1 July, Darende
Otel Darende 60TL

We had planned to spend our rest day lolling by the rock pool in the Tohma Canyon, but this was not to be. Instead we spent a portion of it thinking about the rock pool and cultural norms. Last night, after our trout dinner, we accosted a taxi driver who had come to collect a young couple at the canyon, asking him to page for a taxi for ourselves. The young couple were going home after their evening prayers at the canyon mosque and as their home lay beyond our hotel they suggested we share their taxi. I asked the woman about the men-only pools and she said she remembers with pleasure swimming in the canyon as a child, but that seven or eight years ago, because men would climb the hills to ogle the women swimming, women were banned from so doing. She agreed that this was “sad”. I did not explore the issue in depth, but her comments implied that there had been separate swimming times for men and women, implied a very conservative world gotten perhaps more conservative or cautious. I spent parts the day thinking about the fact that I prefer to travel to exotic destinations; that “exotic” implies “different”; that some cultural norms are good and others not; that tolerance is the order of the day. I also wondered if there was an alternate solution that still met the demands of a conservative world. My ruminations lead to no particular conclusions...

Darende - Tohma Canyon

Darende - Tohma Canyon