Mosques and Markets in Ulus

For the second sunday in a row we were given a free day to pursue our own activities around the city. After a relaxing but rather boring sunday last week I felt the need to get out and explore a bit this time around. I had taken a look at the materials we received from the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism (who may very well be the best organized and savviest salesmen the country could hope for) and realized that there was a cluster of old mosques within about a square mile in the downtown neighborhood of Ulus. As luck would have it, this was precisely the neighborhood that we had been warned repeatedly in orientation and other times that we should avoid since there are supposedly bag-snatchers and other criminal elements in the area. After getting a pretty sizeable group of people together we decided to disregard the warnings and explore the area anyway. I'm very glad we did. Not only was the area perfectly safe during our visit, many parts of it were pretty charming (particularly around the castle) and featured a mix of great shopping and a smattering of mosques ranging from a 13th century Selcuk mosque and tomb to a 16th century Ottoman mosque designed by the famous architect Sinan. In the end, three of the four mosques that we visited were either closed or under renovation, but they were still very beautiful from the outside.

I don't have much time so I will mostly let the pictures speak for themselves, but here is a short guide to what we saw:

Picture One: Haci Bayram Veli Camii, completed in 1428 in the Selcuk style and repaired by Ottoman architect, Sinan. The mosque itself was closed but we visited the adjacent tomb of Hadji Bayram Veli and the remains of the Roman Temple of Augustus next door.

Picture Two: Aslanhane (Lion House) Camii, completed in 1291 and supposedly features amazing tile work and an antique lion sculpture in the interior. Since it was closed until five I can't vouch for that but the minaret and muqarna were still very nice.

Picture Three: (Yeni) Cenab-i Ahmed Camii, finished in 1566 during the reign of Ottoman Sultan Suleyman I and designed by his architect, Sinan. This was also closed for renovations and we couldn't get anywhere near the structure itself.

Pictures Four and Five: These give you some idea of how the shopping district and Ankara Kalesi (Castle of Ankara) look. Since I bought quite a bit the day before I refrained from any major purchases (with the exception of a little statue of Sultan Selim I for my desk in the history department), but we will be returning soon on a group excursion so I will have another chance to explore the area.

Now, as I said before only three out of the four mosques were closed, but you'll notice that the three above don't include any pictures or descriptions of the interiors. The one mosque that was open also happened to be on a narrow street so none of the pictures were terribly impressive, but I can assure you that the interior was gorgeous. Completed in 1389, the Ahi Elvan Camii featured more of the impressive woodwork that we saw at the mosque in Beypazari and its ceiling was supported by a number of wooden pillars topped off with recovered Greek and Roman capitals. However, since a few people were inside praying and the space was fairly dark I didn't feel comfortable trying to get pictures.

All in all the day was a success and a welcome reminder that when we are left to our own devices we can still be pretty productive. The program this year has been a bit overwhelming in the amount of our time that has been removed from our control. However, weekend after next we have about four free days that should afford a great chance to tour the mosques and museums of Istanbul and we have been told that another weekend will be opened up not long after that. I will have to hit up the tour guide and find some new areas to explore. This week we have a few more outings planned (possibly including a local wine-tasting festival!) and we will be taking a two-day camping trip over the weekend, so hopefully there are some more updates coming. For now, though, I should really try to finish my assigned composition on what it takes to live a happy life. Apparently, just writing that you should live in Turkey and eat kebab every day won't be enough to do well on the assignment. Back to the drawing board!

[Also, for our cultural lesson of the week: I learned tonight at dinner that I am not funny in Turkish. Cemile made a delicious meal of soup and yaprak dolmasi (grape leaves stuffed with rice). When commenting that I really enjoyed the yaprak, I made the mistake of calling them toprak, which means topsoil. Upon realizing this, I corrected myself and made the comment that the two are pretty different and that her stuffed grape leaves are much better (thanks again, Dad, for that completely inappropriate sense of humor!). But, given the speed with which the son interjected that I was just kidding, I can't help but think that I made a faux pas in mentioning her cooking in the same sentence as dirt. Another lesson learned!]

