Child Friendly Tourism in Turkey

"Turkish people love children!" I was told by the numerous guidebooks we consulted to plan our family vacation. Little did I know what this really meant until we landed in Turkey with our two-and-a-half year old twins.

Unhappy Passengers

Many times people stopped us in the street to tell us how happy they were that we brought our kids to their country. A few times, people threw candy for the kids from car windows. But the most amazing evidence was in some of the places we ate.

Churchyard in Cappadocia

While visiting the Anatolian town of Urgup, we had just finished a hike and stopped for lunch at the restaurant suggested by the owner of the tour company who had just shown us the magnificent rock formations of Cappadocia. It was a bit fancier than the kind of places we usually dared dine with children, with linen tablecloths and crystal goblets turned over at each place setting.

Nevertheless, we were early enough to be the only patrons in the restaurant and were thus able to enjoy a delicious meal relatively peacefully -- that is, until my son jumped up from the table, grabbed the soccer ball we kept in the stroller, and began kicking it around the restaurant before we could intervene! Expecting a reprimand, my husband and I were shocked when the pin-stripe-suited waiter calmly kicked the ball back to him saying "No problem--he's just a boy playing soccer!" Something similar happened at a dining hall when my son threw his spoon in the air so it landed with a noisy "clank." The amused waiter kept picking up the spoon and handing it back to him, so my son kept doing it over and over.

Exploring Ephesus

Given our experience thus far, it should not have surprised us one bit to find the most child-friendly restaurant in the world in Selcuk near Ephesus. We discovered it by accident after crossing the street to get a closer look at a huge water fountain. It turned out to be the entrance to a restaurant so we decided to go in for lunch. We selected an outdoor table in a terraced area that looked down upon a children's play structure. We went down to inspect closer while our order was being prepared and saw that they also had a small zoo on the premises, with animals such as monkeys and a camel.

Needless to say, my husband and I were able to have the most relaxed lunch we'd ever had while watching our children.