René from Izmit

Thanks to René for sharing his experience in Turkey with us.

Tell us about yourself
I am René, and traveling together with Edith with our Sailing yacht around the Med. Since a year now, we have been in Turkey and most recently we moved to Istanbul where I am spending my wintertime with a project of refitting a motor yacht for a Turkish owner. Before I was a project manager in The Netherlands, where I still have a house and also my family lives.

What made you come to Turkey?
I came to Turkey to sail the Bodrum cup in October 2004 where we finished 2nd out of 81 classic sailing yachts. After that we had to spend the winter somewhere and that became Fethiye. It was such a pleasant surprise and we met so many nice people that although we had plans to continue traveling we keep on coming back and don't know whether we should ever leave this most extraordinary country. Last year we sailed the EMYR rally, visiting the entire east coast, Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Egypt to return after a short visit to Greece back to the Bodrum cup and again Fethiye where our yacht is in the marina now.

What do you do in your daily life?
At the moment I am a project manager for UM shipyard in Izmit where we try to set up a yacht building facility.

Family?
I have a sister who's a veterinarian and my mother who still lives in Holland.

Can you compare your first days here with today?
When I visited the country some ten years ago I found that the mentality was different and not the least, unpleasant. Maybe I met the wrong people, I don't know but today I have changed my mind and love the people I meet and every day I get to spend here!

Has living in Turkey influenced your approach to life?
Mmmm…. Sailing the seas, being on the water and discovering the world from a total different side has changed my life completely…. Turkey is one of the things that came across as another surprise!

Turkish language?
Mmmm…. Uh…. Yok! Or… tammam abi! That's enough to get around for now…! But we are learning fast…!

Let's talk about the region you are living in?
Izmit is maybe not the most thrilling place on earth but hey… Istanbul and the area around Fethiye with all it's beautiful spots most certainly are!

Have you traveled in Turkey? Tell us your discoveries
We traveled the entire coat line and there is to much to mention. From as far east as Mersin or even Iskenderun up until here in Istanbul there is so much to discover, so many bays, Islands and small cities that one never gets enough time to really sea it all!!

What is your preferred characteristic trait of Turks?
Hugging each other, especially the men…. To let each other know that they care!

What was the annoying one?
The one where the proppers of the restaurants in Marmaris try to get at your nerves by always trying to address you in a language of a country of which they expect we are from… the UK or Germany which both of us are not!

Turkish Cuisine?
Mwahhh…despite the fact that everybody really loves it after a while I could love a pork steak…..! Sorry….

Any suggestion to new comers to Turkey?
Don't under estimate the Turkish people, nor their achievements and rules… we could do with a few of them for an example!

Any suggestion to people planning to visit your region?
Yesssss! Come and sail with us on The Alondra!!!

Latest comments about this article

 By Venus  28.6.2006

Heyy it s a great story. V.

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