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Arda Turan Sat on It, and the Rest Is History: Turkish Fans Make Pilgrimage to Barcelona Bench
🇵🇾 Paraguay /Culture & Society

Arda Turan Sat on It, and the Rest Is History: Turkish Fans Make Pilgrimage to Barcelona Bench

From ABC Color · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources Context piece
  • Turkish tourists in Barcelona are visiting a bench on the Passeig de Gràcia where former Barcelona player Arda Turan posed for a photograph in 2017.
  • Visitors imitate Turan’s pose and share photos or videos, turning the bench into an informal Turkish tourist tradition.
  • The bench is covered with fan messages, Turkish greetings and social-media handles.

For many Turkish visitors in Barcelona, a bench in the Jardinets de Gràcia ranks above the Sagrada Família and La Rambla.

This bench is the greatest thing I have ever seen.

— EnesThe Turkish visitor expressed his enthusiasm for the Barcelona bench associated with Arda Turan.

The bench became a destination after former FC Barcelona midfielder Arda Turan sat there for a photograph in 2017. The image spread on social media, and a casual pose became a pilgrimage for Turkish tourists visiting the city.

Couples, families and groups now stop to recreate Turan’s posture, with one leg crossed over the other, hands clasped and head tilted slightly upward. Some check their phones to make sure they have found the same spot. The bench is easy to identify, covered in signatures, fan messages, Turkish greetings and Instagram accounts.

When you share a photo with the Sagrada Família, few people give it a like.

— EmreThe visitor contrasted the social-media appeal of the bench with Barcelona’s most famous landmark.

Enes, visiting with his girlfriend Menar and friends, said, "This bench is the greatest thing I have ever seen." Another visitor, Emre, said a photograph with the Sagrada Família attracts little attention online, while a picture from the bench could earn thousands of likes. Returning home to Rize without one, he said, would make him the subject of ridicule among his friends.

If you take a photo here, thousands of people will like it.

— EmreHe explained why returning to Rize without a photograph from the bench would be embarrassing among his friends.
About this summary

Originally published by ABC Color in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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