Ottoman House-Hunting in Beypazari

Since last weekend our schedule has been pretty full, with lessons and outings that included trips to a Turkish cinema and a Turkish retirement home. Both excursions seem like they could have been fun and informative with a bit more planning and better organization, but given how they went they don't merit much in the way of recounting here. However, now we have arrived at another weekend and another day trip, and this time we found ourselves just west of Ankara in a little market town called Beypazari. The town was billed as a former stop on the silk road, restored to its late Ottoman style, and now a center of production for carrots and filigreed silver jewelry. Unfortunately for Amanda, the carrots seemed to be far more abundant than the jewelry (though that's not to say the jewelry was entirely absent).

We started our day at a hilltop viewing point that laid the city out in front of us. To the right was the new city, in many ways like a little version of Ankara, and to our left was the former Ottoman portion of the city. From the fine white plaster and the dark brown of the restored woodwork, you could tell that a great deal of effort had been put into turning the little market town into a fine tourist attraction for anyone visiting the area around Ankara. Our tourguide narrated a few of the places we would be able to stop at later in the day, including the market stalls that lined the streets, an old Ottoman house that has been converted into an open-air museum, and a selection of old mosques ranging from the 13th century under the Selcuks to a much larger structure from the Ottoman period.

However, this would not be Turkey or the CLS program if all of that were not planned as a follow-up to a multi-course lunch lasting at least one to two hours. We piled into the bus and found our way to a little garden restaurant where we were treated to several of the local specialties, including Güveç (a stew of rice, lamb and carrots) and a special baklava that is reputed to include at least 70 layers of filo dough. While the stew was amazing and a fine complement to the salad and other dishes that accompanied it, I found that I am perfectly fine with two, 35 layer pieces of baklava, since they tend to be moister and easier to cut. However, there really is no such thing as bad baklava. After lunch we were all a little restless to start our explorations of the town, but we stopped first at a mineral water factory just down the street from the restaurant. If anyone has spent any time in Turkey (or the little Turkish market on Commonwealth Ave. in Boston) then you are very familiar with the many different flavors of Beypazari mineral water. However, I had never made the connection that the popular brand was collected and bottled at a spring near the site of our weekend trip. It was a pretty great experience to hear a bit about the fresh spring and try some of the carbonated water fresh from its source. I'm still not sure if I believe the claim that drinking two bottles a day will "clean all of the imperfections out of your kidneys" but it tasted great nonetheless!

When we finally arrived in the city center, we made our way through the cobblestone streets lined with restored plaster walls and ceramic tile-roofed buildings until we arrived at the Beypazari Culture and History Museum located in the former home of a local Ottoman official. With a front courtyard filled with shade and fruit trees, three floors of furnished rooms, and thick stone walls that act as a natural climate control system, it didn't take much to sell me on the place. The mortgage may be insane but I'm ready to put in an offer. After we finished at the house we were set free to explore the market area, shop for some of the local handicrafts, and try some of the local delicacies, all of which seemed to involve carrots. Beypazari prides itself on providing 60% of Turkey's carrot supply, and has found a way to work the crop into many places you would never expect to find it. Now, in my time here I have opened myself and my stomach to many new things, including some great dishes with eggplant, spinach, and the best tomatoes you will find anywhere. However, even I have to draw the line somewhere, and it appears that line is drawn just short of carrot ice cream and carrot flavored Turkish delight. I did sample a bottle of the fresh carrot juice and, upon commenting that it just tasted like liquified carrots, then had to ask myself what exactly I expected fresh carrot juice to taste like! I finished two-thirds of the bottle but that was about as far as I could go before finding some fresh lemonade to cleanse my pallette. With plenty of time left in the shopping portion of the day I found some great tablecloths and a silver sugar bowl to outfit the new apartment, and a couple other things that Amanda will have to wait until August to see! The one nice thing about being abroad in Turkey during your first wedding anniversary is that there are plenty of opportunities to do the necessary shopping to make up for it.

