Blogger Friend at Datca

We waited them at the small harbour of Datca. The ferry was coming from Bodrum where they were vacationing.

When they were in İstanbul in the spring, we promised to see each other soon. They kept their promise and here they are. Our dear friends Phivos and Popi. I know most of you know Phivos from his wonderful blog Travelling.

It was so nice to see them.

Unfortunately they had to return with the afternoon ferry so we had only few hours to spend together but tons of place to show them in our small peninsula. Due to limited time we settled with visiting only couple places, a long lunch and lots of talking and sharing.

As you can imagine Phivos took hundreds of pictures which I am sure you will soon see on his blog. At the end of the day we had to say good bye to them but we were so happy to spent a memorable they with our friend.

Hope to see you soon Phivos and Popi..We already miss you.

How to make a wish in Central Asia

Where ever I travel people's different beliefs always amazes me and as you can imagine its not always easy and possible to observe people when they are in a ritual. But I was quite lucky to get some interesting shots as well as joining the crowds who were talking with angels while travelling in central Asia....

So lets start with some common ones, like visiting the tomb of a holy man or woman and rotate around the tomb couple times while praying.. (photo from Turkmenistan)

 or tying piece of fabrics to a branch that is close to the tomb..

What would you do if you need a house? Build a model one around a tomb where you believe a holy man lies

What about a baby? Start building a small crib and place it near a tomb which is known for answering the prayers for a child.

and what about if you want to see and talk with the angels. Here is me on the mission..Did I see and talk with them? Sorry I am not suppose to tell anybody, thats the rule...

Another way is to make a wish and try to rotate a stone on your finger. If it makes a full turn your wish will soon be granted. I tried... believe me its difficult.

To pass under a fallen tree trunk where the holy man once seated under it. İt might remind you of Buddha but these following two photos are from Uzbekistan from the tomb of Sufi Saint Baha al-din Naqshbandi. As being the founder of the powerful Naqsbandi sect in Islam, it is an important pilgrimage site for its followers.

and the last but the most dangerous one is again from Turkmenistan. There is a rather small hill which ends up in a cemetary. So if you have a wish, you are paying a small amount of money to the man sitting there and he is wraping you with a quilt and pushes you down. According tothe information given to me if you go straight, your wish will soon be granted, if you go left , no chance and if you go right there might be a possibility so you have to try it again sometime later.. 

Unfortunately I couldnt observe this ritual eventhough I waited for some time. The locals were very shy about the foreigners watching them. However our guide later sent this photo for my blog that he took couple years ago. Although it is not very clear it is still giving an idea..

 So have a nice weekend and I hope all your wishes come true whereever and however you are praying for them

Datca and Hubby at NY Times...

Today in the travel section of NY Times,there is a wonderful article about Datca and a photograph taken by hubby.

http://travel.nytimes.com/2010/08/15/travel/15Imprint.html?pagewanted=1&ref=travel

Unfortunately they did not publish the photo of beautiful Knidos, but here are couple for you.

Summer Pastime

Long, hot summer afternoons definitely require minimum pysical and brain activity. Reading some light novels as well as making some easy doilies are my favorite pastime activities. I do not usually connect much to internet during this time of the day as I feel like the heat coming from the computer adds to the heat of the room.

I usually read couple books together. Here is the one I read from English. Story of Rumi and Shams written by Turkish author Elif Safak. Novels about Rumi are quite popular in Turkey for the last couple years.

here is one of the 40 rules of love from the book,

'' Try not to resist the changes that come your way. Instead let life live through you. And do not worry that life is turning upside down. How do you know that the side that you are used to is better than the one to come''


The author is a controversial figure here. She is a beautiful lady, markets her books and herself very well and become the role model of the newly established religious bourgeoisie. As the rise of Islam due to the governing Islamic party is a very scary issue for most of us, I am quite sceptical about her.

However recently she made a fabulous speech at TED. Stories about her childhood are definitely very interesting to listen. You can watch her speech from here

Morning Walks..

Well, hubby is in İstanbul for the last 3 weeks for business. When he was leaving Datca he took my camera and his USB cables and I left with his camera and my cables. Difficult situation.. So for the last 2 weeks I am trying to post photos from my archives and here are couple more from our morning walks at the beach with Hera..

This is how early we are usually rising and shining....

Hera like to have her morning routines with a Mediterranean view. She is too picky on this issue..

See you soon with more up to date photos from Datca..

Tamarlane's City : Shahrisabz

Although Samarkand was the capital city of Tamerlane’s vast empire, Shahrisabz which is about 50 miles South of Samarkand was where his heart belonged to.


This is the birth place of a man who became a legend while he was still alive. He spent his early periods in this city and also had his first palace built here. Although only the entrance door remained, it could easily give you an idea about the grandeur of this mighty man.

While we were travelling from Shahrisabz to Samarkand, I long gazed the vast green pasture. It is a beautiful area. It makes me wonder why he left this amazingly serene place to conquer the world.

He initialy had built his tomb here but later changed his mind and ordered a new one in Samarkand. He left his tomb in Shahrisabz to his son Jahangir who died at an early age.

Today it is possible to visit the tomb of Tamarlane in Samarkand where he was buried with 7 other people; his children, Grand children and a favorite teacher. His one piece jade tomb carefully placed under the feet of his teacher’s.

Tamerlane’s legacy continued long after his death. When a Soviet anthropologist exhumed his body in 1941 he found these words carved inside his casket. ‘’ When I rise the world will tremble. Who so ever opens my tomb shall unleash an invader more terrible than I’’ and guess what??? Only hours after his exhumation, Germans started to invade Russia.

Today Uzbeks also like to tell you as an urban legend that Soviets only started to defeat the Germans after they have flown the Tamarlene’s body 7 times over the city of Stalingard. Well, there might be a certain truth in that as they re buried him in 1942 just before the Soviet victory in Stalingrad..

I have to mention that although there are many books writen about Tamarlane, there is one I enjoyed particularly. ‘’Narrative of the Embassy of Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo to the court of the Timour’’ It is a wonderful travel and historical memoirs of the Spanish Embassy Clavijo. I strongly recommend who wants to read further on this subject.

Samarkand

Today let me take you to another city on the ancient Silk Road. A beautiful and a rich one. Actually, on those days it was on the central position between China and Mediterranean. It was the capital city of mighty Tamerlane. It was the the city where another great conquer Alexander the Great fell in love with a slave woman. The mother of his one and only child. He named this place Marakan. It was the city where Marco Polo walked on her streets with curious eyes.

The main center of the city is Registan square. Three beautiful madrasahs (schools) are the jewels of this square. As it is the case everywhere in uzbekistan, inside of these old schools are full of small shops wher you could find lovely hand made products..

As it was the capital of Tamerlane, he had built large palaces, mosques and his tomb in this city. But as he was an impatient ruler, he wanted all the buildings to be completed at his lifetime. Unfortunately as speed is more important than duration, most of the those buildings started to collapse soon. Here is the Bibi Hanim mosque completed in an incredible period of 1,5 years with the golds Tamerland brought back from India. Bibi Hanim was the Chinese wife of Tamerlane..

Another fascinating place in the city was its necropolis - Shah-i Zinde..Most of the tombs belong to the women's of the Tamerlane family. Later the city cemetary developed around this historical area. A fascinating place where they have painted the face of the death to blues and turquoises..

But as always my favorite place was where I could find the living. No better place than the market to find them...