My older sone spent three months in Turkey, and the rest of us visited it for one week.
My son's impression: loved it. Loved the culture of small neighborhoods, with neighbors knowing and supporting one another. Loved the history of the country, it's beauty. But he went to Turkey already speaking the language, and it made the difference.
Regarding Turkish women. The ones in the Western part are mostly, educated, emancipated, beautiful and very kind. But if you travel to the Eastern part of the country, 75% of women wear hijab, and you have to behave in a very concervative way.
My impression, great food and amazing museums. As a Hellenophile, I sometimes would catch myself thinking, it is unfair that so many Greek artifacts ended up in Turkey, and the tourists go to Turkey to view them, but still it was an interesting trip. Istanbul is gorgeous, and the trip down the coast to Ephesos was worth the time and the money. We went to Canakkale, to Troy, to Pergamon (the city). My feeling at that time was that Russian was second language in Isnanbul, every street vendor spoke some.
Once our GPS system did not "see" the main road and navigated us through some rural areas. Hard-working peasants, goats, dry land. A trip worth making, too.
The Turks I know here were sent on governmental scholarships to study in the US. In pretty secular areas, computers, biology, genetics. It seems that the Turkish government is thinking about raising intellectual elite for the country.
Uh oh, better delete my rant against turkey (the Thanksgiving bird)...I didn't see it moved to the Chamber until after I posted...
