shey

My DH and I will be in Instanbul for 2 days during our Med cruise. DH was speaking to a friend who had go there with his wife last year. His wife has dark blonde/light brown hair (just like mine). He said that everywhere they went the Turkish men were staring at her, following her, and some were even coming up and touching her and her hair. They were so uncomfortable they went back to their ship hours earlier than planned. Later he was told that is common because Turkish men are facinated with blonde hair.

Well DH is now concerned about this so I need to know if anyone else has heard of or experienced this.

Thanks!

Pegontheroad

This happened many years ago, so perhaps it was a total fluke. My friends and I were in a small Turkish town waiting for our car to be repaired.

My friend was a very pretty, quite chubby blonde. She was pinched by a Turkish man. We thought it was kind of funny, but she wasn't at all amused.
Come to think of it, neither was I when I was pinched on a very crowded train in Tokyo--by an American man who had his wife and two kids with him.

ekscrunchy

Istanbul is a modern european city. There are plenty of Turkish women with blonde hair. The person who had to flee back to the ship because men were looking at his wife sounds a bit paranoid to me! Or maybe he is bragging about how great his wife looks! I traveled with a (very) blonde friend last year and we had no problems in Istanbul or anywhere else in Turkey.

marginal_margiela

I agree with crunchy. There are many women in Istanbul with blonde hair. In fact, blonde hair is very common amongst the upper classes in Turkey.

The only thing you have to run from in Istanbul is the carpet salesmen.

Run, sweetie, run for your life!!!!!

No Hereke for me!!!!

dutyfree

My daughter is a 5'10 golden redhead and I am a blonde along with the hubs and son who are blondes. We never had anyone touching us or following us while we vacationed throughout Turkey a few years back. Where you are going on a cruise ship is not going to be a big deal as they usually the ships are only in Istanbul,Ephesus and possibly Bodrum-blonde haired tourists are a dime a dozen. The Turkish people are some of the nicest people I have ever run into in my travels so just enjoy their wonderful country and don't worry about some yahoo bragging about his wife!

logos999

I doubt that you would get stares because of blond hair. Istanbul is a western city. European however it is not, I've returned from Greece today and could virtually feel the deep cultural roots and traditions shared throughout Europe everywhere. Turkey is a western country, but it's very different from all the EU countries. The common ground isn't nearly as big as a few km west in Greece. It may just be a "small culture shock", but it is one.

alanRow

I'v been on various travel forums for several years and the only people who mention hair colour are blond(e)s

bobludlow

alanRow wrote:
"I'v been on various travel forums for several years and the only people who mention hair colour are blond(e)s".

Of course they think about their hair color a lot - they spend so much money to make it look that way!

BoniseA

hey now, I resemble that remark

bobludlow

PalenQ

OP - take along a head scarf like some Moslem ladies wear - or even a veil in case you have problems you can cover your blondness up

crefloors

I watched a Rick Steves progam about Turkey and his Turkish guide was a very attractive blond. She also wore a tank top, had a gorgous tan. She covered when they went into the mosques.