Antakya, Hatay

It’s not the most exciting title I could think of, but don’t be fooled; this area in Southeastern Turkey is WONDERFUL.

I spent the weekend with a friend and her family being hosted in the most incredible way. I have always found Turkish people to be incredibly hospitable, and generous beyond measure, and these guys were not different.

I arrived late Friday night, and Yasmin and her cousin picked me up and took me straight to Harbiye for a spicy durum kebab, a cold ayran, and a walk around the extremely beautiful site of Apollo. My immediate impression was how different the atmosphere was from the other parts of Turkey I had been to. The province of Hatay used to be a part of Syria, and that is very clear. Arabic is written everywhere, and the daily language seems to sway between Turkish and Arabic. I was told that many older generations don’t even speak much Turkish generally!

The city itself was much bigger than I expected, and also less conservative. From what I could garner from the family I stayed with, life is still fairly traditional, with traditional values and customs upheld, but with a very open-minded and fairly tolerant approach to other people. The city is home to not only a large Muslim population, but also Jewish and Christians. Indeed, the first church of St Peter is located here (though currently under renovation so i didn’t get too see it unfortunately!)

 

The food itself is also quite different. My favourite food is Antakyan (and therefore my favourite restaurant in Istanbul is Antiochia, in Asmali Mescit) and I was extremly well fed – high quality meats in ichli kofte, durum, tepsi kebabs, sish kebabs, the wonderful kunefe dessert (stringy melted cheese in pastry covered in syrup and pistachios) more coffee than I could ever drink in a week in Istanbul, and a new favourite – rose flavoured icecream, mastic flavoured ice cream, and something called “bucibuci” or something, bought from a roadside stall.

        

We went for a wonderful winding drive over to Samandag on the coast. We stopped off in a beautiful street of laurel trees ‘Dephne Yolu’ for the best gozleme I’ve had yet, hand made and cooked on a steel disc over a wood fire. We also stopped at a tiny Armenian church where I picked up some beautiful lace for my mum, handmade by the village women. (Sorry mum! I realised I forgot to send this to you!)

Samandag had a beach! And surf! The first I’d seen in Turkey. And a tunnel called Titus Tunnel. I could be less lazy and find something out to tell you about it, but I’m not going to. I’m sure you can wiki it :P

It was an incredible piece of engineering anyway, a good few thousand years old, and a few of the old stone houses were still intact to explore. One of the most incredible sites was a crypt from Byzantine times. As you can see the structure was still in fairly good shape, and I was mildly (but not overly) surprised to see all the tourists wandering all over, and throwing their rubbish into the empty burial plots.

 

      

Does anyone speak latin? Or read it? I think its latin but I’m not sure.

 

My last meal was a mangal, or barbeque amongst the greengage trees, with homemade wine and spicy chicken, kebab, hummus and babaganoush. Yasmin’s family gave me fivekgs of eriks (greengages) to take back to Istanbul, which Liz and I have tried our best to make a dent in!

  

Greengage jam from my hoard of eriks!

This time if year is erik season. Eriks are the tiny, hard green plums being sold by the paper bag on the street. The Turkish eat the dipped in salt, but I like their crunchy, tangy, sweetness. Unfortunately Liz and I couldn't quite manage to get through the very large shopping bag I brought back from Antakya so today in a fit of homemaking, I decided to try my hand at making jam!

For your information, I had never made jam, and I decided to just wing it.

And it turned out really well! With hindsight, I probably should have halved the little plums so it was easier to get the stones out when the fruit started breaking down, but with a little perseverance I ended up with a slightly tart, mildly sweet, greenish jam of perfect consistency!  It tastes awesome of toast with melted butter, and fantastic on a cracker with salty cheese. I have no idea if you can get greengages in NZ but I'm sure going to miss them when I leave Turkey!

Spain - land of the relaxed

I didn't really get back into the blog the way I intended. Lots of things have been changing and I'm trying to work out what the hell I'm doing generally, but it looks like it's kind of settling down and I'm doing a million things at once and answering that age old question (which I hate) "What do you do?"

I travel. Hell yeah. I know that that makes me happy and somehow I've ended up with a job that sends me to other countries, so that's cool! I'm also teaching English, and editing English, and teaching more English, and am about to try branch out into a small artsy business venture with a friend. And also, that I still love Spain hugely. HI SPAIN! CAN I WORK I WITH YOU?

