About a hundred years ago, I was the first Dutch tourist in Bodrum, Turkey. At least, I like to tell myself that I have discovered this now popular place for fellow travelers. By the way, I don’t rule out the possibility that it’s been more recently. At that time, there were no mass hotels, but small-scale new construction. We booked a hotel in the coastal town of Gümbet for three weeks and only had to pay for two, that’s how much the local hoteliers wanted to entice foreign tourists to stay. It was the time of the first early steps towards mass tourism. Our two-storey hotel was the first in the region to have solar panels on the roof to provide guests with hot shower water. They didn’t do it at all and the water remained freezing cold, but it was progressive. At that time, I learned my first and so far only sentence in Turkish: ‘Thanks, it tasted good.’ I made friends for life in local restaurants. With the exception of a few short working visits, I hadn’t been to Turkey for a long time. Until the end of April, during the ‘High level meeting’ in Izmir, an initiative of ANVR and Turkish Tourist Board. Turkey appears to be a forerunner in the field of sustainability and in line with this, the ‘other’ Turkey is being promoted; by bike into nature, admire cultural treasures and discover culinary Turkey. As part of this, the Dutch travel managers were taken to top restaurants for lunch and dinner. After all, someone has to do it. That’s how I met star chef Osman Sezener, who started his restaurant OD Urla half an hour’s drive from Izmir. He proudly displayed the large garden next to his restaurant where he gets half of his ingredients, his luxurious guest house with seven rooms and a wine cellar with thousands of bottles. In the meantime, he cooks the stars from heaven. After dinner I went to him and after all these years I spoke my only Turkish sentence, which in my memory sounded like: Teşekkür ederim, yemeklerim berendim. Loosely translated: ‘Thanks, it tasted good.’ He looked at me uncomprehendingly. I repeated my sentence two more times in my best Turkish and finally switched to English. Osman smiled kindly. “Oh, that’s what you mean. You should come to Turkey more often, then you can practice more.’ I decided not to contradict him. Turkey does indeed leave you wanting more. Theo de Reus theo.de.reus@travmedia.nl
