10 euro (his price was 28) and nothing more with me, so after another 5 minutes, he agreed. And in this lovely way I got a bracelet and this house "protection". 

Finally the day was over. We were very disappointed and negative about the Turkish behavior. We noticed that everyone is not sincere here and only want to get our money. You might think that we are naive and we should know that. Yes - we might be naive believing in people, but we still don't like being cheated. And unfortunately it happened all the time in Turkey. 

Advice of the day: Don't walk in to the Turkish shop, when they are asking "just at least look please", don't buy anything in the hotel shops, watch out when people are taking pictures of you (you might have to pay for them) and take some more warm clothes, when they tell you "we are going for a boat trip" Aa, and pack rain boots from home - they might be very useful at that time of the year ;)

Turkey - TSS Service Scandinavia (DAY 1)

Our travel started 26th of January. We were so excited, because we haven't had real holidays for a really long time. We expected to spend a nice time with (hopefully) nice people. As we saw in the "drop luggage" line, most of them were over 50 years old. We though: "great, finally we will relax from a noise and loud behavior!"

We flew with the FreeBird airlines. I admit - it was the first time I heard about them. Flight was nice and safe. We got offered free water and tea/coffee. You could also buy some food and drinks on board. 

Say HIII from the plane!

We flew from Copenhagen to Antalya. After landing, we got to the passport control / visa control. Of course as a Polish citizen, I had to buy a visa for 15 Euro (as if we are not poor enough) and all the Danish citizens went through without paying anything. 

When we got our luggage, we realized that outside is cold and rainy. Everything was wet. Also getting to our buses was an adventure, since huge puddles were everywhere. 

We got assigned to bus number 3 (#349) with a guide called Sinan. We had to fill the list with our passport numbers, so he could do the check-in for us in hotels. 

Meanwhile, Sinan told us about possibilities to buy packages to fulfill our trip. Standard package was for 129 Euro and it included:

- Breakfast and dinners in the hotel

- all entries during our trips

- a room for 2 

Second package was for ONLY 100 Euro more expensive and you were getting:

- boat trip the first day

- ritual dance show entry

- belly dance show with drinks all inclusive 

- lunches for 5 days in different places

We decided at home, that we will take only the first package for 129 Euro per person, but unfortunately you can't be undecided with Sinan, since seeing our confusion, he decided to write us on the full package list. 

We arrived to the Hotel Vera. We were really nice surprised seeing this very pretty place.

Our hotel room

We dropped our luggage and went to get some food (left especially for our group).

It was a buffet with a delicious food, fresh bread, nice warm Turkish soup and all other good stuff. We went to grab hot chocolate, when suddenly one of the waiters came with a card and said "sign". We asked "but what am I signing?". The answer was "sign". 

Our reply was easy: "We won't sing until you tell us what we are signing". We heard only "Extra, pay". 

Ahaaa, then we got it. Of course you had to pay for the drinks. And we think it is kinda OK, but not the way their waiters work. You didn't even manage to go back to your table, they just "attacked" you with their poor English. 

Some people got their bills after their drunk everything. Everyone was pretty disappointed that our guide didn't warn us, that for every drink in the hotel you have to pay. No matter that you have included food. 

After, we went to look for the attractions, which the hotel offers. The most annoying part was that everything was open until very early hours. So for example after our trip the next day, we wouldn't be able to use any of the hotel's facilities. 

Conclusion of the first day: pretty place with not so polite waiters (PAY!)