I went to Barcelona end of last year for a tourism and event management fair, and got a few days to hang out in the gothic quarter and catch up with a friend from London. The weather was miserable, and I got sick - a common occurrence these days, (if you have any suggestions as to how or why I am ill every second week, let me know!) but drank far too many cocktails and wine, ate lots and saw some pretty awesome sites. 

And then this week I went to Malaga! Which sealed the deal. I was working so I didn't get to hang out and chill, but what I saw was beautiful, and relaxed, and comfortable. Malaga felt like New Plymouth in a lot of ways - beach town, big port, lots of cafés and bars (though with a Spanish flair and far more culture) and very calm, none of the chaos of Istanbul, and lots of people out exercising, riding bikes, generally smiling and saying hello! With half a million inhabitants it's much bigger than NZ towns but it had small town charm and exquisite old buildings.

I forgot my camera :s

Work was paying and I got to eat at the events we were managing so ate a lot of jambon and seafood. There was flamenco dancing, Spanish guitar music, a Michelin chefs restaurant which I found delicious but confusing, a castle dinner, wine and espresso constantly, tapas, and a day trip to Granada to see the Alhambra!

I'm baaaaaack! In the real? World

 
Hey.

Remember me?

I used to have this little blog, and I was pretty good at updating it... Then... 

  

 

 Summer happened!

I have to be honest, the photos are beautiful but it was the most challenging job I've ever had. I learnt a hell of a lot though - about myself, about people who lead lives one would only dream of (or feel like a Nightmare in), about sailing and working 20 hour days, about physical jobs, how to make Turkish coffee for ten people, how to make every champagne cocktails and martinis. I experienced amazing things and thing I never hope to enjoy again - visited beautiful bays with crystal clear waters, ancient archeological sites, pretty little fishing villages, the experience of falling asleep the second your head hits the pillow (or while sitting upright at the table as was often the case), I discovered the ultimate pick-me-up is an espresso, an apple and a big spoon of Nutella. I exploded just two 600euro bottles of champagne, made hundreds of coffees, cocktails and strange diet teas. I saw the best, and worse, of people. I know that money can't buy you class, but diet pills can make you skinny. 

I also got a tan, have ginger hair, and kept some pretty awesome muscles in my arms from pulling ropes!

I am now in Istanbul, with a new job, a new apartment, and a whole lotta bills!

Here's an ode to my days, though 9-5 seems like a dream in this here country of 6 days a week, 9hours a day....

http://youtu.be/LwDMFOLIHxU

Welcome Spring!

It’s official. I seriously hate February and March in the Northern hemisphere. I don’t ever remember being so effected by short grey days in NZ throughout October and November though. So I’ve had a hiatus on the blog, but have been running, rediscovered yoga, and actually been pretty busy with the girls. Yesterday they had friends over for the day and we headed to Emirgan Park down the road for some playtime. I foolishly forgot my camera so enjoy my phone-taken delights where I was playing around with settings and trying to keep an eye on five wee ones with bounds of energy.

The tulips have started to come into full bloom for the Istanbul Lale Festavali, or Istanbul Tulip Festival. Emirgan Park has had a re-do or two over the winter and their are new shiny playgrounds, outdoor gyms and some strange aquarium things around the place as well as an absolutely stunning array of tulips – hundreds of beds across the park.

The park is a completely different place today. Over winter there was hardly a person to be seen – a few teenage couples sneakily holding hands on the park benches, the occasional dogwalker, middle age men ‘jogging’, and a fair few veiled women with their toddlers – except myself running like a mad woman in shorts and a tomato-red face. Today its overflowing with families, groups of teenagers, school groups, couples, elderly groups; everyone wandering along the neat little paved paths, (security guards blowing their whistles every time someone dares step on a blade of immaculate, ever-so-inviting grass.)

The Istanbul Council plants over 11 million tulip bulbs around the city for the festival usually lasting throughout April. The tulip is a symbol of Istanbul since the Ottoman period – being brought over from Iran centuries before. I never realised how many colours and types there are! It’s understandable how they were the pokemon card of the 16th century

Kartalkaya; Skiing in Turkey

I have a whole heap of renewed respect for my Ma and Pa (especially Dad since he is a snowboarder) skiing with two little kids back in the day. I’ve spent the past week playing mother duckling to the girls on the ski fields. T-bars, chairlifts, ski poles and snowploughs suddenly became a whole new challenge. (Three days of skiing on my own and no aches and pains, one hour of snowploughs with the girls and I’ve discovered leg muscles I didn’t know existed.) The girls had two weeks off for school holidays and for the second half we drove 3 hours East from Istanbul to Kartalkaya, Bolu. I couldn’t quite believe there would be a ski field, let alone snow to ski on as we were driving. 18 degrees, and not a mountain to be seen – even after parking the car at the bottom and jumping into a prebooked hotel car to drive us up. But suddenly, out of nowhere, appeared a whole heap of snow in a valley and a fairly impressive ski resort.

