The coronavirus pandemic has unleashed hell across the globe. Lockdowns, restrictions, excessive interference in the lives of citizens, lock at home, travel bans, vaccination revolt and there is much more on this list... We all know it and there is probably no person who is not fed up with this sick madness.

How does it all look like in Turkey? Has reality turned upside down here too?

From the first day I moved here, I noticed that NO. It immediately struck me that this country has its own rules, here life goes its own way and everything really lives its own life.

Everyone has full access to travel between cities, there are no restrictions in shopping centers, shops and supermarkets are normally open, hotels are working at full speed, aviation works like a spiral, you can go out to restaurants at any time and eat something good, relax on the beach or just have a picnic in the park.

Not only that, when you leave the house in my city of two million inhabitants, people walking on the street wearing masks can be counted on the fingers of one hand. And they are not tourists at all. Simply, life is not about covid here. Buses, shops, hospitals etc. - of course, everyone is neat with a mask on the face, and whenever there's going out, the masks automatically disappear somewhere in their purses and pockets, or they simply end up in the nearest rubbish bin...

Social distance? In any case, Turks can most often be seen in groups, enjoying the company of friends or spending time in a friendly manner with randomly met people, and having fun in a larger group is also no exception.

There are, of course there are, but the residents don't want to obey them and they don't do it either. And the police? The police see everything but join the normal life squad, not covid, if you know what I mean 😉

Let it not be too candy - there is also something in this country that doesn't only concern tourists, that the locals hate, and yet (almost) everyone follows it, because no one wants to pay a penalty of several thousand liras for going for a walk... During the weekend. Unfortunately, every Turkish and everyone who lives in Turkey is obliged to a total lockdown and a ban on leaving their place of residence for purposes other than work and in urgent cases, and the only help is to go to the nearest local shop, because believe it or not, the police guys are not idle on this issue and check QR codes given to everyone in this country like crazy. Unfortunately, nothing can be hidden here, because the code contains information about who you are and on what conditions you are here, i.e. in short - you are not a tourist and you leave the house during the weekend? Pay a big penalty. Fortunately, I sometimes manage to cheat my destiny by pretending to be an unaware tourist, but unfortunately the Turks don't have such an option, because they recognize theirs and have no mercy, so they spend their Saturdays and Sundays at home with no discussion.

Unfortunately, the weekend lockdown at home is something that drives me crazy when I just come home from work, come back from another country and I can't move beyond my four corners... Because yeah... And when I'm really done and fed up (read: almost every time), I am extremely grateful to myself for my blue eyes, which from a distance give the police a wonderful illusion that I am definitely in Turkey only for tourism and I don't live here permanently at all😅

Happily, Turkey is a country that, unlike Europe, hasn't lost its independence and mind for covid, and life goes on almost normally here and sometimes you forget that there is such a thing as a pandemic at all... ❤