Day Trip

Last week our friend Chris came to visit. It was a good excuse for us to get out and see some things.

James went to Istanbul to meet Chris at the airport and then tour him around the city a bit. Istanbul is AMAZING. It's one place I would highly recommend to anyone. Absolutely beautiful city with so much rich history. You have to watch out for everyone trying to make a buck off the tourists (carpet salesmen, shoe shiners, people selling all sorts of trinkets) but it's well worth braving that circus to see the sights.

Or is it see the sites? I'm confused on that point, among other things.

I just have to mention here that this is James' second trip to Istanbul since we've been a family of five (the past four months) and I've gone a total of zero times. I stay home and watch the wee ones. I've told James that once Clara is weaned I'll be getting paid back for my multiple sacrifices. He'll stay with the kids and I'll. . . well, I'll go do something. Not sure what just yet. What do mothers of small children do for a weekend away? I don't know. But it will be something. That's for sure.

Upon James and Chris' arrival in Ankara, I forced them back out the door (I think they were hoping to catch a few winks after not sleeping on a night train) and we took a day trip to Beypazari. Just an hour away, but I'd never been before.

Beypazari grows something like 65% of Turkey's carrots. That's a lot of carrots man. They make some tasty stuff with the carrots too. One kind shop owner gave us homemade pieces of carrot flavored Turkish delight. I didn't have high expectations, I mean carrot Turkish delight? Serious? But I was flabbergasted. It was quite possibly the best tasting Turkish delight I've ever eaten. And that's really saying something.

The little town is also full of silversmiths. They make absolutely beautiful jewelry.

I spotted this friendly chap in his shop tinkering away at a delicate silver necklace like the ones displayed on the wall behind him. He told us (and demonstrated) all about cutting the silver, bending it, making it into beautiful things.

I think Elise and I could have enjoyed perusing the sparkly stuff a bit longer, but James wasn't into it. Boys... what are you gonna do?

This is Beypazari's fameous 80 layer baklava. A bit of baklava trivia for you. . . most baklava is 40 layers, but the folks in Beypazari stepped it up a notch or two or 40 and make theirs with 80 layers. Free samples. De-lish.

Hand made soaps in all different scents. I bought pomegranate, orange, and apricot.

Dried peppers, eggplants, spices, and what not. I picked up some dried celery to throw into my soups. Celery stalks are a bit hard to come by around here, so dried celery leaf seems like just the type of thing I need.

Saving the best for last. These ladies are dressed in the traditional clothes for this part of Turkey. I think it is one hundred percent awesome! I mean if I lived here and donned one of these flowey outfits, nobody would know it if I ate too much baklava and turkish delight and gained five or fifty pounds. Beautiful.

The verdict: I LOVE BEYPAZARI. I can't wait to go back. I hear that in May cherries are in season and the thought of fresh cherries and cherry treats makes me giddy with anticipation. And May would be the perfect time to visit Turkey. Chris, do you want to come back?

Nylons

I went down to the yarn store a couple days ago. Apparently they also sell lady's nylons. Just to make sure everyone knows it, they put one on display out on the sidewalk. So tasteful...

Wait a minute. . . this scene looks strangely familiar. . . could it be the leg from The Christmas Story major award?!

The Pazar

I went to the pazar again today... I still love it. It's such a feast for the senses. So colorful. So loud. So YUMMY... did I mention before that they are always holding out bits of tasty goodness to try as you walk around? A little section of a juicy orange. A sweet strawberry. A crisp slice of apple. A salty olive. I'm getting hungry just remembering it. Hold on... I'm going to go have a mandarin orange.

Okay, I'm back. So as I was saying, I went to the pazar this morning and took along my camera so you could enjoy it with me... well except for the tastes, sounds, and smell and feels. Is feels a word? Can I use it in that sentence?

I think these are four types of radishes. I haven't been brave enough to buy any of them because 1) I don't like radishes. 2) I'm really not sure if that's what they are... and if not, how do I use them? and 3) Black radishes? Weird.

Fruits and veggies of all kinds. . . I'm getting hungry again.