   

We stayed in the Grand Kartal Hotel, a large all-inclusive that provided ski passes, three meals a day and all the sahlep, hot chocolate and mulled wine one might want. There was a warm swimming pool to kick around in after a long day’s skiing, and a sauna, spa and hamam which we didn’t take advantage of.

The slopes themselves were similar to NZ skiing. Nothing too difficult, but great for the girls as beginners. The first few days were very windy and I spent my time on the slopes closest to the hotel while the girls had lessons. The third day the wind dropped and I headed over the top to the other side of the mountain where a grand total of six skiiers and boarders had carved into the piste. It was pretty weird standing on the side of a sunny mountain at 12pm with only a couple of tracks in front of me, and not a sound to be heard. I think all in all there would’ve been about 300 people on the entire mountain skiing, and not many of them left the t-bar on the blue slope or the main chair lift. The other side had potential for some awesome off-piste skiing but it was pretty icy (and whipped up into lovely meringue peaks) and since I didn’t have a helmet, and there was absolutely no one around I decided to take it easy.

   

The weather was pretty good, very windy for 4/5 days, but one day when the wind dropped and the sun was shining was absolutely fantastic. The Sunday was the busiest day of the week, I read somewhere that because of the proximity to Ankara and Istanbul many people come for the day, plus there are buses arranged by travel agencies the drop off early morning and return in the evening.

I have no idea of the costs involved, but I imagine its pricier than skiing in NZ. The hotels (Grand Kartal and Kartal) are all inclusive and supply the lift passes. I couldn’t work it out but there is actually a whole other side to the mountain with some good-looking pistes, which I think were all attached to an newer, fancier hotel directly opposite the Kartals. (Called Kayak World or something similar. Kayak means Ski in Turkish, how confusing.)

I think this was only my second time ever skiing without my family, I missed my folks a bit! There weren’t too many people my age staying at the resort – I think mainly because it’s pretty family orientated and there isn’t much of a apres-ski scene. I think there are a few other resorts around Turkey more well known but much busier.

I’m Still Here

This is a blurry picture of the first bridge across the Bosphorous in Istanbul that I took from a taxi. I haven’t taken ANY photos of Istanbul except that one, and this one of some of the buildings:

I will take a lot more over the next few weeks. Sam is coming, and so is my dear friend Liz and we’ll be tourists and I’ll take my camera everywhere, and I also got my phone working enough to take photos (hence the ‘vintage’ look.) Oh, and you should all thank Becca who kindly reminded me that I’ve been on hiatus.

I’ve been really busy though!

I’m learning Turkish through Ankara University’s Language School(TOMER) in the mornings, then running around with the girls in the afternoons, and trying to fit in a semi-social life and keep up with the latest episodes of Glee and get ready for the least Christmassy Christmas ever.

Update: Glee is not very good. Girls is equally addictive and soul-destroying and makes me want to yell at people. Game of Thrones is very good. True Blood is ok, but I think mainly because after 5 season I’m pretty invested in it. Boardwalk Empire is good. And Mad Men is no longer very good but I like looking at all the pretty 60sness. I’m looking for a new series to watch in my downtime, any suggestions? Muhteşem Yüzyıl is pretty good but entirely in Turkish so I get tired watching it. But oh, the intrigue of the Sultan Suleiman and his hareem! (You should all totes check it out – it’s played in 52 different countries!)

Anyway, so Turkish classes are going. I was going to say pretty well, but I don’t feel like I am any more capable of speaking Turkish than when I started. But I can write and spell now, and understand the grammar far better. I have a lot of vocab I need to learn, and I think next month I’ll just try and find a more conversation based course to do rather than an academic one. It is a good course but because I skipped the first level I struggle with the vocab more than I should. My teacher is awesome; she is this crazy Turkish girl with peroxide hair and very fashionable clothes who stops the class every thirty minutes for a cigarette break and has decided that me and Liz are her favourites. (Which means she uses us for every example in the class, and takes delight in making fun of Liz.) The other students are a mixture of Turkministan, Greek, Turkistan, Jordanian, Ethiopian, Chinese, Korean, and Morrocan. And then there is Liz (American girl who came and stayed with my Turkish family for a month and is here for a yearish on a music fellowship) and I who giggle too much and get away with answering in English rather than Turkish. I think a lot of the other students are learning so they can study and work here.

