Safranbolu

After a busy weekend in Istanbul and another jam-packed week of classes and cultural activities, I decided to spend the next free weekend with as much solitary relaxation as possible. I booked a ticket to Safronbolu, a UNESCO world heritage site that is known for featuring a well-restored Ottoman trading town. While the description made it sound very similar to our previous trip to Beypazarı, this trip had two things the previous one didn't: A) this town was hundreds of miles from almost anyone else that I knew (I will explain the almost in a second); and B) this time I had a hotel room that I could comfortably live in for the rest of my life. While I really enjoy spending time with my fellow students and my host family, after about five weeks of spending time with everyone I was ready to just get on a bus and not recognize anyone for a couple days. Also, as I learned last year with my post-program bus ride to Antalya, not having that crutch of being able to communicate in English can be very good for your Turkish. As it turns out my classmate Jordan (or Cordin as we spell it in Turkish) was also in town, but this made for the perfect mix of solitary travel/sightseeing and evening companionship.

After a few hours on the bus and a short taxi ride I arrived in the middle of the old town. I found my hotel pretty quickly and decided to drop my things off before exploring the town a bit. After seeing my room I'm still amazed I left again before they dragged me out for nonpayment. For the equivalent of about $45 I was able to book my own room in an old Ottoman house that has been converted to a pensiyon. Going into it I was just thankful that they assured me I would have my own bathroom, a luxury that is not guaranteed in every discount hotel. As it turns out, I also had a queen sized bed, two walls of couches, satellite TV (including reruns of Chuck with Turkish subtitles!) and a great view of the garden beneath my window. When the proprietor asked if the room was okay it was hard to keep from laughing! Despite the nice accomodations, I settled in a bit and then went off to explore the town. My shoes were still recovering from the three straight days of walking in Istanbul the previous weekend so I was thankful that this time there was a little less to do. So little, in fact, that I felt no pressure to start right away and I decided to have a leisurely lunch of homemade Mantı (like little tortellini bathed in yogurt and tomato sauce) and then go experiment with my first Turkish haircut. After a momentary (and perhaps ill-advised) moment of bravery that morning I had decided to get rid of my excess hair in dramatic fashion and just have my head shaved. You will all be happy to hear that my barber had better sense and responded to this request with a slightly concerned "Emin misin? (Are you sure?). To be fair, the whole conversation was in Turkish and my grasp of the language is still not perfect so I could just as easily have asked him to shave a Turkish flag into my head and I wouldn't really know it. However, after a little conversation ranging from how I really wanted my hair cut, to why I was in Turkey, to what I studied, to whether I was married, to whether I had children (the inevitable follow up question), to what I thought of Obama, we finally got back around to the hair and he told me "I'm just going to give you the American cut." It all seems so simple in hindsight, and rather lucky that the American cut is exactly the cut I get all the time! Apparently it's rather appropriately named. After getting over the initial fear of trying to negotiate my hair style in a foreign language I was very glad that I bit the bullet and gave it a try. The barber was about my age (maybe a bit younger) and I was able to carry on a pretty fun conversation with him for about 40 minutes while he took care of my hair. Plus, unlike when I get my hair cut in the US the conversation was actually pretty interesting and I can't think of a single time in the US when my barber brought me a cold soda and then stopped for a cigarette and some conversation in the middle of the haircut! All in all, it was a great experience (despite the four unsolicited spritzes of cologne on my shirt as he was finishing) and my hair turned out just like I wanted it to!

After the haircut I got back out to exploring the town before nightfall. Although I can see parallels between Safranbolu and Beypazarı with its old Ottoman houses and mosques, the one thing that puts Safranbolu over the top is the large Caravanserai in the middle of town. It's now a luxury hotel, putting it well out of my price range, but I was still able to wander into the courtyard and up a staircase to get a nice photo opportunity from the roof area. After a paper I did last Fall on caravanserais it was great to see one so perfectly restored. Granted, the dance floor and stereo system were not exactly authentic, but they were setting it up for a wedding later that night so some things can be forgiven. The town also features a number of old mosques and a great handicrafts market that made for hours of fun exploration. I rounded out the night by talking to Amanda on skype (at which point she spoiled the surprise of my anniversary present - iPhone 4!) and then hanging out in my hotel room for a bit before meeting up with Jordan for dinner and a couple beers. The next day was fairly uneventful in comparison to the first since all I really did was make my way up to the lookout spot above the town and then tour one of the old Ottoman houses. Proving how small the town is, I actually ran into Jordan on the way out of the Ottoman house and we ended up relaxing and having tea for the rest of the day until we could catch our bus ride home. Despite a much smaller town and a more relaxed schedule, this weekend trip was right up there with Istanbul in terms of enjoyability. And if you're ever in the area, definitely check out the Bostancı Pensiyon. It's worth every kuruş!