Village Life....

Recently I was lucky enough to get out into some really small and remote villages in Turkey. I say lucky as I think it’s a special experience that not many would get on a standard holiday to Turkey.

My partner and I had promised his sister in law (known as Yenge in Turkish) that we would go to her village to visit her mum and see where she was from. As she had been asking me to go for about 2 years we thought it was about time to fulfill our promise. On the way to her mothers’ village, the small town where my partners’ mother was bought up is en route, so we thought we could kill 2 birds with the 1 stone and visit family in both locations.

The drive from Demre to the first little village was beautiful. We drove along a river that ran through a valley mined for granite. There was nothing in there except these huge mining sites and the river lined with trees that were all the colours of autumn. Just before lunch, we arrived at the village that my partners’ mum is from. Her sister in law still lives in the family home, the same home where my partners’ mother and all her siblings were born and raised. Although the house has obviously had some modern adjustments made to it, it still has the original internal wooden doors and internal wooden roofing. His mum walked us around the garden and told us stories of her childhood, the neighbours and her family. She was telling us how her mother had gone back to work when she was a small baby, so a lady in the village, who had also just had a baby girl helped out by being a wet nurse to her. My partners’ mum grew up with this girl who was born to this woman, and she still lives in the same house. We went to say hello, but found no one home. In good old Turkish village style, the front door was not locked so we just walked on in to check if maybe they were in but hadn’t heard us - as you do!

This village was tiny and there were really only a handful of homes and people making up the village. As we were walking past another really old home, that seriously looked like it could fall down, my partners mum asked me what I thought of her old home and village, maybe thinking I was bored or not really impressed. But, I loved it!!! My own grandmother grew up in the same street her whole life. She was born in the house that sat on the corner of the street and progressively moved down the road, eventually settling in one of the houses where she had her 11 children and ran a business with my grandfather. I used to love going over to their house as it held so many memories and history of my heritage. I remember the day the family had to sell the property; it was a very sad day indeed and I still like to drive past to take a look in.

Later in the day we continued on with our drive and headed on to visit Yenges old home in her village, up in the mountains. In summer, people head up to this village to escape the heat and humidity of Demre, so the population can be around 50 to 100 people. But in winter it’s a little too chilly in the mountains and the right climate back in Demre, so most people come back leaving the population of this town to only be about 5 people, Yenges mum being 1 of those. As we were driving up the mountain, I asked if there were any shops? No! Is there a doctor? No! Is there a mosque? Of course! Yenge was telling me that when she was growing up there would be a local bus that would go to the near by towns once a week to get supplies for everyone. You would give the driver a list and some money and he would deliver your shopping back that night. Her family lived off and still lives off the land as much as possible. Yenges mum has chickens, orange trees, pomegranate trees, grape vines and grows her own vegetables and herbs. We sat and had tea, ate some sweet pomegranate the size of small watermelons and enjoyed the crisp mountain air and the sound of silence. Out here, with no neighbours and a population of 5 in winter there is seriously NO NOISE! Bliss….

I noticed that Yenges mum had a TV but I was still wondering if she got bored? Considering she lived off her land, looking after her garden and making all her own syrups, sauces, jams and preserved foods, I was sure she probably didn’t have too much time for boredom, but she then proceeded to show me how she does spend her time. Yenges mum is a mean knitter and can knit little baby jackets from memory with the use of no patterns. She also can make kilms, a Turkish style of carpet. She was proudly showing one to me, which I was obviously admiring because it was stunning, before she ran off and found another one for me and proceeded to give this to me as a gift! To say that I was embarrassed was an under statement and I fought to accept it. These carpets are sold in carpet shops all throughout Turkey for small fortunes! But when true Turkish hospitality is shown to you in this way, it is ruder to not to accept a gift than to accept. So after a small battle, I graciously accepted it and feel very lucky indeed. Although nothing is ever given in the expectation of something in return, I am now not so sure what I could ever get for her in return that could have the same value of a such a beautiful hand made gift!