Monday night I had THAI FOOD. OH MY GOD, PROPER SPICY FOOD THAT DOESN’T HAVE TOMATOES IN IT. OR MINCE. I do like Turkish food, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t think I’ve ever spent this long eating one kind of food before. Anyway, afterwards Liz invited me to a classical music concert, which I was a little unsure about. Years of studying classical music has led me to the conclusion that it is beautiful, and I really enjoy it, but quite often do not wish to sit in a draughty hall for two hours to fully appreciate it. But it was going to be Turkish classical music which was intriguing and without asking much more about it we went to the Cemal Reşit Rey Concert Hall where it turned out the whirling dervishes were doing their thing in memorial of Rumi’s death. It’s a lovely venue, but wow, was I not prepared for how mesmerising the whirling is. Photos courtesy of Liz, but I don’t think a photo could ever capture how entrancing the sufi are.

 

Other than that I haven’t been up to much that I can think of as being particularly interesting to talk about. I go out on Sunday nights because most of my friends have Mondays off, and going out usually involves going to bed at about 8 or 9am, which i appreciate because I never quite got used to the start-drinking-at-5, bed-by-11 thing in London. It’s usually pretty busy most nights in Taksim, and going out with locals means not spending a fortune in tourist bars. I still find the public transport a pain but don’t often resort to a taxi out of sheer stubborness. (I walked to school the other morning after my akbil card ran out of money and I couldn’t get a bus – it took an hour and a half.) (I got lost.) Walking is a bit of a novelty for most Istanbulites I’ve noticed – I get tooted at a lot and pavements here are for dogs to lie on, advertising boards to be placed in the middle of, or cars to park on.

It also rains New Zealand-style pretty much everyday but with less wind. I now own an umbrella. It is awesome, and I bought it from the oldest umbrella shop in London town, James Smith & Sons. Look at the foxy handle!

It’s also getting much colder. Down to 4-8 degrees most days. The family were going to go skiing for Christmas (the girls get time off school because of the many foreigners attending) but it had been unseasonally warm for this time of year and there isn’t enough snow on the fields in Bursa. Speaking of Christmas, it doesn’t feel at all like Christmas. not even a hint of Christmas flavour except for the big shopping malls dousing themselves in fairylights. The other night I peeked out the window and the neighbours had wrapped their pine tree in lights though so that felt kind of special. I’m not that fussed about Christmas, but it is one time of year I feel a bit homesick for family and friends. Though I do love London at Christmas. So pretty!!

Oh yeah, I went to London for a weekend to catch up with people, attempt to get my residency visa reinstated, and start my TESOL course. It was wonderful. I didn’t get my visa reinstated though so it looks like it will be holidays ever more. It felt so nice to be able to speak English and ask for directions, and know exactly where the bus was taking me, and be sarcastic and have pop culture references fly around with no confused faces. Also, I got to eat Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Thai, proper pizza, pancakes with bacon and maple syrup, avocado, flat whites, cider, good cheap red wine, porridge, and a number of other delightful things I’ve forgotten the taste of. So happy…

Last month was Kurban bayram, or Eid….. A cow was killed for the family on the farm, but we didn’t participate in the ceremony. I wouldn’t have known at all except that when we arrived the meat was all in pieces in four big bin bags on the kitchen floor – unexpected to say the least!

I spent the first few days with Sarah until the family came home and then we headed West to the farm they share with a few families. Horse riding, feeding the calf, and collecting eggs! A big breakfast on Saturday with the extended family included organic, homemade butter, cheeses, fresh milk, tomatoes, cucumbers and chillis from the garden, menemen (a tomato-egg dish), homemade peach jam, honey and fresh bread. Beef stew and rice for lunch followed by a new baklava that looks like a bird’s nest with pistachios in. Here are some pictures of the girls riding a horse with no protective gear on, and no saddle:

     

Mmm, another brain dump post. I do apologise! I will try and do an nice orderly tourist-friendly post for next month after I’ve actually experienced being a tourist in Istanbul!

Merry Christmas to you all, love and öpücükler!

x