Bayram Bash 2011: Antalya, Day Two & Three!

On our next day in Antalya, we did a little walking around town (and made a Starbucks stop!) before heading to the beach. Here are some pre-beach shots... all two of them.

 


The flowers are lantanas, a type of flower that grow all over the Florida Keys. My mom likes them.

Anyways, so after a gruelingly crowded city bus ride, we got to Lara Beach!

We then had dinner and finished our night with some delicious ice cream at this place called Vanilla Lounge, where Annika successfully scored us a ton of free samples before we actually purchased our ice cream. Mad props, girl.

Lemon-lime and raspberry-strawberry. Aye carambaaa.

Sadly, the next morning, Annika and I were the last of the Fulbrighters left in Antalya. Womp womp.

But, we walked around the harbor and this lovely little harbor-side park, where they had this really interesting exhibit that talked about how cities all over the world are simply becoming Disney World-ish... for example, people don't need to go to the real country, they can just go to Epcot; people can see both New York and the Eiffel Tower in Las Vegas.

It was a really interesting perspective on the authenticity of travel and experiences, I guess. I still like Epcot, though.

After we walked around the harbor, we decided to go to Antalya's world renowned archaeology museum. And here's the funny thing about maintaining a blog. I thought, before I went into the museum, that I'd just include some fun pictures of the museum at the end of my post about Antalya. Except I didn't realize how serious a museum this would be. Or that I would spend an entire BATTERY of power in this sucker. Hence, it gets its own post. You'll thank me later.

Bayram Bash 2011: Antalya, Day One!

WARNING: If you were looking for reasons not to come to Turkey, then this blog post isn't for you.

If, however, you were looking for the slightest bit of justification in your reasoning, read on.

Last week, I had the entire week of for a Muslim holiday known as Kurban Bayram (for those of you more familiar with Arabic-based Islam, it's called Eid al-Adha), which celebrates Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son Ishmael to show his dedication and obedience to God. Families get together and sacrifice sheep; obviously, there's more than just that. Feel free to read about it here (don't be mad that I'd using Wikipedia, either). 

Because we had a week off, I did a little traveling. My first stop (and by "stop," I mean "a brutal twelve-hour overnight bus ride") was in Antalya. Let me introduce you to Antalya.

We stayed at the Sabah Pansiyon in Kaleiçi, the older part of town. Super beautiful.

Truncated Minaret. Or as I called, the Decapitated Mosque.

HADRIAN'S GATE!

 Hadrian's Gate dates back to 130 A.D. Do the math. That's nearly 1900 years... right?

After walking around town, we headed to this beach/archaeological site called Olimpos. On the way there, however, we passed a ton of little hotels... WHICH WERE TREEHOUSE HOTELS. Oh my gosh. Totally going back here to stay in one.

Treehouses <3

Okay, so Olimpos was really cool. Apparently it was a major Hellenistic port for pirates. Its major Greek god was Hephaestus, and according to Homer, Poseidon watched Odysseus sailing on the sea. It was really pretty and because it was sooo close to those treehouse hotels and because I did not have the proper footwear to hike around, I'm going back.

Tourist opportunity.

Ancient Turkish baths!

Some fancy captain's sarcophagus.

Keepin' the trend alive! Feet in the Mediterranean!

These kids... I love 'em!

So pretty. I'm feeling you, Olimpos. 

After beaching around and almost being abandoned on the side of the rode seventy kilometers outside of Antalya, we made it home and got some delicious dinner at a restaurant called the Villa Perla. I suggest it, if you're ever it town.

Flash?

Flash.

 And then after dinner, Annika, Ryan, and I explored a little bit of Antalya's nightlife... which was somewhat lacking, since it was still more or less a religious holiday.

We did, however, manage to find a bar with live music. At first, the music was great, and Turkish. Then, the female singer started singing English songs, which we were pumped about. I'll admit, I was too excited to hear Bon Jovi songs. But, a few lines into the song, we realized that she wasn't singing the correct lyrics. This became more apparent when she began to sing a that Rihanna song "Only Girl," and instead of singing:

"Want you to make me feel like I'm the only girl in the world
Like I'm the only one that you'll ever love
Like I'm the only one that knows your heart"

she was singing:

"I'm gonna make you feel 'cause I'm the only girl in the world
Like I'm the only one that knows how to love
Like I'm the only one that knows the hard"

This, might I add, was hilarious and a perfect end to my first day of bayram.

"TEŞEKKÜRLER !"

Balıkesirspor, Turkish for "JV High School Soccer"

N'haber, okuyucular? 

That means, "What's up, readers?" Soooo cultured.

I know I'm really late on this, but while I have your attention, if you have a few extra bucks lying around, you should consider donating a few to those in Eastern Turkey who have recently lost their loved ones and homes in the recent earthquake in the Van region. They're facing a very cold winter without shelter, and to be honest, five dollars goes a long way here in Turkey. 

Click here if you feel like checking it out.

If you don't have it, no worries, just wanted to bring it to your attention. If you have it, that would be really great and on behalf of a country I'm really growing to love, it would mean a lot.

Anyways, on to happier things...

