Final Day in Hatay
Trip Start
Oct 20, 2008
1
15
93
Trip End
Jan 31, 2009
Hatay,
Turkey
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Went to see the Citadel and the city walls around it. They are barely recognizable. However, it's worth going up there just because of the wonderful view.
Had lunch at Anadolu Restaurant. Nothing special about the food, but the rapid service was fully automized. The waiter carried a palm device through which he notified the kitchen.
Osman Abi tolod me that a Burger King would not be popular in Antakya simply because it would be too expensive. The Burger King in the Iskenderun suburb of Hatay had to be transformed to Burger Queen, where the quality and the prices were significantly lower.
Went to 2 Pigeonhouses. These are exchanges for exotic pigeons, although they are much more sociable than a stock exchange. The average bird was sold for about 30 YTL; the most expensive was 60 YTL. Later went to a pigeon farm where this dude made money by breeding and selling exotic birds. His trade web extended all the way from Arabia to the UK. He told me that the pigeon races oraganized between Liverpool and London awarded 180,000 pounds to the winner.
Harbiye should not be visited after dark, since the whole purpose of going there is to enjoy the nature.
The Chambers of Commerce are very powerful in Turkey, because every business has to be a member and pay expensive dues. Therefore, they are rich and have extensive lobbying power. Rifat Hisarciklioglu, the head of the NGO that supervises all chambers of commerce, has as much screen time as the prime minister. On the other hand, I have never heard of his American equivalents. Most of this info has been quoted from my host, Osman Abi.
