Eskisehir

After spending the long winter days at home raising Hera the puppy, we finally decided to take a test trip with her last week. The weather was excellent and we went to my mother's home in Eskisehir. A mid Anatolian city where I grew up.



Eskisehir means old town and in my childhood it was really an old town in the sense that it was decaying and nobody was really taking care of her. There were not enough job opportunities and everybody including the young Aysegul were dreaming of going to a university in a big city and settle there.

Things changed dramatically since then thanks to a single man.He is Yilmaz Buyukersan and in those days he became the dean of the university at the city.Thru the years he raised the standarts of the Anatolia University to compete with the best and attracted so many young students to the city.





Later he elected as the the mayor and he is still in that position although he is from a very small political party. As a mayor, he changed the whole look of the city with huge and wonderful projects and taught so many people a wonderful lesson. A single man with a vision could change everything. Now Eskisehir is a wonderful city to live and attracts so many local tourist..


An old factory building turned into a shopping mall. Restored old buildings on the grounds were used as a coffee shop and art gallery.


Hubby happily chatting with local ladies.



As for Hera, she enjoyed the whole trip although she peed once to her grandmother's precious carpets and dug several holes to her well groomed gardens. We think that she is growing and a lot more manageble but I am sure that mom has other ideas.


Well, of course this is not all. I have couple more posts coming from this trip..

Eastern Turkey - Diyarbakir

As always happens during this time of the year, I was bitten by the travel bug and I am itching to hit the roads again. It's not finalized yet but I will probably be traveling on some parts of the ancient silk road in the coming months..Still dreaming about it.

While I am dreaming and planning let me take you to the eastern parts of Turkey, which is unknown to many who visited this country. The city of Diyarbakir is the largest one in southeastern Turkey. It is not in the destination of many traveler due to the Kurdish terrorist activities in this area. However its a beautiful city so much rich with history and culture.

It is possible to see the 5.5 km long old city walls made of from black basalt around the old parts of the town. It is very striking..







You could always find old men in the garden of the Grand Mosque. They are always ready to tell you about their city.



Entrance of the Grand Mosque which was built in 11th century. Very similar architecture with the Grand Mosque of Damascus although this is a rather small version.


Traditional house with lovely decorations on the walls.



An artisan making the last touches of a water jug which was later purchased by me. Using it as a vase right now.



Arches of an old Armenian church left to decay in 1883. Ceiling made of mud gone many many years ago..

Van

I see and envy all the snowy pictures on the blogs of this side of the world. As of today we still do not have any snow, not a bit. As I also want to post some snow photos, here is an old post for you. I wrote this piece for another blog after my 2 weeks long travel on the Southeastern part of Turkey.Year was 2007.

''In the second half of April I went to southeastern Turkey that is also part of ancient Mesopotamia. When we left the house very early on April 20 to catch the Van airplane, there was a warm and bright air in Istanbul. After two hours, when we landed at Van, I was shivering. The weather was really cold.

Van museum that is displaying the important Urartian artifacts was closed due to renovation and no body knew when it would be opened again. So we went to the Van castle that was built by the Urartian King of Sardur the 1. It was almost noon and the weather was just freezing. I put on my hat and gloves that I did not have the chance to use in Istanbul during winter and tried to remember the Van of 20 years ago, when I visited right after my graduation from the university. There was no park arrangement around the castle at that time and I think there were more children around. The children I photographed at that time might have their own child right now.

After visiting Kaya Çelebi mosque and Hüsrev Pasha Külliyesi, which look like two identical buildings from the castle, we returned to the city. Restoration works were done at both mosques. After lunch we hit the internationally named bazaars of the city and finally it was started to snow. Ironically Iran, Russia, Japan and Europe bazaars were crowded with Chinese and Indian goods, you could find some interesting stuff if you could dig the stalls long enough.

In the afternoon we went to the food markets in order to taste Van. Although they are only mentioning cheese in the name of the Grand Cheese Makers Market, shops selling viscera occupied almost half the market. After viewing the heads, legs, brains and tongues that were displayed on the stalls in neat ways, we purchased the famous cheese of Van prepared with different herbs. After buying warm flat bread from the Küçük Yıldız Pide Fırını, we ate them at the coffee house of İzzet with hot tea. They were just delicious. When we heard that the honey of the honey producer Behçet is worth tasting, we also found his store and bought a jar of honey.

When we took a minibus to go to our hotel located near the Lake Van, the ladies I chatted at the bus told that this weather was also a surprise for them as they also had a very mild winter. After the snow and the hard wind during night, I was almost sure that we would not be able to make our trip to the island of Akdamar on the lake. But the morning of April 21 welcomed us with a bright and sunny day on a blue lake, although everywhere was covered with snow. The snow we did not have the chance to see whole winter in Istanbul was just in front of us with all its beauty.

As there was no other group visiting the island and the 10th century Armenian church of Cathedral Church of the Holy Cross that was restored and reopened at the beginning of April, we had all the chance to enjoy the island, castle and the beautiful weather. The church was built between the years 915-921 by architect monk Manuel during the reign of the Vaspurakan King Gagik the 1. When I look at the photographs of the church that I took 20 years ago the difference between today and the time with its partly ruined roof covered with weed was quite striking. But this time I spent more time taking the pictures of snow covered almond tree flowers.

While we were traveling near the lake towards Ahlat where we were going to spend the night, the triplets of sun, snow and lake were with us showing their most beautiful faces all the way. When we reached Ahlat where the largest Seljuk cemetery from 11-12th century located, snow only remained on the tops of the far away mountains.