This is not the only gift I have been given from Turkish family over the last few years! For some reason they all feel like they need to shower me with gifts. Please don’t think I am saying this and complaining, I certainly am not. However, at times I am abashed by their sense of hospitality and can find their generosity overwhelming. On my first visit to my partners’ family his mother gave me some beautiful hand embroidered headscarves. These were kept under lock and key in his mothers’ special glory box. She had been making them since she was a young girl and was holding onto them to hand out to people for weddings or for family on special occasions. I was allowed to go through the hundreds of them and pick out some for my sister, her kids and myself. Since then I have been given numerous of these beautiful scarves that the women have sat and made over time. They are usually pretty floral scarves that they have hand embroidered the edges in matching colours and beautiful patterns. These are beautiful mementos of my time here in Turkey and the people I am lucky enough to be meeting along my journey.

I loved our day out visiting these tiny villages. Again it reminds me that I am in a foreign place. When you live in a tourist town, as in Fethiye, you sometimes forget where you really are at times. I like to see and be reminded of how life really does work throughout the majority of this country and this was a real insight back into it. I feel very gracious to be accepted into their homes and be treated so welcomingly. 

My partners' mothers village - pomegranate season! 

Village homes

Village up in the mountains with population of around 5 in winter

Mountain village

Out in the mountains

Pomegranate garden

The valley we had to drive through to access the villages

The mining site and our car heavily loaded with tomatoes, pomegranates, apples, peppers - what ever the family grew we took home with us

Yenges mothers home garden

A Turkish Wedding

A few months ago I was lucky enough to be invited to my first Turkish wedding. The two people getting married I’ve known for almost as long as I’ve lived in Turkey and see them as good friends of mine. So I considered it a true privilege to be invited along to their special day. As you can imagine Turkish weddings are VERY different to weddings that we know. There is no food or drinks served, the bride and groom arrive together and nearly everyone from town is invited and nearly everyone from town will attend. Normally only the immediate family and close friends will dress up for the occasion, and the night is mainly full of dancing with a quick ceremony.

As my friends who were getting married are a young couple who work in tourism and have modern day outlooks on life they decided to have a party a few nights before the wedding at a place called Smugglers Inn. You can only reach Smugglers by boat and in summer Smugglers Inn is a party every night. There is a bay near by, that all the sailing boats and gulets anchor down in, so they can all come to party the night away at this nightclub in the middle of no where. The 30 or so of us who went out all met at the harbour at sunset and were taken out by one of the daily boats. When we arrived the boys promptly cooked up a BBQ feast with salad, which was all put on hold as they had forgotten the bread. So everyone waited whilst a small boat went back to Demre to get bread for everyone. This would be close to an hours return trip, but if you remember from my food blog, a meal is not a meal without bread!!! After a feast of chicken, salad and of course bread the dancing started. It was a mix of songs mainly from the international charts with quite a few popular Turkish songs in there as well. As Turks like to dance, there were not too many who were not out on the dance floor.

A few days later, which was the night before the wedding, my partner and I were on our way home for a quiet night when the groom calls and says “8pm, the brides house, you must come”! Not knowing what to expect we rock up to the brides family home where it was just the grooms and brides family with a few very close friends. The bride was dressed in a beautiful red and gold embroidery dress and the groom looked pretty smart in his suit. It’s a night known as henna night and it’s normally just the girls having a party with the bride where they paint henna on their hands. I know there would be some symbolic reason for this, which I’m not sure of, but I do know it’s all part of the wedding tradition. Everyone dances A LOT and all the family joins in; young and old. We didn’t stay too long, but what I did witness was good fun and a beautiful sense of tradition still alive.

The night of the wedding, you would think I was the bride as I was a little nervous to say the least. Firstly I really didn’t know what would be appropriate to wear.  Earlier this year I attended a wedding in the UK, so I had bought back the shoes and dress from that wedding hoping it would be suitable. As I mentioned earlier, it’s really only close family and friends who get dressed up, everyone else can come in jeans, shirts, casual clothes; it doesn’t matter as they normally will only stay an hour or so. Those who do get dressed up will normally hire a dress for the occasion (think formal evening gown dresses) and get their make up and hair done at the hairdressers. I was thinking, would I look out of place in my summer style wrap around dress? I really wasn’t sure, but good chance I was going to be the only foreigner there anyhow, so would it really have mattered what I wore, I was probably still going to stand out anyhow.

