Shocked by Turkey

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phantomlady

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www.phantomladysbigadventure.blogspot.com
Is it just me or does anyone else find prices of everything in Turkey to be really high?
Fuel is just about the most expensive we have ever come across.
Got stung for two quid for a flippin avocado yesterday. Food is cheaper at home. And this is a country that is virtually self-sufficient.
Marina prices are way out of our reach (good job we like anchoring)
Does anyone on these forums liveaboard here? Tell me how you afford it!
I believe it may have been very different just a few years ago but Turkey is certainly not a poor country these days.
Maybe it's just that we are tight gits :(
 
After years sailing around the Med, there no doubts things are changing in a big way , one of the problem is charter yacht , there are now not hundreds but thousands , throwing there money around like there no to morrow and over The years local seen to think every yachtie is loaded so why not just up their prices , when we sail in early spring and late autumn we found there a big different what we pay in the summer , now believe it or not this year we took a chance on Italy , Sicily ,Corsica and the south of France and we have spend a third less then we normally have , fuel in Italy is more expenses @1.60 to 1.70 a lts in france it cheaper then Greece at 1.30 lts just filled up to day food is cheaper and a lot fresher , and keep longer , marina fees I couldn't say as we don't use them but we used one near Rome for 15 euros a night and the three harbours we used was all free .
Our risk of sailing some where dire rent payed off and to top it up we did more sailing this year then we done in the last three years .
Look like we will be sailing there parts next year too.

www.dufour385.webs.com
 
Prices in Turkey have been rocketing for several years. It is certainly partly down to a realization that yotties will pay what they're asked - blame the boxheads for that, bot get off the tourist routes (difficult on a boat) and it's still pretty cheap.
Two tier pricing too, tourist rate and locals rate, Speak turkish and know what things are worth and your two quid avocado will suddenly become ten cents.
 
Yes there has been quite a rise in the cost of living as Turks become more prosperous .Fuel has always been very expensive ( Turkey and Norway seem to alternate at having the dubious pleasure of being the most expensive in the world) as has meat. Vegetables particularly in the markets are very very cheap as is bread and obviously living here we do not use the marina supermarkets or tourist shops and buy local brands rather than international. We also are selective on the use of the "free" lazylines when out cruising. At least visitors from the UK have an exchange rate of just over 3 TL to the pound to partially offset the costs, mind we find benefits by speaking Turkish ;)
 
We spend 11 winters in lovely and cheap Turkey. Summers we sailed the Dodecanese islands.
Prices ware rising all the time, just like everywhere else.
Then the new rich Turks discovered yachting and their beautiful coast.
Prices exploded, and the attitude of people working in the coast region, working with tourists changed to. It never happened to us, we anchor out of busy places, other liveaboards told us they were told more than once by super yacht crew / owners “ Thisse my country, you pisse off “
It was the bureaucracy that did it for us, we decided paying for nothing ( Blue card ) is not civilised.
Frasier has left the building.
 
We arrived in May having spent the last four years in Greece. We are finding the same thing, it might have been cheap on the coast years ago but not now. We have good friends who retired to Turkey, inland away from the coast and tourist hot spots it is a different story, still cheap as chips.
 
We were out buying some fish the other day, the OH pointed at some Sea Bass one was produced 25tl OH pulled a you must be having a laugh mate! look and stated to turn on her heal when 2 more appeared form a box for 15tl for the 2, you might not speak Turkish but face can say a thousand words.
 
Carmel2 said:
We were out buying some fish the other day, the OH pointed at some Sea Bass one was produced 25tl OH pulled a you must be having a laugh mate! look and stated to turn on her heal when 2 more appeared form a box for 15tl for the 2, you might not speak Turkish but face can say a thousand words.
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I think that's always been the case. We sat down beside a group finishing their flotilla charter had a meal (only place around). I was asked if I wanted wine and queried the price. Fell about laughing and said no thanks we'll not have anything to drink. The waiter came back twice to check we really didn't want a drink then he said OK, special price to you "X". It was so long ago that I can't remember the amount, just that it was less that 25% of the amount originally mentioned.

We did a quick bareboat charter 3-4 years ago to check if it was worth going back and found things were even worse. All the little bays near Fethiye had only one "restaurant" instead of 2-3. Every menu was the same price and that was for a whole meal whether or not you only wanted one course. Only imported wine available, not cheap local stuff. Never managed to get prices down so we drank on board (cheap stuff from local towns). Pretty certain the owners had got together, divided the territory up and agreed a standard price everywhere with no discounting.

We were constantly being asked why there were no other Brits around that year and always said "it's your prices, I'm afraid that we won't be back either". As long as enough people will pay then they'll try to charge over the odds (even when they'd make more with bigger market & lower prices).
 
Good morning:

This thread is right up my alley at the moment as I sent the following e-mail to friends yesterday:

Over the years I have had difficulty determining the level of wages paid to Turkish workers although I am sure I have often been lied to when I questioned some people – a bit like trying to determine how much the average yacht pays in Yat Marina for electricity during the winter months – the response is something like “Oh, I’m not sure as my wife/husband always pays it”.

I think the following should be taken into consideration when dealing with local tradesmen especially when obtaining a quotation for work to be done. I was recently quoted “50 euros an hour” when I asked a company with an office in Netsel Marina, Marmaris, about some electrical work on my yacht.

Was I wrong to feel that they were treating me like a complete idiot/fool by demanding so much for one hour when many earn less than 1,200 euros per month. Would/should a tradesman be entitled to the same amount for one day what many workers have to work 10 days to earn – are their skills that different?