There are always these little hand made signs trying to let the pazar goers know just how amazingly good the produce is. Usually fruit says "like sugar" or "like honey," but this one, "like baklava" was new to me. Apparently this orange is sweet as a sticky piece of baklava. . . it also has a "thin skin" and is "SUPER!" And if knowledge that an orange is super doesn't make you want to buy it, what will?

More mandarin oranges than you can shake a stick at.

This guy was really excited about me taking pictures. Said I have to get a photo of his beautiful pomegranate flower.

There it is. Ain't that a beaut?! Smack dab in between the mandarins and the Asian pears. Next the pomegranate guy said he wanted copies of the pictures. He asked if I could post them on facebook. Awkward moment because. . .

Rabbit trail. Yesterday I accidently found out that someone had blocked me on facebook. Yes. Blocked me. As in I can't see you, you can't see me, we never cross facebook paths. I was a little sad. But then today I was desperately wishing for a real life face-to-face facebook "block" or even "ignore" button. Because, no offense pomegranate guy who I just met and probably wont ever see again except when I really want a ruby red juicy pomegranate, but I don't really want to be facebook friends with you, and it's awkward telling you that to your face.

Dried fruits and nuts.

An assortment of freshly baked breads. . . Am I the only one who suddenly wants a bagel? Too bad I can't get them in Turkey. But I can get bazlama. Take that bagel eaters!

And see those square tins. They're full of homemade cheese. It's good too! Kind of feta-ish. I bought a bag full.

Saving the best for last. . . OLIVES!

This woman lives along the Mediterranean. She and her family grow and make olives and olive oil (the two bottles on the bottom right are full of homemade olive oil). She's not a regular at the pazar, but came today to sell her olivey goodness. And apparently she also makes stuffed cabbage leaves, since that's what her grandson is eating for lunch. Yummy, yummy, and yummy.

A Christmas Camel Ride

One great thing about Turkey is that in some places you can find tourist camels. Not camels who are tourists, but camels for the tourists. They live on the roadside in popular destinations like Cappadocia. For a small fee you can climb up a ladder and onto a big cushy camel saddle. For another small fee you can ride that camel up and down the street.

The other day while James and I were driving back from visiting friends for Christmas we drove by a roadside camel and I shouted, “STOP!!” James freaked out and pulled to the side of the road thinking that I had gone into labor or that the car was about to explode or something (not that I’m pregnant or have any special impending explosion sensing powers). He was like, “What?” and I was like, “Hello? A camel! We have to get a family photo!” We had a photo taken a couple of years ago, (as you can see on the side of the blog) but we've had another baby since then and I decided it was time for an update.

So we all piled out of the car, Marie yelling, “Tamoh, tamoh, tamoh!” And running as fast as her little feet could carrier her toward the giant beast, and Elise being dragged out of the car complaining that we were interrupting her Veggie Tales movie. Obviously no real live hairy camel can compare to Larry the Cucumber.

The camel keeper guy set a ladder up and I climbed on first, then James handed up the baby. Suddenly a family camel photo did not seem like such a good idea. I mean what kind of mother holds her tiny baby in one arm while seated precariously nine feet in the air, on top of a wooly camel? Next up was Elise, still mad about us interrupting her movie, then Marie who was freaking out and shouting, “No tamoh... no wan it. No tamoh!” Finally James squeezed his way onto the saddle and the camel guy snapped a few photos.

Elise only lifted her head for the picture upon being threatened to have her movie taken away if she didn’t. Marie quietly cried, and I smiled while silently praying that the camel would stay still and none of my offspring would fall to their death.

Three pictures and a few dollars later we climbed down the ladder, I breathed a big sigh of relief, Marie went running toward the car as fast as her little legs could carry her saying, “No like tamoh. No wan it,” and Elise got back to her precious video.

Threats, smiles, tears... all in all a fairly normal family photo session. Except that instead of in front of a Christmas tree, it happened to be on top of a wooly camel.

I’ve thrown in a few extras I snapped of other tourists getting their camel experience. Enjoy.

These poor girls started screaming the second their dad put them up on the camel. I broke the camera out just a few seconds too late, but at least you all can still enjoy the look of betrayal and utter fear on their faces with me. . . sad but funny. It reminded me of watching kids getting on Santa's lap at the mall... the things parents do for a good photo.

I love this one... I think the camel is asking, "Okay, who's next?"

And two more happy tourists hop on.