Women buying peppers along the river in Inebolu.
Every Saturday in Inebolu, a Black Sea costal town in northern Turkey, the villagers come down from the mountains to the market. They come to buy and to sell. The market is too small to accommodate everyone, so it spills into the road along the river.
In this photo the Turkish Ladies are buying green peppers. Green peppers are typically served in most meals alongside the meat.
I love this photo because it’s a picture of fashion, cultural fashion. They are all wearing scarves, sweater vests, and long skirts. This is [...]
Continue reading Reflection #508 – Turkish Ladies at the Market in Inebolu
Borek – ready to eat!
Börek is found all over Turkey, and, in fact, many places that the Ottoman Empire used to be. Each place within or outside of Turkey puts their own twist on it, but basically its a dough-filled pastry. Most often the pastry filling is savory and will usually be cheese, ground beef, or spinach. Sometimes you can find potato or other vegetables or even sausage fillings.
Yufka for Borek
Turkish börek is made out of a very thin dough called yufka. It used to be that you had to go to the yufka-maker’s to buy [...]
Continue reading Turkish Food – Three Variations of Börek Recipe
Dressed up, paraded around, this Turkish camel is ready for his match!
Winter is the season of camel wrestling in Turkey.
Just like this handsome dude, owners deck out their camels before parading them through the streets of the town on the day before the match.
On wrestling day, the camels are still fancied up, then loaded unceremoniously on the back of the truck, to be led to a pasture to wait for their matches. Then they wait, have their photos taken, get fondled by tourists…(oops, was that just me?)
Finally the owner comes to walk them [...]
Continue reading Reflection #494 – Dressed to the Nines! (for Camel Wrestling in Turkey)
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…or Whatcha gonna do with that straight edge?
A travelling friend of mine makes it a point to get a new hairstyle in a local hair salon in every new city or country she visits. This sounded a bit extreme to me, but one thing I’m bad at during travel is shaving. I just can’t be bothered. So, why not opt for a shave in every country I visit instead? [...]
Continue reading A Turkish Barber Experience
If you are ever invited to a Turkish wedding or want to give a new baby a gift, the traditional thing to do is buy gold! You can buy all denominations of gold at the nearest jewelry store. These are often clipped to the baby or put in the bride’s purse as she wanders through the crowd.
One of the most surprisingly ubiquitous desserts you can find in Turkey is….wait for it…NOT Baklava (although that is everywhere too), but Chocolate Soufflé. All the good restaurants have it, and it’s so popular that many of the fast food places sport it as a special dessert as well…even Arby’s. Weird! The Turkish version of chocolate soufflé is more like hot pudding with a crunchy crust. It’s delicious. Try it if you can!
It’s the last day of December, and time to think about what we did during 2012 and make some plans for 2013.
As the year 2012 was coming to a close, we gazed upon this gorgeous sunset over Mont Blanc, France. Thank you 2012!
Big Events:
1. In June we moved from our home of four years, Ankara, to Schweinfurt, Germany. We know this is a somewhat temporary place for us as the military is drawing down even more. We’re hoping to find out a little more between January and April.
2. In July, we had a huge [...]
Continue reading Our Travel Delights of 2012…and Plans for 2013!!!
Curly horns, a donkey with a saddle. These are a few of my favorite things. This is a typical sight anywhere on a road in Turkey. This particular shot was not far from Gordion where King Midas’ father is buried in a huge tumulus about 45 minutes from Ankara. We have been on this road so many times, that I didn’t even bring my DSLR. This was shot with our little Canon point and shoot, and I love it.
What are some of your favorite point and shoot captures?
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Continue reading Photo of the Day – Sheep and Donkey
Like many travelers, I love markets. I love the possiblities. I love seeing what people buy and what they eat, how they sell, whether or not you can get a bargain. This is one of my favorite markets and it’s in the Cappadocian town of Ürgüp. It’s held on every Saturday, and some weekends, especially those towards the Sacrifice holiday you can see them sell sheep and goats as well as the normal fare of fruits, vegetables, yufka, kitchen goods, clothing (both traditional and modern, like şalvar that the village women wear). This market has it all, and it [...]
Continue reading Photo of the Day – Peynir Lady, Ürgüp
I took this photo while waiting for the train at Haydarpaşa. There’s something exotic about Istanbul’s skyline with the silhouetted minarets reminding you that this is an ancient city. I love Istanbul, and I especially love plying the waterways by ferry. Have you been to Istanbul? Is it on your list?
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