With time winding down on the day trip, I managed to head off with one of the other students and step into one of the old mosques in the city. The Sultan Alaaddin Camii was completed in 1225, presumably under the reign of the prolific Selcuk Sultan Alaaddin Keykubad I (who also built the beautiful mosque in the center of Antalya that I saw last summer), and combines a brick exterior and minaret with a beautiful wood ceiling, minbar, and balconies. While my time in Izmir last year made me appreciate its seaside location, Ankara definitely wins out for the historic mosques scattered throughout the area. Izmir was bound to be at a disadvantage in that area after the fire that burned it to the ground in 1922, but thankfully this was not a problem that affected the country as a whole. Since Beypazari is a fairly small town and we were in the tourist area between prayer times, the place was fairly empty and we were able to look around pretty freely before heading back to meet up with the group. As it turns out, this was just a taste of what was to come the next day as I went with a group of friends to explore the old Ottoman and Selcuk mosques scattered around Ankara's old city center. Though that update will have to wait for a day when I have a little less homework. After our mosque tour, we rejoined the rest of the group for the bus ride back to Ankara and capped off the day with some great kabobs and a couple mugs of Efes, the local beer. While it can be a bit stressful to have planned events nearly every day of the week, it can be great to just surrender any semblance of control over your life and enjoy the amazing sightseeing and food that we have access to every day of the week. Cap that off with the fact that every day of interacting with the local population provides as much Turkish instruction as a week of classes back home, and you really start to appreciate how beneficial this program really is. I will try to update soon with the trip to Ulus and the rest of the mosques.

Gölbası Picnic

It's our first weekend with the program since we arrived last saturday, which means we had our first major outing planned by CLS's local coordinators. Last summer, these trips were our chance to visit some of the beautiful beaches and historic areas around Izmir and get out of our local routine a bit. In true CLS fashion, advance information was kept to a minimum and we were told simply that we should be on campus at 10:00 for a "Picnic in Gölbası". Since göl means lake and "picnic" is pretty familiar I figured I had some idea of what we were doing, but there are times in this program when you never really know what is going to come around the corner. Luckily, it turned out pretty much as we expected as the bus took us to a little facility owned by Ankara University at a nearby lake where we got to relax by the waterfront for a few hours, amuse ourselves however we could, and enjoy another multi-coarse lunch taken care of by the program. The facilities are pretty beautiful, with a nice outdoor seating and dining area and some manicured lawns that proved perfect for a pickup soccer game with the students and some of the coordinators. We may have lost 5-4 (or by more depending on who you ask) but I did get at least two goals in there and had a great time kicking the ball around. Afterwards we came back to a great meal of grilled Kofta (somewhat like small hamburgers), chicken, rice, and salad. Right as we finished, the rain that has been ever present all week started again and forced us onto the covered patio for a bit. Luckily, I was used to some of these events from last year where you are left to your own devices for hours at a time and I remembered to bring my travel Scrabble set. If I could just get another little backgammon set to bring along I'm sure we could find a way to fill plenty of hours on the bus and at the cafes. Overall, it wasn't the most eventful trip but was a perfect chance to relax and have some downtime after a hectic week of Turkish courses. On our return to the downtown area of Ankara I was able to indulge one of my favorite activities in Turkey by going to a little cafe with one of the other students and ordering cup after cup of Turkish tea while employing my still rather limited backgammon abilities. I may not play at quite the same lightning speed as the Turkish men, but I'm gaining ground little by little.

And today, with my first truly free day since our arrival, I was able to sleep in, enjoy a fairly leisurely breakfast with my host family (no matter how relaxing it may otherwise have been, trying to keep up with a conversation in Turkish will still feel somewhat like a test), finish all my homework, and talk to Amanda for a bit before settling back into the house for the evening. My host family has been very nice and made the transition back into the country a bit easier. Their youngest son, Ege, can be quite the handful in the same great way all 16 month old kids are. Last night he developed a game where he tried to hit his forehead on the coffee table and then cried when it hurt. He keeps them busy but is very cute when he smiles at me and calls me Ağabey (older brother). Önder, the seventeen year old, has been my unofficial host and guide and I've been having a great time talking to him about colleges (he is planning for next year) and American music. I may not be on the same page with him on Ke$ha and Rihanna, but I did get to introduce him to Pink Floyd and AC/DC so I feel my work here has been accomplished. The father Mustafa works very hard and hasn't been around as often as everyone else, but he did bring out his Turkish guitar last night (the name of it sounds like Suz but I'm not sure if the spelling is right) and provided a little music to accompany our evening picnic on the front porch to escape the heat. The mother, Cemile, is also a constant presence in the house and is responsible for the amazing food I have been enjoying since I arrived. It may sound weird to those that know me from our typical family dinners, but I have been having everything from eggplant stuffed with rice, eggplant stuffed with meat, tomatoes and peppers, and spinach dowsed in yogurt, to some of the most amazing home-cooked soups and roasted chicken, and I have really enjoyed all of them equally. I promised myself going into this that I would eat whatever was put in front of me out of respect for the family and it has been a welcome surprise that it was not a difficult promise to keep. I am currently half-conscious in a food coma from a dinner of meat-stuffed eggplant, vegetable and rice soup, steamed bulgur wheat pilaf, and pickled peppers, cucumbers and tomatoes. Tomorrow we are back to long days of Turkish grammar and speaking practice, without much in the way of weekday trips to break it up, but I will have another update hopefully by next weekend at the latest.