Prior to parting ways for our bayram plans, we three Balıkesirians attended a Balıkesirspor game here in town. To give you more perspective on Turkish soccer, it's very like professional baseballs. Obviously, the best of the best teams play in the Major League, and then there are all of those smaller minor league levels and whatnot. 

In Turkey, teams like Fenerbaçhe and Galatasaray and Tranzonspor and Bursapsor are in the SuperLig, which is like the major leagues. Then there's a First League, a Second League (broken into two groups), a Third League (broken into three groups), and then a ton of little local amateur leagues. Balıkesirspor plays in the Second League. When I told my students I really wanted to go to a game, they laughed in my face. 

So, we went for a half.

And it was the most hilarious forty-five minutes of soccer I've ever watched in my life. It was comparable to a boys' JV high school game, only more dramatic... if you could imagine that. 

So, for your viewing pleasure... here are some pictures from the game. The captions are direction quotes from one of my roommates' game commentary.

"Why are all these Balikesir players all short and stubby?"

"That was a really great kick... to the other team."

"Goddamn, you're not going to call that? Even Ray Charles could've seen that one."

Oh my gosh, the end of this game. OH MY GOSH.


So, we were losing to Yeni Malatyaspor by one. And so Balıkesirspor is hustling, as well as sucking, all the way into the last few minutes, when BAM- on a corner kick, the referee red-cards the Malatyaspor goalie. THEIR GOALIE. Because we now have to take a penalty kick, the opposition picks a random defender to act as goalie.

Pissed. Off.

 And we score. This is a completely accurate description of how Balıkesir operates on a daily basis: always hustling, giving it all its got, and coming through at the last minute is a totally ridiculous and hilarious manner. And you just can't help but cheer it on.

Forays and Failures in Turkish Cuisine: Menemen

I am many things, readers, but there are also many things I am not.

One of these things is a world-class chef.

My limited catalog of cookable recipes includes grilled cheese, macaroni and cheese, baked goods, and breakfast food. You can already imagine how many times I've been down the "dinner for breakfast" road since being in Turkey.

But, I want to learn to cook, because I like to bake... however, most of these Turkish dishes just seem completely out of my reach. So, imagine my excitement when I discovered menemen at this really precious family-run restaurant down the street from our apartment.

Holy cannoli, it is delicious. Eggs, peppers, tomatoes, olive oil, and awesome are the main ingredients. And as I'm eating it, I'm thinking to myself, "I can freaking make this, no problem!"

This blog post is sponsored by that particular incidence of overconfidence.

A few days later, I round up my supplies and I get cracking (literally, since I'm using eggs.)

The victims were collected and looking oh so tasty. As per my recipe, I put my oil in the pan and get it all a-simmering. Then, I add my tomatoes and peppers and sizzle them up until they're cooked but still have a little crunch to them.

You are going to be so delicious

 Oh my gosh, you guys. I was so confident. I mean, I took pictures of this whole event. This was going to be great-- my first step towards mastering Turkish cuisine.

LOOK AT THIS ACTION SHOT.
You don't take these sorts of pictures all willy-nilly.

 So, I add my eggs. Two, to be precise. And I am so pumped. But I realize, because of the difference in the densities (SCIENCE) of eggs and oil, it doesn't seem as though all of eggs are being thoroughly cooked. Even though I have my typhoid vaccination (you would know this if you've been following my adventures for the past two months), I'm not trying to get salmonella or botulism or whatever you can get from uncooked eggs.

And here, readers, is where I make my fatal error.

I began to push my eggs around the pan.

And then everything in the world changed. The whites of the eggs began to change, the yolk began to become less translucent. Oil and egg culminated in a dance that can only be produced at high temperatures over a partially-functional stovetop.

If you can't tell, I pretty much made scrambled eggs.

Pictured: not menemen.

Not that they weren't good, because they were great, they were just not what I had hoped for. I mean, I'm not trying to write blog posts about scrambled eggs. I'm trying to be cultured here.

And just so you know, I tried this again like three days later.

Eggs still scrambled and not menemen.

Don't think I won't keep you posted.

Bursa, Bursa, Bursa!

Wow, I am a blogging MACHINE.

This weekend, baby readers, Greg and I successfully made it from the otogar (read as: bus terminal) in Balıkesir to Bursa all by ourselves. We're extremely accomplished individuals.


From the otogar in Bursa, we got onto the correct city bus (!!!) and sort of made our way to the correct neighborhood. Because we're a pair of individuals who have our priorities straight, we grabbed some lunch before doing anything else.

Pideli kofte. Delish.

Then we walked around, trying to find our way to the Green Mosque and Green Tomb. First, we walked/ got stuck in Koza Han, the historic silk market of Bursa. We visited Koza Han on Sunday too, so I'll get to it later.

Preview of Koza Han.

Interior square of Koza Han.

 Then we walked around the market area, where I bought a half kilo of dried apricots, as seen in the picture below.

They were delicious, of course.

Greg bought some goodies from this candy place.

We'll assume "delicious."

