Turkey’s Kolonya Culture

Limon Kolonyası. What is that, you ask? It’s cologne with a lemon fragrance, though there are other aromas as well ... lavender being another popular version ... as is lily. Every household in Turkey has a bottle of two on a shelf or in a cabinet ... always.

Kolonya has a high alcohol content — as much as 80% — which gives it a refreshing quality. It’s quite popular to offer it to guests for that purpose. Or to be offered some when you go to a restaurant ... or into a shop ... or even when you travel by bus on a long distance trip. It’s very much a staple that is readily offered to people who go to visit a sick person ... whether in a hospital or at home. I can think of a lot of other circumstances where kolonya is used, but you get the idea. It is and always has been part of daily life in Turkey.

Of course, due to its alcohol content, kolonya also has an anti-bacterial effect ... always a good thing ... even more so in this day and age of the coronavirus pandemic. It’s a good tradition to continue for sure.

Which explains the long lines at the outlet shop of one of the producers of this fragrant cologne. Mui encountered this long line when he went downtown to pick up a couple of bottles for mom and Aylin. Needless to say, with no social distancing in this queue, he opted to pass on the purchase. He’ll pick up some from a pharmacy instead.

We’ve already picked up and packed in our bags a couple of bottles of a different brand that we prefer to bring back to the US ... as we do every year. Might pick up an extra bottle this year 😉もっと詳しく