(P.S. On a final note for the night, apparently no screens on the windows means that leaving your window open + leaving your light on at night = your own private insect zoo! Good thing I brought the Off insect spray! Lesson learned.)

Kocatepe Camii

As I mentioned before, the view of Kocatepe Camii from Anıtkabır was pretty amazing and I made a note then that I had to find time to visit the mosque at some point during my stay here. Little did I know that my chance would come as quickly as it did! I had already made plans for the next day to meet with my peer tutor to practice speaking Turkish. We planned to meet at Starbucks (yes, Starbucks) so I assumed we would just hang out and drink coffee while trying to improve my basic Turkish small talk. When we arrived, however, she revealed that she had a whole field trip planned complete with a trip to a bookshop and a visit to the the mosque I had been hoping to see! As I said before, it was no small feat that I had managed to miss seeing the mosque previously since it is massive and done in the ostentatious Istanbul Ottoman style, which really stands out in the skyline of Ankara. Its four minarets and series of half-domes surrounding the big central dome is a familiar sight in the skyline of Istanbul, but differs drastically from the old Seljuk mosques and more subtle mosque styles normally seen here. Apparently, this was the cause of some controversy when it was originally built back in the 1960's. While I understand the desire to maintain the integrity of local building styles, the effect of the massive white marbled structure on the city's skyline would certainly silence my doubts (though admittedly I have little at stake in the debate).

Having visited a number of mosques in Syria and Turkey, both historic and more contemporary, I can never shake the feeling of discomfort that I am intruding on someone else's religious space. When I read that it seems like I am making some comment about Islam, but really it has less to do with the religion involved and more to do with the fact that the space is being actively used for religious services at the time of my visit. I had the same feeling in the Catholic cathedrals in Italy or at the National Cathedral in DC. Part of me will never quite feel right walking next to someone who in the process of practicing their religion and expressing their devotion to God just so that I can take a picture of the pretty mural or plaster work that surrounds them. Thankfully, the people in the mosques have never been anything but welcoming and have always been happy to have me and my fellow visitors come inside and have a look around. There is a great little mosque not too far from where Amanda and I are moving when i got back to Boston (oddly done in more of a Cape Cod beach house style!) and I am hoping that I will be able to make a visit there as well on my return.

As for this one, the inside matched the facade in being fairly breathtaking. The prayer space is larger than in any other mosque I have visited and lit by a large, sunlike central lamp surrounded by a number of others. The dome and ceilings are painted in beautiful colors reminiscent of a lot of the Ottoman glazed tile work that is now so familiar to me. In some of the pictures you can also see the balconies that line the exterior walls for at least three stories and must provide a great view of the decorative elements inside the domes. I will have to make a return visit at some point to find out. The style of Kocatepe is supposed to be somewhat reminiscent of the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, among others, and it really whet my appetite for a trip to the city. While Istanbul was not put on the program for our stay this time, we were given a free four day weekend around the beginning of July so I am planning on taking a little solo trip to finally get a chance to explore the big imperial capital. I haven't booked the trip yet but I will keep everyone updated on my progress on that front.

Anıtkabır

For our first group outing of the summer we were taken to visit Anıtkabır, the large mausoleum complex built for the architect of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. The main mausoleum is beautiful and is built on a hilltop so it can be seen from many places around Ankara. However, it turns out that the main building is only part of a much larger complex that includes a number of other structures and features several museum exhibits devoted to the tomb's occupant.

