Turkey through the eyes of foreigners in 9 articles

As people living in Turkey, we certainly have a lot of cultural, historical and sociological information about our beautiful country. These ancient lands have many unique features that we all love or wish for. We all have ideas and thoughts about Turkey in many different areas. What about foreigners?

It can be said that Turkey has recently become one of the most important tourist centers in the world. Millions of tourists from all over the world visit our country every year. Seaside resorts, reminiscent of a piece of paradise, and a unique culinary culture, and our historical and cultural values, certainly have a considerable share in this. Despite this, Turkey remains an authentic, mysterious and interesting place for millions of people around the world. Here is Turkey through the eyes of foreigners in 9 points …

1. “Hammam culture” in our country is quite interesting for foreigners

The baths, preserved from ancient times and still in use, are a frequent destination for many tourists visiting our country. After all, the bathing culture in our country is extremely interesting for tourists. However, the only thing that makes our historical baths interesting for foreigners is not the bath culture that we have been living in since ancient times. The unique architectural beauty of many of our old baths is one of the factors that attracts the attention of foreigners.

2. Tourists consider tea to be our national drink.

They are not entirely wrong. Because we are second to none in the tea drinking race! According to the latest studies, Turkey ranks first in this area with a per capita consumption of 3.5 kilograms of tea. However, the fact that tea is a drink consumed from the first hours of the day until the last hours of the day is of great interest to foreigners.

3. Our love for cats is unlike anything else.

However, this situation seems quite interesting to foreigners. So much so that, in addition to its many features, Istanbul is known worldwide as the “City of Cats”.

4. Toilets in Turkey look extremely unexpected for tourists

Because the Turkish-style toilets, which are widespread in our country, are little known to foreigners. For this reason, especially foreigners traveling to the far west parts of Turkey find toilets to be something amazing.

5. They are known for our hospitality

Our irresistible passion for making any guest the best it can be is not something foreigners are familiar with in their daily lives. Therefore, our hospitality is one of the features that foreigners find most interesting. Especially in the Western world, it is not very common to offer food or drink to a guest who comes into the house. In this case, it is perfectly normal for them to call our country hospitable!

6. Foreigners like many dishes of Turkish cuisine. But we also have a few flavors that they find interesting.

Let’s face it, some of our traditional delicacies cannot be imagined by any foreigner! For example, our dessert chicken breast, which we made from milk, vanilla, sugar and chicken meat, looks rather strange in the eyes of foreigners.

7. They think we have a smile problem.

While many foreigners know that Turks are extremely hospitable, they find that Turks are reluctant to associate with people they don’t know. There are even those who believe that it is not customary to smile at foreigners in Turkey.

8. According to tourists, there is a yoghurt craze in Turkey!

Soup, ayran, tzatziki, fruity, sweet, salty or plain! It is quite surprising to foreigners that we consume yogurt in so many different ways and with almost every meal.

9. In the eyes of foreigners, Turkey is a country where it is “forbidden” to wear shoes at home.

In fact, some foreigners have a hard time understanding this situation. In particular, if you leave your shoes in front of the door, some foreigners may experience a little shock.

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