Customer Culture
Tour in the Balkan countries is considered to be an outstanding experience for any visitor. There are plenty of sites to visit and in my opinion each country has its own unique culture blended with history, natural beauty and modern places to live. Based on this, this journey map chooses the destination countries of Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey. In this regard, it is important to make a good destination plan that can provide fun and luxury for the tourists. The entire destination will take 8 days start from Greece and end in Turkey. Therefore, it is a packed schedule and the tourists only get a glimpse of each country.
This tour is primarily a heritage destination with a time line of only 8 days. It can be stated that within a time of 8 days visiting almost all the tourist spots in three countries is an impossible matter. Therefore, to make the destination more attractive and less hectic a new tour program must be initiated. In this regard, it can be stated that Greece is full of ancient places like the Athens, Mycenae and Olympia. Full of ancient remains, temples and buildings it will be a good experience for the tourists to get a glimpse of the heritage of the country (Bofulin et al., 2016). In addition to this, in the country of Bulgaria, there are a number of heritage tourist spots. For an instance, the Kazanlak Tomb of 3rd century BC, Thracian Tomb, the Nesebar Architectural Reserve popular for the oldest European town and the Rila Monastery that was founded in the 10th century. Besides this, in Turkey the favourite tourist places are the Hittite Capital, the old city of Istanbul and the Nemrut Dag which was famous for the huge statues of King Antiochus, the descendent of Apollo (Michailidou et al., 2016). Based on this, the primary purpose of this tour is to provide a glimpse of historical and heritage of the mentioned countries and identified the cultural differences in the process.
The history of Greece is very rich and has a lineage from the Palaeolithic period of time. Many of the remains and trace of human habitation from the Palaeolithic age and Neolithic age can be found in Thessaly, Macedonia and the Peloponnese region. Besides this, the Minoan civilisation and the history of the Mycenaean Greeks are also located in the citadels of Mycenae, Tiryns and Athens (Smith et al., 2018). However, the best traces of the period of Greek conqueror Alexander the Great and the dominance of Athens during the period of 5th to 4th century BC are the most popular sites that develop a tourist attraction in the country.
On the other hand, Bulgaria is a pocket country of South Eastern Europe best known as a Balkan country with different cultural and ethnic heritage. There are a number of heritage sites that are considered to be one of the major attractions that Bulgaria has. As far as the UNESCO list it can be argued that Bulgaria has 10 important tourist destinations that are resembled with the rich cultural practices and heritage traces back to the ancient times (Krsti?, Staniši? & Petrovi?, 2015). Moreover, the incorporation of a number of ethnic clans like the Turks and Romanian make a different and unique tradition and culture in Bulgaria that attracts the tourists from all over the world to come and visit the cultural hybrid tradition.
Besides this, the cultural mix-up in Turkey is a true blend of the cultures of East and West. From that point of view, it can be asserted that Turkey is an amazing holiday destination for the tourists who wants to get a glimpse of the heritage of the country (Metodijeski & Temelkov, 2014). Apart from the traditional Islamic tradition it can be stated that the Hittite relics and numerous practices adapted from the Western culture make a different and unique cultural backbone for the Turkey. As a result of that it becomes a tourist’s hotspot to get in touch with the cultural blend of the Turkish heritage.
While take a tour in Greece it is important for the tourists to follow some advices or tips to get a better experience. Those tips are very basic but helpful in order to make a happy travel experience with lots of fun. For an instance, it is important to get acknowledged with the culture of the Greeks. Most of the current generations are modern and open minded but there are some older generations who practice conservatism like the orthodox churches (?erovi? et al., 2015). Besides this, island hopping will be an effective measure for the tourists to explore new streets and they can find the real beauty of the country and its culture. However, eat and drink like a local is very important to get accompanied with the local environment.
Generally, Bulgaria is a very peaceful and safe for the traveller. However, some basic initiatives that a tourist must take care of regarding the culture and environment of Bulgaria. For an example, there is no bargaining practice in Bulgaria. The local people are not so fond of bargaining. As a result of that it would be a problem for the tourist to purchase something. Moreover, Bulgaria is popular for rose oil and water (Sziva et al., 2017). Those can be purchased in pretty souvenir bottles. The local people are also very religious so tourists can buy religious icons in there.
Turkey is always a tourist hotspot in the South East Europe. There are number of measures that should be taken in order to make fun. In this regard, knowing some Turkish words will be a better opportunity to blend with the local culture. Little gestures like teh-she-kuller that means thank you and bee teer deem (delicious) are important. Moreover, the Turkish vegetarian foods are very delicious. The garnishing techniques and using of different vegetables make the Turkish foods more attractive (Krsti?, Staniši? & Petrovi?, 2015). However, being cheated can be prevented by making yourself lower and tried to keep a distance from the local people.
The transportation services in those countries are frequent and easy to avail. In this context, the trip in Greece is mainly conducted by taxi travel. However, for a large number of people travel by bus will be the right choice. There are number of bus routes connecting the important tourist spots. Therefore, there will not be a problem to get in touch with the bus travel. From Greece to Bulgaria there are multiple options (Berdo, 2016). The tourists can go by air, road or water side. However, travelling by train is advised to be the best option for travelling from Greece to Bulgaria. There are day and night train from Thessaloniki to Sofia, the Capital of Bulgaria. The train journey is comfortable with an affordable price. It takes around six hours. From Bulgaria to Turkey there is no affordable flight. Therefore, bus can be the cheapest way to travel. It takes only 9 hours to reach Istanbul from Sofia. In fact, the bus service is frequent.