The entryway to the complex is called the Aslan Yolu (Road of the Lions) and is lined with 24 lion statues done in the old Hittite style. This is part of the architects' plan for the complex that sought to include some feature from all of the civilizations that have inhabited the Anatolian peninsula throughout history, including the Hittites, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Selcuk and Ottoman Turks, and others. As you can hopefully see from the picture, the road is paved with bricks that are set slightly apart from each other allowing some grass to grow in between, a feature we were told was done purposefully to force the entrant to look down as they walk and thus keep a slight, reverential bow as they enter the complex. Whether that was the intent of the architects or one of the flourishes the tour guides often put on their explanations, the visual effect is still very nice. From there you are led into a large central courtyard ringed with beautiful, classical style buildings that house the museums and the mausoleum. Between the style of the structures, the solemn tone set by the armed guard, and the pomp of the ceremonial changing of the guard, I was reminded of areas like the Tomb of the Unkown Soldier or Lincoln's Memorial in DC, which I have missed since I moved away to Boston. I was lucky enough to get video of the changing of the guard and if I can find a way I will get it posted on here along with the pictures.

The museums were devoted almost entirely to Ataturk's role in the War for Turkish Independence and the reforms that he enacted after taking power. They were interesting for the personal effects of his that they displayed (including everything from the official state gifts he received to his personal library and his favorite dog, Fox, who was stuffed and on display!) and for the dioramas and maps depicting the wars that allowed Turkey to maintain its independence. Some of the displays could be a little heavy handed (the painting depicting the actions of the Greek army in the west comes to mind) but its always interesting to see how another country creates and displays the narrative of their history using maps and paintings and lifesize displays. It will certainly make you look at some of our exhibits in DC differently next time you see them!

The other nice thing about visiting the mausoleum on the hill was that it afforded a beautiful view of the surrounding city. Ankara may have a reputation for being a fairly quiet, administrative town without much in the way of history or culture (wow, the comparisons to DC are just rolling in now!) but from up on the hill you can really see all that has been done since the 1920's to turn the quiet little village into a real metropolitan area filled with parks, bustling shopping districts and beautiful mosques. Maybe one of the luckiest sightings I had on our trip was the view of Kocatepe Camii (mosque) that I had somehow managed to miss every other time I got a view of the city. But more on that in a bit.

Turkey, Part II

Hello everyone and welcome back to my attempt at sharing my summer in Turkey! As you could probably tell, I fell off a bit in updating the site near the end of my trip last year. However, since I was given a second chance to explore this country and devote two solid months to learning its language I figured I should record and share my experiences the second time around as well. This year I was placed in Ankara, which is great but quite a bit different from Izmir. Apparently, some of our complaints that we went to the beach too often last year were registered and now there appears to be a policy of not allowing the program directors to take us to the beach at all! Given that Ankara is pretty landlocked we're not feeling the effects much here but I wonder if the same is in effect in Bursa and Istanbul where there are many more coastal options of which to partake! Despite that little detail, we have a pretty great trip planned, with stops in Cappadoccia, Konya, Istanbul (inshallah) and several other local spots planned for the next several months. So, look forward to many more pictures and hopefully some narratives to accompany them.

At this point, we arrived in Ankara two days ago and have been busy pretty much every minute since. After a long plane ride we were treated to dinner by the program directors and sent off to our hotel rooms to try and sleep off the hours of jetlag we had accumulated. After a pretty valiant attempt at sleeping it all off in one night (complete with my ability to sleep through breakfast and require an unscheduled wake-up call from the front desk) we were sent off for our first day of orientation. Overall, the program seems very different from last year in several pretty exciting ways. We will be living with local host families (more on that in a bit) and sticking to a pledge to only speak Turkish at official events starting from the first day of class. We also learned about a few of the trips we have planned, received the cell phones the program provided to us this year, and enjoyed a long, two-hour lunch that wasn't listed in the original schedule for the day (in true Turkish fashion). Later that evening we were treated to another welcome dinner at the Ankara Kulesi (Castle of Ankara) which had one of the best views of the city that I've seen so far. Now, of course I forgot to charge the batteries in my camera so there are no pictures to document this, but it's hardly the last great view we will have during our stay so I'll have to make up for it later.

