My hometown, Adana, is in the south of Turkey and is famous for its heat and humidity. When the people from Adana suffer from the heat in summer, they go to the nearest chilly place Tekir, a town at the base of the Taurus mountains. Many people even have a summer home in Tekir. The same concept exists in Italy as well. People living in the north of Italy go to the Alps for vacation. Some of them rent a home or some of them own their own. They go hiking, trekking, get fresh air, visit natural parks, and pick mushrooms. Okay, I have to admit, the style is different from what happens in Adana, Everything is more organized.
The thing I didn’t know is how taxes and regulations work in Italy. After learning how this bureaucracy works in other countries, I realized we Turkish people aren’t as aware of it. What am I talking about? For instance, I didn’t have any idea how much tax we pay for our house. As a retired person, my father didn’t pay tax for his home. After he died we started to pay some Turkish Liras per year. But in Italy, for the house you own, you pay thousands of Euros depends on its size and lots of other factors. If you have a summer home, you pay more tax for it than for your first house because you should be enough rich to have a second home. It works the same way with cars. There are crazy amounts of taxes for everything. Then I understood why Europeans have more knowledge about taxes and regulations and why they ask me about how are the taxes in my country. Wow, crazy…
People who has been to Turkey know what am I talking about. In Turkey, there are much fewer taxes, rules or regulations compared to in Europe. Which is better? You tell me. Everybody’s preferences are different.
I will give you one last surprising example I discovered in Italy. It might be normal to prohibit lighting fires or hunting in nature. But in Italy, there are regulations about picking mushrooms! It was interesting. If you want to pick mushrooms in the mountains, you need to go to the local administration and ask permission. One day can costs 8 Euros, 2 weeks is 15 Euros. And that’s not all! There are dozens of other regulations: you have to cut the mushrooms from bottom with a knife, you cannot use a rake or similar tools, and you have to carry the collected mushrooms in a basket and not in a bag to permit them to leave their spores… Wow! These rules are there to prevent us from destroying the planet. I understand and appreciate it, I am starting to learn more about how the world works.
Now leave the mushrooms and let’s see more about beauty of Alps.