Wednesday, November 28- Day 1
- Arrive in Athens at 7.45.and check in into the hotel.
- Leave for the Acropolis at 10:00.
- Visit The Parthenon at 11:00.
- Arrive the Theatre of Dionysos at 12:00.
- Lunch Time at 13.00.
- Visiting the Acropolis Museum at 13:55.
- Arrive at the Temple of Olympian Zeus at 16.15
- Leave for the Panathenaic Stadium at 17.15 and arrive within 15 minutes.
Thursday, November 29- Day 2
- Leave for the National Historical Museum Athens at 8.30.
- Arrive at Monastiraki at 10.00. It is an old local market at the foot of Acropolis.
- Visiting Roman Agora on 12:00.
- Arrive the ancient Agora on 14.15.
- Lunch halt 15:15.
- Leave for Herakleidon Museum at 16:00.
Friday, November 30- Day 3
- Leave for the Benaki Museum at 10:00
- Reach the Syntagma Square at 12:00
- Lunch at 13:15
- Enroute to Thessaloniki at 14:20
- Reached Thessaloniki at 20.30
Saturday, December 1-Day 4
- Train to Sofia, Bulgaria at 00:27
- Reached Sofia at 6.01.
- Leave for the Alexander Nevski Cathedral at 9:00
- Leave for the Royal Palace, National theatre and the City Garden at 11:00
- Stop for lunch at 15:00
- Visit the Vitosha Boulevard and National Palace of Culture at 14: 15
- Leave for Plodiv, the cultural capital of Bulgaria at 19:00
Sunday, December 2-Day 5
- Reached Plodiv at 6:30
- Exploring the old town at 8:30
- Reach the Rila Monastery at 13:00
- Have lunch at 14:00
- Spending time at the old town and leave Plodiv at 19:30
Monday, December 3- Day 6
- Reached Sofia at 6:10.
- Get the bus for Istanbul at 7:00
- Reached Istanbul at 15:15
- Reached the hotel by 16:15
Tuesday, December 4- Day 7
- Visit the Blue mosque at 9:00.
- Visit a café to have a coffee break at 10:30
- Leave for Aya Sofia at 11:00.
- Reached Basilica Cistern at 13:30
- Have a lunch Turkish Lunch at 14:30
Wednesday, December 5-Day 8
- Visit the Bosporus River at 9:00.
- Entered the Galata Tower and Spice market at 11:00
- Have lunch at 14:00
- Check out for the flight at 16:00
Conclusion
It can be concluded that the tour planning is highly effective and it make a good tour for the tourists. This report incorporates and highlights all the aspects of the destination. For an example, illustrating the type of cultures that those cities have possessed and the historical importance of the sites that are selected as destinations. In this context, it can be stated that the purpose of this report is to set a tour plan that will be based on the heritage tourism in the sites of Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey. Moreover, in the end the report also comes up with an itinerary for making a better understanding of the whole tour plan. From that point of view it can be stated that the planning will be precise and well managed to provide a glimpse of the heritage of the destination sites.
Reference
Berdo, S. (2016). Application Cases of Main Tourist Destination Competitiveness Models in Different Countries of the World, Especially in Balkan Region Destinations. European Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 1(1), 58-63.
Bofulin, M., Raspor, A., Stranjan?evi?, A., Bulatovi?, I., & Lacmanovi?, D. (2016). Small destinations in large tourism market: the analysis of Western Balkan countries and the Chinese outbound tourism. International Scientific Journal, 8, 130-143.
?erovi?, S., Kneževi?, M., Matovi?, V., & Brdar, I. (2015). The contribution of tourism industry on the GDP growth of Western Balkan countries. Industrija, 43(3), 159-170.
Krsti?, B., Staniši?, T., & Petrovi?, J. (2015). The analysis of tourism competitiveness of the European Union and some Western Balkan countries. Synthesis, 508-511.
Metodijeski, D., & Temelkov, Z. (2014). Tourism policy of Balkan countries: Review of national tourism development strategies. UTMS Journal of Economics, 5(2), 231-239.
Michailidou, A. V., Vlachokostas, C., Moussiopoulos, Ν., & Maleka, D. (2016). Life Cycle Thinking used for assessing the environmental impacts of tourism activity for a Greek tourism destination. Journal of Cleaner Production, 111, 499-510.
Smith, M., Sulyok, J., Jancsik, A., Puczkó, L., Kiss, K., Sziva, I., … & Michalkó, G. (2018). Nomen est omen–Tourist image of the Balkans. Hungarian Geographical Bulletin, 67(2), 173-188.
Sziva, I., Balázs, O., Michalkó, G., Kiss, K., Puczkó, L., Smith, M., & Apró, É. (2017). Branding Strategy Of The Countries In The Balkan Region–Focusing On Health Tourism. GeoJournal of Tourism and Geosites, 19(1), 61-69.
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