Fez

In the prologue of A Fez of the Heart, Jeremy Seal depicts his voyage through Pomegranate, Turkey.

A. I found the passage about the fez incredibly interesting.  In Turkey, wearing the fez is illegal but in Pomegranate, a popular tourist area, they are sold and worn to travelers. Even though fezes are legal to wear for attracting tourists, it still made the locals feel uneasy. I find this a fascinating example about how quickly tourist attractions can lost their culture. Before, wearing a fez was a sign of power, of strong sultans and now it has degenerated into a tourist trinket, something to be purchased and then placed in a closet to forget.

B. This article shows how when trying to market a city, culture can easily be lost. Initially, Pomegranate was a city of strong Muslim beliefs, so much that they would stone people who entered the city in a bikini. Now, the key advertisement for Pomegranate is pictures of topless women. The citizens in Pomegranate realized that they could earn money by giving up their strict cultural beliefs. Now, their old culture is preserved and looked at like history pieces to show the contrast between then and now. Seal quotes a farmer's son, "'life used to be fun,' Halil told me. 'Now it's just business." In its twenty-year transformation, it seemed that Pomegranate had lost more than it had gained, and it was hard to see what could reclaim it". This statement is exactly the connection between culture and economics. Culture is lost when trying to make a city marketable for a larger audience. That's why when people travel to discover the true culture of a place, they don't go to the tourist attractions; they won't find what they're looking for in those places.

C. The two large travel destinations in Jordan are Amman, and Aqaba. Aqaba is a popular location for travelers because it is a beach city. In addition to beaches, Aqaba also borders the dead sea. The dead sea is a fun place for anyone to visit. There is so much salt in it that you float without trying! Not only is this a religious site, but it is a beautiful sea that has tons of spas nearby that advertise the healing effects of the dead sea salt and mud. In Jordan, they lack large quantities of water, so, this is the only beach location in the area. Amman is the capital of Jordan and one of the few large cities. Many people travel to Amman for religious reasons; to visit large mosques and temples. There are museums, and royal sites dispersed around the entire city. Another advertising point of Amman is that through the modern luxuries that you can find there, there is also the traditional and quaint stores that people can visit.