Bodrum City
May. 31st, 2015 10:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
janestarzThe trip we have made has been all jumbled up because of the weather and destinations we were supposed to have had on the first day were now the final destinations of our journey.
After breakfast we arrived at Orak Island, a quiet haven that housed a lot of fish. In the afternoon we visited another bay, but we were already close to Bodrum. Pleasure boats-for-a-day were anchored there and a speedboat towing a huge banana ride were clear signs we had left the more quiet side of the trip behind us.
By five pm we were back in Bodrum harbour. I wanted to go shopping in Oldtown, so the four of us sauntered into the city. Although I am no stranger to the warren-like streets in a Mediterranean city, I was surprised at my inability to cope with the men running the shops. They harass you until you set foot inside their shops and insist you find something to buy. Then the haggling starts, and you can't leave unless it's a trick to lower the price.
To say I dislike haggling is probably the understatement of the week. Some people find it a sport and thump their chest in a manly fashion if they can lower the price on something. I was quite glad my father negotiated a 10% discount on Aurum back in the day. But it's not for me. I hate it, I suck at it and I'll never proudly state how much of a bargain something was. I'd rather say "I bought this during a lovely holiday in Bodrum" than "I brought the price down from 60 to 10 Turkish Lira" (and confess that it was cheap to begin with; from what I have seen, Turkey is poor except in the places near tourist areas).
What's worse: most Turks in tourist places know enough Dutch to make me feel very uncomfortable. And that is exactly why this one phrase that was uttered behind our backs today was a self-fulfilling prophecy: "Kijke, kijke, nie kope." (translation: lookie, lookie, no buy.)
After breakfast we arrived at Orak Island, a quiet haven that housed a lot of fish. In the afternoon we visited another bay, but we were already close to Bodrum. Pleasure boats-for-a-day were anchored there and a speedboat towing a huge banana ride were clear signs we had left the more quiet side of the trip behind us.
By five pm we were back in Bodrum harbour. I wanted to go shopping in Oldtown, so the four of us sauntered into the city. Although I am no stranger to the warren-like streets in a Mediterranean city, I was surprised at my inability to cope with the men running the shops. They harass you until you set foot inside their shops and insist you find something to buy. Then the haggling starts, and you can't leave unless it's a trick to lower the price.
To say I dislike haggling is probably the understatement of the week. Some people find it a sport and thump their chest in a manly fashion if they can lower the price on something. I was quite glad my father negotiated a 10% discount on Aurum back in the day. But it's not for me. I hate it, I suck at it and I'll never proudly state how much of a bargain something was. I'd rather say "I bought this during a lovely holiday in Bodrum" than "I brought the price down from 60 to 10 Turkish Lira" (and confess that it was cheap to begin with; from what I have seen, Turkey is poor except in the places near tourist areas).
What's worse: most Turks in tourist places know enough Dutch to make me feel very uncomfortable. And that is exactly why this one phrase that was uttered behind our backs today was a self-fulfilling prophecy: "Kijke, kijke, nie kope." (translation: lookie, lookie, no buy.)
