Gadling

Buying a carpet in Turkey is like being talked into a used car you don’t want. And yet, it is so very easy to do.

I spent a month in this fine country a few years ago and initially laughed at all the rug shops and the beckoning salespeople. Ha! I thought, I would never fall for their trickery and smooth talk and buy something I had no interest in. And yet, I eventually found myself sipping tea in a rug shop and being won over by a salesperson who tapped into my sense of investment and returns.

The more you listen to one of these guys talk, the more you start falling in love with the artistic qualities and fine workmanship of Turkish rugs. In no time at all I went from scoffing at such a purchase to seriously considering purchasing one. There must have been something in that tea!

I never actually bought one, however, as I still had a few more months of travel and the logistics of carrying the thing around was what eventually killed my decision.

But now I have a whole new sense of appreciation and respect not just for the product, but the masters of the sale–the Turkish carpet experts themselves.

If you’re heading off to Turkey any time soon, spare a moment for a short National Geographic Adventure article detailing the ins-and-outs of buying carpets in Istanbul. It won’t guarantee that you get a great deal on a world-class carpet, but it will certainly help out the process. The number one rule? Don’t let a tout bring you to a carpet store.

Turkey was a country I knew almost nothing about when I first visited. After spending a month traveling around, however, I quickly realized just how much this somewhat anonymous country has to offer.

I say “somewhat anonymous” because most westerners know very little about the country–as was the case with me before visiting. For example, I’ll wager that most of you don’t know where the capital is (no, it’s not Istanbul). I’ll also bet that you don’t know how many of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World are located here. Would you be surprised if I told you it was two?

Turkey is a traveler’s onion that one keeps peeling away and discovering amazing ruins, sites, history, nature, people, food, and so many other gems of which the outside world is hardly aware.

Fred Mawer, writing for The Telegraph, shares this opinion and in a recently published article has narrowed the layers of the onion down to “ten reasons to visit Turkey this summer.”

I sure do like the first on the list: Because it’s cheap.

Mawer then goes on to wow us over with nine other reasons that include Cappadocia, new hotels, the Datca Peninsula, and more. I was, however, disappointed to discover “golf” on the list. Please, folks, don’t go all the way to Turkey to play a round of golf when places like Ephesus remain to be explored (and which is tragically missing from Mawer’s list).

Sure, his ten reasons differ from my ten reasons, but give them a read and you’ll discover what makes us both feel the same way about Turkey. Perhaps you’ll even find one or two reasons powerful enough to inspire a visit.