There are two main reasons why we wanted to write this post. The second is so that you, the tourist, the adventurer, businessperson or whatever you like to call yourself, can get the most out of your trip by being able to interact well according to local customs. What takes a good trip and turns it into an amazing experience is the interactions you have with the people so hopefully this helps you do just that!
Now these are general rules and will apply differently in different places. Touristic places will expect tourists to act differently and what you can get away with in Izmir is not what you can get away with in Urfa. Istanbul has enough diversity to make it feel like one neighborhood is a world apart from what you saw only 10 minutes before, never mind one part of the country to another. And finally: foreigners make mistakes and yet in nearly three years of making mistakes I have never experienced worse than a bit of impatience.
Even if you screw up, your attempts will make people love you! Subscribe to The Art of Wayfaring. For people from the West visiting Turkey this is a tough one. The acceptable speaking volume in Turkey is simply way quieter than what most foreigners are used to. The result is often seemingly obnoxious foreigners practically shouting in cafes. Combine this with the fact that a foreign language always stands out, tourists can really grab attention in a bad way. I can assure you that there were others who understood them.
And there are countless stories like this. Turkey is famous for the crazy amounts of stray cats and dogs. You can buy books like Cats of Ephesus for example. I had a hat that looked pretty grubby apparently and the dogs took exception to me when I wore it.
Very weird. People treat the animals well, putting out old food for them, leaving water out for them, and even buying pet food just to put out on the street for them. Everyone will give a slightly different answer as to why we ought to treat these animals so well. The people of Istanbul were wracked with guilt and blamed the wars and natural disasters that came in the following years on their mistreatment of the dogs.