That brings us to today, the second day of orientation before we start classes tomorrow. We started the day with a long and very filling brunch (can you see a pattern here?) and then were sent off with our peer tutors to complete a scavenger hunt that took us all around Ankara trying to find various items and places. Our peer tutors are students at Ankara University who have been assigned for the summer to help us practice our language skills and navigate the city as best we can. The scavenger hunt was a little tiring but did help me orient myself around the campus and the metro system, which I will need to find my way to campus every morning. The final destination was one of the university's satellite campuses where we were introduced to our host families and sent off to our newly adopted homes. My family consists of the father, Mustafa, the mother, Cemile, and their two sons who are seventeen years and 16 months old. They have been very helpful so far and served a great dinner of yogurt soup, chicken, salad, and pasta that was a great welcome to the house. The language pledge applies to both my classmates and to my host family, which will ensure that my somewhat limited Turkish vocabulary will continue to grow throughout the two month stay, inshallah. Given that I feel like I've had about twelve hours of lessons today and we haven't started class yet, I have no doubt my speaking ability will improve this summer. For now, though, it's time to relax and get some rest before I make my first commute tomorrow for another placement test and presumably an introduction to our teacher. I will try to provide some more updates as the week goes on and maybe even provide some pictures, assuming we have some photo opportunities in the near future.

Fethiye, Lake Köyceğiz, and the missing Kareta Kareta's

Another weekend trip means another long delay in posting. We left for Fethiye at around seven in the morning on Saturday and didn't make it back until after nine on Sunday night, leaving me to play catch-up with my homework and sleep for the rest of the week. The trip itself was great though so I'll start with that. We started off with about a seven hour bus ride from Izmir to Fethiye on the Mediterranean coast. This was our longest trip so far but well worth the discomfort of the bus ride. As we approached the city we were coming down from a tall mountain range and saw the city and the beaches laid out below us. The transition from the mountains to the seashore is dramatic with a noticeable change from the fir trees and rocks in the mountains to the olive trees and pebble beaches on the coast. We spent around three hours enoying the salty water and rocky mediterranean shores before piling back on the bus to head to our hotel. This hotel was not quite as nice as the last one (really an unfair standard) but still very comfortable. We checked in, had a quick dinner, and then headed back into the city center to relax for a bit. Tony and Lorena and I broke off from the group and enjoyed a few beers at one of the many patio restaurants that every city seems to have. We've been told that in Turkey if there is a choice between eating inside or in a garden-like patio atmosphere 90% of the people will choose the latter. I have to say I agree with the decision. However, as we didn't make it back to the bus until a bit after eleven it did make for a long day. Luckily, I slept pretty well and was energized for our boat trip the next day. We headed about an hour and a half to the northwest to the town of Dalyan on Lake Köyceğiz. It's a largely freshwater lake that connects to the Mediterranean via a stretch of marshlands that makes for a very interesting landscape. It's also the site of a turtle sanctuary that is very popular around breeding times when the beaches are full of newly hatched baby turtles (Kareta Kareta's in Turkish). Unfortunately, we missed the hatching season and I didn't see any turtles during the tour. But we did enjoy another all-day boat trip with a quick thermal mud bath, swimming in the lake, another delicious fish lunch, and another trip out to the Mediterranean coast for an afternoon swim in the sea. The beach was much sandier this time and shallow enough that I was able to swim out pretty far and just float in the water. I apparently had so much fun that I completely forgot to take pictures of the last area. Luckily there are some others of the lake and the ancient Lycian tombs carved into the cliff face. We have another two-day excursion this weekend to Assos on the northern Aegean coast line that I'm sure will feature more beach time and possibly boat tours. It's hard to tell sometimes whether this is meant to be a language program or a Carnival cruise, but I'm learning a lot and having fun at the same time, so I guess I shouldn't complain. After this weekend there are only two weeks left in the program and then Amanda and I will be meeting up in Antalya to begin our honeymoon. The time has gone fast but I'm really looking forward to this next part of the trip. I will try to post pictures earlier next week around my preparations for finals, etc.