And then finally, after numerous conversations in broken English and Turkish, we found our way to the Green Tomb! The Green Tomb serves as the mausoleum of Mehmed I, the fifth Ottoman sultan (meaning, it's old as hell... like, 1421 old).

While I was shamelessly taking pictures of everything like the tourist I am, a lovely Turkish man by the name of Yunus came up to Greg and I and started talking to us (obviously, in English. We're not that good yet.) After the usual questioning of where we were from and what we were doing in Turkey, Yunus told us that he was currently in charge of completely the upcoming restoration on the Green Tomb. He begin to tell us how the tomb is unique, based both on its shape and the fact that it has a mihrab, the niche in a mosque wall that indicates the direction in which Mecca lies, and therefore, the direction that Muslims should face while praying. Typically, Yunus told us, you don't find mihrabs in Muslim tombs.

Entryway to the tomb. Probably going to put the same ones on my house someday.

This ceiling too, I think.

Sultan Mehmed I!

I haven't decided where in my house this'll go.

The stained glass, although a later addition, is
still awesome.

 So after he educates us on the Green Tomb, Yunus begins to tell us how it's unfortunate that the Green Mosque is also undergoing restoration by him and his company for another several months and is closed to the public. Upon seeing my crestfallen little yabancı face, he asks Greg and I if we'd like to see it. As in, a private mini-tour of the Green Mosque. "Oh yes, new BFF Yunus!" I practically cry out loud!

The Green Mosque! Swoonsies! 

The Green Mosque and Green Tomb are pretty much right next to each other, being parts of the greater Green Complex. When we arrive at the entry to the Green Mosque, Yunus tells us to pay great attention to the detailed carving of the marble door. He tells us that it took one guy three years to carve the whole thing.

Yunus also mentioned that the Green Mosque is a unique example of a mosque because of the fact that inside has a split-level floor to separate the common population from the upper echelons of society. The sultan also had his own room and area for prayer, and below, these side rooms were also used for judicial purposes.

Pictured: JUSTICE.

 Ironically, Yunus also pointed out this circular marble column that was set into the wall which was used to alert people in the mosque when an earthquake was beginning. The marble column would shake, thereby alerting those inside that they should probably get the heck out. Much of the Green Mosque had to be rebuilt after an earthquake hit the area in 1855. This interesting piece of history also answered Greg's question regarding why they call the mosque green when it clearly wasn't.

 After our private tour, Greg and I hung out with Yunus and had some tea (becoming BFFS forever, as well) while he educated us on Turkish carpets and kilims. He also has his own ceramic studio in Bursa, which sold really nice stuff for fairly reasonable prices (I bought a ladybug keychain for 6TL!)

Then, Greg and I visited (for the first time) Ulu Camii, or in English, the Great Mosque. And it was pretty great! First, we walked through Koza Park, which is attached to the silk market of the same name.

 The Great Mosque was really beautiful. And what was really cool was that it wasn't as touristy as the Blue Mosque, and people were actually there to pray.

The inside was really pretty as well. It had so many intricate paintings and motifs on the wall that I didn't even know where to begin in terms of creepy picture taking.

After our sightseeing, Greg and I went to the fancy mall Bursa had to offer, and of course, Greg just HAD to be a superstar.

Kissing babies, all day every day.

Then, we walked back through Koza Park to meet up with Russell and friends so we could grab some delicious Bursa iskender kebap for dinner.

And yes, as usual... delicious.

 After dinner, Greg, Russell, Annika, Margot, and I went out for mezes and drinks. We had so much fun. The food was great, the drinks were great, and the company was just the best!

 

And I like rakı now, so life is really great.




The next morning, we were up and at 'em, starting with a ballin' Turkish kahvaltı before visiting the hamam.

The hamam was an intense experience. I've never felt so sweaty yet so clean in my entire life.

After the hamam, we went up to the Saat Kule (clock tower in Turkish!) to get a lovely view of the city of Bursa.

Pictured: clock tower.

Pictured: Bursa.

 We also visited the tombs of Orhan Gazi and his father, Osman I... or, for those of you familiar with the history of the Ottomans, the FOUNDER of the Ottoman Empire.

He was basically like the O.G. Sultan.

Like the Green Mosque, Orhan Gazi's first tomb was severely damaged during the earthquake of 1855; the new tomb was built right on top of the foundations of the old tomb.

So, Osman. He's pretty important; they named the entire empire after him. He established this new state, soon to be the Ottoman Empire, in 1299. He also allegedly had a dream, where he dreamed of the rise of this new empire to greatness over the next four centuries... he definitely wasn't wrong, especially when the Ottomans more or less began to boot the Byzantines out of the region from the time he established Bursa as his primary city.

Sultan Osman I!

In addition to all of the fun history I saw in Bursa, here are a few freebie images that this weekend produced:

In response to the Kurdish attacks in the southeast, there were
mad protests. I think we ran into like seven of them.

This man was making lollipops, which looked delicious.

 We also finally got to Koza Han, where there were scarves galore!

Silk paintings. On silk. So cool!

 Overall, Bursa was great! I'll be back, there are still a few things I didn't get to see! Womp!

Bye, Bursa. See you soon!