Master Sitki

Whenever I pass thru Kutahya, a city in mid Anatolia, there is a place I have to go. It is the store of a ceramic artist known as Master Sitki. Ceramic tiles used in the decoration of palaces and mosques for centuries in this country. It was a way for artists to express themselves when Islam prohibited most types of painting.

Sitki Usta (usta means master) is the most famous contemprary name in the world of ceramics here and guess what?? he was selected as one of the living human treasures by Unesco. Isnt it cool??? His love to his art led him to resurface the formula of certain colors which have been lost centuries ago.Please take some time an look at his wonderful works at www.sitkiusta.com . He is a real treasure.


As I said I love stopping at his store whenever it is possible. Although most of his works are beyond my budget I like to look around and if possible try to add something to my little collection of animals. This time an alligator came home with me..


And here are some birds from him.


First photo is from here

Aizanoi Antic City

We were planning to visit the Aizanoi antic city and its impressive temple of Zeus for a while.We took the opportunity to visit it while visiting my mom in Eskisehir.It is located in the nearby city of Kutahya. It needed some extra travelling but totally worth the trouble. Of course Hera the puppy was with us, visiting the temple of her unfaithful husband.

Temple was built in the 2nd century by the Romans.


The basement of the building is as interesting as the temple itself. Thanks to impressive technics of the Roman builders, the huge temple stands on top of this basement for centuries, in an area where big earthquakes hit several times in the history.



My little archaeologist keenly observed every detail of the antic theatre but couldnt find anything to eat.


The round building located right in the center of the nearby village used as a stock exchange building during the Roman period.

A part of the antic road with its beautiful columns could still be seen today in the village.

Old houses in Eskisehir

On my previous post I took you to a small tour of my hometown Eskisehir and mentioned how it has transformed from an old and forgetten city to one of the most modern ones in Turkey thanks to a vision of a single man. One of the biggest project he undertook was to restore the old parts of the town.The neighbourhood which is called Odunpazari was full of shabby and neglected houses during my childhood.However with a big restoration project most of the houses that are dated to the Ottoman period started to have a wonderful new life. Project is still continuing and there are still houses waiting for their new life.





And now let me take you to a small tour into the streets of this beautiful neighbourhood.







Some houses are bigger than the others and here is an interior view of a one which is used as a glass museum right now.


Eskişehir is also famous with its meerschaum and they did not forget the artists who created beautiful items especially pipes from meerschaum. There is a special market for them in this neighbourhood.

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..

Boza

It's a cold, dark and rainy day outside. A perfect day to enjoy the coziness of home. I already miss sunshine and spring days and started to dream and plan about our summer at the beach. A perfect day to dream about the coming summer,too.

However I am not forgeting to enjoy the delights of the winter. Here is one of them: Boza, a favorite drink of mine during winter.


It's made of fermented wheat, sugar and water. It's known to be made for the first time by the Central Asian Turks during 900s. You can only purchase it during winter months and serve it with cinnamon.

So what is it taste like? Well, it is like a rich liquid puding. It is thick, and sweet. Not very much liked by my foreign friends who taste it for the first time, as they found its thickness strange.

Boza is also known to be prohibited by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed 4, while he was prohibiting all the alcoholic drinks during the 17th century. Reason? As it is fermented, there is a low alcohol content in it. About 1%.

So if you ever happen to be around this part of the world during winter months, try boza for some extra energy and calories.

İstanbul under snow...

First snow wave is already over but we are waiting for the second one later today. Years ago in the early 80s, I was an exchange student in West Virginia - USA. When the first snow of the season covered all over the small town of Keyser, the most frequent question my friends asked me was if I like the snow. They were probably assuming that, coming from Turkey, I was seeing the snow for the first time in my life. Actually the reality was much different. At the time my family was living in a mid Anatolian town -Eskisehir- which was under snow and ice during the entire winter months. Snow only started to vanish slowly in the early days of the spring.

Well, world became a much smaller place since then and today I want to share some snowy photos of İstanbul taken during the last snow blanket.










All photos are taken from the facebook page of İstanbul.