The other reason I was feeling the nerves a little was although I have never attended a Turkish wedding before, I did know that it involved A LOT of dancing – Turkish style. I’m the kind of person that will dance if I really like the music, but if I don’t really like it or don’t really know it, then I’m really happy to just sit and watch. At a Turkish wedding you have no choice! You have to get up and join in or you are pretty much dragged up. So a glass or two of wine before I left the house and I felt like I could face this! A little Dutch courage can go a long way.

My partner (all suited up himself) and I left for the wedding and before the venue we found ourselves at the brides hairdressers where the bride and groom were waiting till it was time to go, with a few close friends. When the time came, the groom and bride left together in a decorated car and we all drove through the streets of town as a small convoy beeping our horns, following them to the venue. When they arrived to the reception there were fireworks and everyone was inside sitting and waiting. The bride and groom walked in together and performed a quick dance before they were seated and a small ceremony took place to make their marriage official. They then did another dance where other couples joined in and then the Turkish dancing started. Early in the evening, there were a few more traditions that were carried out. There was a cake that was cut and shared around, the men all danced whilst the bride and the rest of the women sat and watched and then there was the chance to give your gift to the couple. Normally you either pin money on the bride or groom or give the bride gold bracelets. Everyone who wants to give a gift will do so and then most of the people who have come from the town left and it was just family and close friends who stayed on into the evening and danced the night away!!!

My nerves really didn’t last long once we got to the wedding. It really was a great night and I am so happy for these friends of mine and wish them a lifetime of happiness together. I really did feel lucky to have been such a close part of their wedding and privileged to have witnessed some of the wedding traditions. Ohhhh and Turkish dancing really isn’t that hard or scary after all :) !!! 

Smugglers Inn 

Everyone up and dancing - arms in air in true Turkish style dancing

The beautiful bride to be the night before the wedding at the henna party

Lots more dancing at the wedding

We all scrub up alright

One of my favourite spots in Turkey...

People always ask me where my favourite places are in Turkey. Well that is one question I find easy to answer. One of my favourite spots, without a doubt, is the area of Cappadocia. I’m sure many of you, who have travelled here before will agree with me and I am yet to meet one person who is not truly captivated with this beautiful region in Turkey.

The first time I went to Cappadocia would have been on my 2^nd trip here, back in 2000. It was a two-day whirlwind where I got to see some of the major attractions in the area, but not sure I really absorbed the beauty of the place. I know I liked it, but I hadn’t fallen under its spell as yet. It wasn’t till I was back here in 2002 and I was lucky enough to get to visit Cappadocia a hand full of times throughout that year, that I realised just how special this place really was.  

Cappadocia, for those of you who don’t know, is a region almost in the middle of Turkey. It is made up of crazy, unusual rock formations that have been formed over years from ancient volcanic explosions and then natural weather erosion. What is left is this amazing landscape of crazy shaped rock formations ranging from yellow to golden to brown to pink. There is no denying the beauty of this place, and, as I said I don’t know anyone who has ever walked away not loving it and putting it down as one of their highlights of Turkey.

There are many walks you can do through the valleys that make up Cappadocia. One of my favourites is a walk through “Love Valley”. It’s a favourite for two reasons;

1)   I think the photos that I’ve attached below speak for themselves. The rock formations that make up this valley are, well........yep, kinda amusing. To a sometimes small-minded person like myself, I still find “rude” humour funny! Yes ha ha ha funny! Come on, I’m sure some of you giggled too.

     2) The second reason is I have some really fond memories of walks I have done through this valley. Back in 2002, with a good friend of mine who ran local walks in the area and more recently, about three years ago, with my brother. I remember quite vividly, laughing A LOT with him on that walk, as we told joke after joke or found a funny photo to take.  