Mesopotamian Food

(My cleaning lady did not come today and I have guests for dinner tomorrow. I have to clean, shop and cook. So excuse me for posting an old article I wrote 3 years ago after a month old trip to Syria and Eastern part of Turkey..)

It is not wrong to say that appetizers or starters are rather the main dishes in Syria. They are serving so many different varieties at the beginning; the main courses are becoming less enjoyable afterwards. Rice with saffron or pounded and smoked wheat called frik served with chicken or beef and a kind of yogurt soup made with small wheat balls called Lebeniye were the ones remained in my mind as main dishes.

Kebabs were average except one. If you happen to be traveling on the Damascus – Aleppo motorway one day, don’t forget to stop at the Tower Restaurant, which you could easily identify with the huge Eiffel Tower standing at the front. Its specialty is flat meat balls cooked with tomatoes and served in a shallow cooking pan. It was just delicious. Another good address for starters in Syria is the Beit Sitti House in Damascus.( http://www.beit-sitti.com/ )

But I think the primary taste in Syria is the sweets. There are so many shops selling various types of sweets in both Damascus and Aleppo that even a simple window-shopping is an experience itself. The practice of using less sugar and syrup compare to the ones in Turkey greatly increased my capacity to consume. A dangerous feature :) Of course there is also the kunefe; you should definitely taste this warm sweet served with melted cheese inside. You could fulfill all you sweet desires with a single kunefe served at an average price of 40 cents.

Good kebabs are definitely on the Turkish side of the border. Although the previous visitors told that the quality was not as it was before, I still ate the best kebabs in Gaziantep at İmam Cagdas. The kebab with vegetables was just great. Also the sweets made with pistachio should make a visit to your stomach.

Also take a note to drink a zahter tea (a type of thyme) at Tahmis Coffee House that was built in the year 1640 which is located at the end of the Elmacılar Bazaar in Gaziantep. Tahmis is also a nice stopping point for narghile lovers.

In Diyarbakir Aslan Lokantası located at the entrance of Aslan Hotel is a nice restaurant where you good taste good food and kebabs but try to avoid the time during the lunch break as you have a good chance of waiting in queue to eat. Another thing to taste and buy in Diyarbakir is the almond paste of Atlas. This small store located at Ekinciler Cd. No15/C and the quality of its product could easily compete with the famous Bebek Almond Paste in İstanbul and the prices are much much cheaper.

Antakya is another heaven for meze-starters. We ate the best ones in the Kervan restaurant in Harbiye region of the city that is famous with its water falls. Anadolu restaurant at the center of the city was said to be good with its foods and kebabs but I happily settled with delicious grilled calamari in the two nights we ate there.

I don’t particularly like drinking coffee but largely enjoy the smell and the rituals. Although I don’t like the taste of cardamom they are adding into the coffee in Syria, Urfa and Mardin regions I strongly advise the bitter and dark coffee- mirra- served around Urfa and Mardin. It was obtained by boiling the coffee in 3-4 hours in dim fire and served in small cups that you have to drink in one sip. Its dark, its bitter and leaves a kind of sour taste in your mouth afterwards. I tasted the best mirra in a small coffee shop in the Urfa Bazaar and the trick of its good taste was a bit of Nescafe they added when boiling the coffee.

Photographs:
Sweet Shop in Aleppo

Sweets from Gaziantep and Syria
Mirra coffee in Urfa

Bozcaada...

It came to my attention that in the November 2009 issue of Conde Nast Traveler, Bozcaada received an award from its readers. It's a small island I love so much and its the place where we spent some part of our honeymoon last year...

Bozcaada and the Turkish Aegean Islands selected as 2nd in the top islands category of Europe. First place went to Mykonos and the Cyclades..Very well chosen...Both are lovely islands with beautiful beaches. However if you want a good night life, choose Mykonos and for a rather relax and quieter atmosphere Bozcaada should be the destination



Bozcaada is about 3 miles away from the mainland it requires a 45 minute car ferry crossing to reach. It was last September when we were there and the weather was usually rainy. But you dont care rainy weathers on your honeymoon right??

It was such a joy to walk in the narrow streets of the island, stop for a rest in small cafehouses. At night I remember indulging ourselves with lots of sea food and wine. Bozcaada is famous with its vineyards so plenty of wine to taste...

Sirince vs Kayakoy

While we are busy with packing, visiting and saying our good byes to all those loved beaches and places, let me take you today to two very different villages, we have visited this summer. The Greeks living on these villages were rapatriated after the 1923 population exchange between the two countries. Close to 1 million Greeks and 400 thousand Turks affected from this policy and changed their countries and homes in those days.

First one is Sirince.. A 600 year old village about 30 km from Kusadasi. Famous with its fruit wines and olive oil production. According to newspapers Oprah Winfrey who visited Turkey this summer, selected Sirince as her favorite place in Turkey which reminded her the Tuscany region of İtaly. Although heavily populated with tourists, it is still a very charming place..

Second village is Kayakoy or Levissi as they called in those days. It is located close to Fethiye, visited often by the tourist as it is on the famous Lycian Way. It is probably one of the saddest places that I ever visited. After the repatriation, Turks coming from Greece who were mostly farmers did not want to live in this village. They preffered the valley. Greeks living on these hillsides were dealing in crafts and trade. According to locals there were also rumors in those days about the poisining of the water sources by the departing Greeks. Whatever the reasons, first Greeks than the Turks left this village which was a beautiful place once upon a time. So today its like a ghost city.

I visited Kayakoy couple times before and every time I was there, I always remember my father's great grand parents who left their houses and properties in Crimea-Russia and my mother's parents who left their beautiful houses and gardens in Romania. I tried to imagine their pain and desperation without success.