We have recently had the opportunity to take a work-related trip within Turkey, and find ourselves purposefully winding our way back to İstanbul via the scenic route. While many of the cities, towns, and villages we pass through are familiar with foreigners because of the ever expanding tourism industry we are surprised to hear that few places have had foreigners settle in. Of course large cities like İstanbul and Ankara become easy and convenient hubs for ex-pats, but outside of them there are numerous fascinating, livable, and shall we say, less crowded places to live. It makes us wonder…
1. What would it be like to live in Turkey outside of İstanbul? Would we miss the ease of air travel, public transportation, clear İstanbul accent, English education opportunities for our children, greater expatriate community and imported foreign goods?
2. Are these places foreigner friendly? How much are newcomers expected to assimilate to the local culture? How much are we willing to assimilate?
3. If we did move…where?!
An antique house in Northern Turkey.