16 August 2013 /TODAY'S ZAMAN, İSTANBUL
Textile, Knitting and Clothing Industry Workers' Union (TEKSİF) members numbering 12,000 went on strike on Thursday as a result of failure in negotiations with employers over pay.

The average monthly gross salary of TEKSİF members is reported to be around TL 1,165 (450 euro), and 55 per cent of workers in the sector earn the legal minimum wage, TL 978.60 (380 euro). It has been reported that textile workers generally live below the poverty line and, because of low wages and social security payments, qualified workers leave the sector.

If you were involved in the tourist industry and quoted someone a price that was 10 % above the normal price and they accepted it would you not be tempted to quote a price that was 20 % above the normal and to continue to increase the price until you ran into a refusal to pay the quoted price.

I am afraid that tourists and foreigners are partially responsible for the escalation in prices because they don't make it their business to find out what the local/correct price should be but pay what ever is demanded - it has often been said that tourists leave their brains at the local airport on arrival.

Just because a price seems low compared to the price at home does not mean that it is the correct local price. I suggest tourists/visitors are responsible for the money they spend and if they want to throw it away paying silly prices that is their business - of course this makes it worse for those who follow.

Cheers

Squeaky
 
Just info, Sea bass is farm fish.
I visited a fish farm in Turkey, no way I am gone eat those creatures.
Wild Sea Bass ? I have to see the first one.
Same in Greece, sea food restaurant, two Sea bass, one Weeverfish on the dish. I took the Weever and some Octopus, left the bass for my guests.

I visited the best known Fethiye / Göcek bay “Restaurant” ( Kapi ) with a chef from Holland and an Italian restaurant owner.
Some remarks : My professional friends calculated that the daily income was 10.000 €. Seven to eight months a year. Almost no costs, they even burn wood from the forest around them. All personnel is family. Hygiene and training is zero.

A business like that would be closed in days in Europe. The quality of the food depends on who is cooking. Memet´s wife cooks real good, the rest....my God, even the worst fish and chips is better.
 
But what can an individual do? I'm afraid in my experience it's little use just to walk away and laugh at prices as there will always be some other rich prat coming along who doesn't mind coughing up.
And besides, I don't want to feel that I'm 'on my guard' all the time or about to be ripped off. I want to enjoy the sunshine and sailing!
Who in their right mind eats in a restaurant that has no prices on the menu?
We have cruised extensively, including Turkey, (not chartering) and I have never experienced an attitude like the Turks.
We won't be returning :(
 
I was recently quoted “50 euros an hour” when I asked a company with an office in Netsel Marina, Marmaris, about some electrical work on my yacht.

Was I wrong to feel that they were treating me like a complete idiot/fool by demanding so much for one hour when many earn less than 1,200 euros per month. Would/should a tradesman be entitled to the same amount for one day what many workers have to work 10 days to earn – are their skills that different?
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Suspect there are similar mark ups in UK yards and restrictions on bringing in outside Contractors . I know my son has an ever widening list of friends who like to help him during the winter lay up
 
There is definitely a lot of duel pricing in the restaurants. We have sometimes been charged a lot less than the menu price. We have also encountered special prices for flotillas, which we as a bareboat were refused. Many of the Turkish and Russian sailors negotiate the price of the meal before they order - or sometimes after they have eaten it ! But we were also told 'why drop our prices while people are tipping 20 -30 %.'

Many times we have thought no one will pay the prices asked, only to see the restaurants full night after night.

The mark-ups are outrageous on food. Not so sure it's any worse than the uk on wine.

But I can hardly blame the restaurants for taking it while they can. As long as they are full, that are making a fortune. Most claim the local 'taxes' are rising in proportion.

The bureaucracy never bothered us. Maybe we were lucky, but we were always polite to officials, and they were polite to us. No one ever mentioned blue cards to us, and we never paid much for a transit log. But the other price rises have driven us away. There were very few Uk boats left in our marina, but we weren't missed.
 
Some ask the question " what can I do ?" Well not much , except don' t use over price restaurant , buy fuel in local garages , and try and stock up in the big supermarkets and not use the local shops which the holiday markers use other then that sail somewhere else like we this this year . If you read the forum back in Italy that I started , some folk where screaming how expenses it was . Well we been very surprise , west coast of Italy Sardinia south coast of France is mainly used by French and Italian sailors and local holiday makers and there not going to pay over the odds for food ! OK before some one throw at me that marina prices are high firstly we don't use marinas unless we have too .
, and secondly you know what they not really that hight , July and Aug we been told for a 12 mts yacht it between 50 to 60 euros , that's no more then the marinas in Greece up to June and from mid sept there around 25 to 30 euros .
Best of all there hardly any charter yacht to run into you , drag your anchor or talk at the top of there voices till some god early hours of the morning .

www.dufour385.webs.com
 
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Just info, Sea bass is farm fish.
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A lot particularly in supermarkets is but not all ; isn't it the same in most countries particularly around the Med. Our fishmonger/fish cooperative sells me the fish from the sea and at 12-14 TL a KG its a bargain

Almost no costs, they even burn wood from the forest around them
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People are heavily fined if caught taking wood from the forests . Its a cash crop .I'm expecting to pay over 300TL per tonne this winter for our stove. Anyway there is nothing nicer than food cooked in a traditional wood burning oven. Isn't authenticity what the tourists yearn for?

Methinks Old Bawley thou dost protest too much.
 
Just info, Sea bass is farm fish.
I visited a fish farm in Turkey, no way I am gone eat those creatures.
Boo2 said:
Sorry, why ?

Boo2
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Farm Bass has a horrible waxy fatty taste. And yes, we have seen wild bass - we had it in Messolonghi, when he gave us a tasting of farmed along side. The farmed was horrid. - if its large -ie not plate sized, its likely to be wild.
 
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