Another amazing thing about Cappadocia is one of the highlight attractions – Hot Air Ballooning. On the same trip with my brother a few years back, I decided after coming here over all the years it was time to FINALLY do a balloon ride. Cappadocia is said to be one of the best spots in the world to go in a hot air balloon, so we bit the bullet and we were in! The 4am start hurts a little, but you soon forget that early alarm when you are watching sunrise over this amazing landscape from a balloon!!!  It was STUNNING!!! I can only describe this balloon ride in one way, and I still tell this to every person who asks me about it. Do you all remember that feeling of waking up Christmas morning? Santa has been and when you see all those presents, the pure joy and excitement you feel? That is how I felt after this balloon ride and no one can deny that’s an awesome feeling.

Cappadocia also holds very fond memories for me; thanks to some friends I have made over the years that call Cappadocia their home.  In 2002, I came to Cappadocia on and off quite a few times and built up some friendships with the locals. One of my friends, who has an awesome little giftware shop called, Moulin Rogue, used to take photos of people coming through the shop who he became friends with. Before the days of digital, he had this huge album where he kept all these photos. As facebook wasn’t around back then, I lost touch with my mate and hadn’t seen him, or been to Cappadocia for over eight years, until I came here with my brother on the same trip I have mentioned a few times now. My brother and I were walking down the main street of Goreme (where most people stay in Cappadocia) when I saw my friend. I stopped him to explain who I was and how I used to come here, certain he wouldn’t remember who I was. A lot can change in a person in eight years. He just looked at me and said, “Of course I know who you are”. We all went to his shop, which was still in the same spot, pulled out his old album of photos and started turning through all the pages till he found one of me. “There you are” he said….kept tuning the pages and “There you are again”! I was surprised and also touched that Im not that forgettable. This friend of mine is still in Goreme, still in his shop, and we are now back in touch!

My other friend, who now resides in Istanbul, used to run a guesthouse called Tuna Caves. At the time this was THE place to stay in Goreme. Everyone and anyone stayed here and it all came down to the sheer homely hospitality that was shown from all the great people who were working there at the time. As soon as you met my dear friend, it was like you were his best friend for years and nothing was too much trouble or bother. Through all my visits in 2002 I would always stay at Tuna Caves. As my friend also had a gorgeous carpet shop at the end of town, I also used to spend my days just sitting in there drinking tea. I used to love sitting in the carpet shop and watching all the carpets being put on display for people and watching many people walk away with a big smile on their face and a bag tucked under their arm – me included. The shop and guesthouse are no longer there, but you can still find my friend putting a smile on people faces after meeting him in his new shop, in Gulhane, Istanbul.

And you know what, its not just the local friends I made in Cappadocia that make this a special place for me. Its also all the friends that over the years, I have travelled there with. You will all know who you are. Whether it be years ago on my first trip there with my Aussie and South African mate where it was a quick whirlwind. Or a few years later with a handful of mates from Melbourne and my other South African friend, where we spent too much time hanging out in the carpet shop drinking beer OR even more recently with a dear friend of mine who came to visit and I was lucky enough to be able to join her on her journey back there. This place in Turkey holds many a memory for me and good ones at that. 

So for me, ONE of my favourite spots in Turkey without a DOUBT would be Cappadocia. Not only because of the stunning, breathtaking landscapes that still have the ability to take my breath away every single time, nor just the sunsets and sunrises, but also the memories and friendships I’ve made over time. This place makes me in one simple word - HAPPY! 

Bec + Cappadocia = HAPPY!! 

Love Valley

More of Love Valley and the amazing rock formations of the area

Im sorry, but come on! Can you see why I have a giggle?

The beautiful landscape from the sky

Rose and Red Valley - look at all the beautiful colours! WOW! 

You can see how the weather has played a role in forming these unusual rock shapes

Something a little different

I love how the towns in the area just build around or into the rock formations - imagine this being your home. Cool huh! 

I promised loads more photos this blog...can't stop posting them...too many to choose from

Another gorgeous shot at sunrise - you can see why the getting up early was SO worth it

STUNNING!!!