Hoşçakal, Turkey: Thoughts on my time split between Europe and Asia

Another country complete, and now I head firmly for Central Europe. But first, a couple of thoughts on my three-ish weeks in Turkey.

A food culture focused on local, fresh, and simple: The food, at its best, was very fresh and often composed of only a handful of ingredients. One of my favorite meals was the plate of kofte meatballs paired with grilled tomatoes and peppers on top of the hill on Buyukada. Indeed, the fancier that Turkish cuisine tried to get, the more it struggled to retain great flavor. The virtue of this approach is that great meals could be had nearly everywhere and there was no need to pay a premium for preparation, only for freshness.

A unique place seriously straddling two very different parts of the world: I come away fascinated by the one of a kind history and current situation Turkey plays in the world. In the past, it was the meeting place of people from all over, the center of a very tolerant Ottoman Empire that didn't know much nationalism. Now, it finds itself between Europe and the Middle East, and the tensions are apparent. It seemed to me to be at its best when it took the best parts of each of these traditions and made it into something specifically Turkish.

A great chance to travel with family: It was excellent that, in the middle of my trip, I had the opportunity to meet up with all of my immediate family. There were great group experiences and lots of fun one on one moments. And, of course, more time with my giggly niece!

And, with that, the Turkey chapter of this trip is complete. To Berlin!

Final lunch in Avanos

Our time in Cappadocia is sadly drawing to an end. This afternoon we will head off back to Istanbul. But before we do, we make a journey to Avanos, the pottery capital of the region. I unfortunately didn't manage to get any pictures of the pottery, but there were some cool items available. One neat one, spotted by my sister, was a wine flask that had an open circle in the middle. The story went that someone could carry this large amount of wine on their arm just by slipping it through the hole. If they wanted to carry a large amount of wine portably, that is.

We also had time for one more lunch. We were out of luck in that our desired destination had moved a kilometer or so away and there was not time to find it. So we settled for second best and went to a place right across the street.

I ordered this dish, supposedly yogurt with red peppers. However, try as I might, I could find no red peppers nor any other flavor besides the very thick yogurt. It wasn't bad, and served as an effective butter replacement on the bread, but was not what I was expecting. I would still love to try yogurt with red peppers.

My main was a kiyamli pide. This was quite good, even though it didn't rate best of the trip. Others' mains were disappointing however, especially the sucuk pide, which was nigh on disgusting. Best to stick to the minced meat in these situations.

So, it was a bit of a bummer that we couldn't make it to our original lunch spot. Instead, we had to make do with a much inferior product.

Do you hamam? Yes, yes I do.

After my experience with public baths in Japan, I was very excited to try the Turkish variation. Turns out I would have two opportunities.

The first was in Istanbul, as run-up to the wedding festivities. Our group of 30 segregated by gender and the ten of so of us guys headed in. It was a gorgeous place and really old to boot. The lobby / locker room had three floors of windowed rooms where you change and leave your valuables. These were outfitted with lovely stained glass windows. There, we put on the hamam attire, which is nothing more than a thin piece of fabric wrapped around the waist.

Upon entering, the first stop is the very hot and very humid sauna. Nothing beats a good sweat! After 20 or so minutes of that, it turns a little more free form. This bath had one main marble platform and then about 15 marble basins with spigots. Water of a temperature of your choosing (mine was pretty cold) comes out, and you can hydrate your skin with it. We just sort of milled about for a little while.

Step three was the truly Turkish part. Here, a rather large man escorts you to a small marble stall to be washed. Sitting on the ground, he dumped buckets, alternatively, of incredibly hot and freezing water on me, then proceeded to soap me up and loofa me down. The loofa was like a mitt made out of sandpaper. It is supposed to have redeeming qualities. Then he passed me off to another guy who is the massage king. There, lying on a marble slab, he proceeded to use his knuckles to try to get my flesh to separate. It was more of the deep tissue type massage than a leisurely stroll in the park.

After that, a quick rinse and we were done. Upon exit, we were toweled down professionally and then served copious amounts of tea and Turkish delight. Quite an experience!

Then, in Urgup in Cappodocia, my dad and I decided to do it again, as a parting gift from Turkey to us.

This hamam looked very similar. It was also similarly deserted until we arrived, and we had our run of the place. The inside of the bath was outfitted with a large octagonal marble slab for resting, and this sauna was made out of wood. After a while to sweat out the toxins, we underwent the scrub and massage treatment. One of us would be scrubbed and soaped while the other got the massage, and then we switched. The guy with the loofa really did his job, so much so that I lost a fair bit of skin and had to recuperate a little while the next day. But, still, it was a great experience.

A kebap you could store for a long time before heating and serving

Dinner on Thursday took us to Dimrit, not too far from our hotel or Ziggy's, for that matter.

I was very excited for this meal. According to my dad, it was his favorite place on their last visit to Cappodocia.

The meal started with the waiters bringing a big tray just full of mezes. It was a beautiful sight and I would've love to try each one. We settled on three, which were, left to right: yogurt with dill, fava bean puree, and eggplant salad with roasted tomatoes. All were quite good, especially with the flatbread that came alongside. The yogurt I would like to give special attention to, because it retained so much flavor in each bit, never getting the least bit dull.

We also got a full sized tomato salad. This was the one miscue on the evening, as it was like a not as good version of the eggplant salad, and really lacked flavor.

That was quickly forgotten, however, when the hummus with pastrami arrived. Like its predecessors, this version was thick with tahini and thin with oil. And it was great, subtle, rich, and that perfect bite with just a little pastrami and some hummus, on a slab of freshly baked flatbread.

My mom and I decided to split two mains. She would start with the yogurt kebap with eggplant. Hidden in the delicious yogurt covering the plate was creamy eggplant and flatbread croutons. This was superb, probably the best version of this dish had so far.

I started with the oddly named testi kebap. Turns out that testi means pottery in Turkish, and this dish is loaded into a sealed clay pot, cooked, and then broken tableside to be served. the waitstaff even let me wield the cleaver that would release the kebap.

The kebap itself was excellent. It was a dish very different from the usual kebap. It was more like a stew of the lamb and vegetables that had been stuck inside the clay together for hours. Rich and meaty, the stew benefited from the side of rice that soaked up the delicious juices. I can see why my dad was such a fan of this one!

Bevy of beards, part two

More Turkish beards!

Beard, Ottoman-style, at the Topkapi Palace balcony in Istanbul, June 20, 2010.

Beard enjoying a lovely waterfall, June 25, 2010.

Beard taking in the ocean from a castle on an island, June 26, 2010.

Beard soaring 4,000 feet above ground, July 1, 2010.

Your grapes are a little off, my friend

Right near our hotel was a winery called Turasan. Tempted by the opportunity to feel a little more at home, just like a trip to Napa or Sonoma, we wandered in for a tasting.

Unfortunately, the tasting wines we tried, one white and one red, were no good. The white was pure sugar and had not the least hint of flavor. The red, by contrast, was quite acidic yet similarly lacked taste. To make matters worse, we were charged 2YTL for the privilege of trying some very bad wine.

Take me down, to the underground city!

The next place on our tourist list was the Derinkuyu underground city. In a handful of places throughout Cappodocia, residents had carved impressive tunnels and rooms underground, all connected up like miniature cities. Their purpose was to serve as a temporary hiding place during the periodic invasions from outsiders. Indeed, there was even a beacon system that could send news of incoming armies, to give time for all the residents to grab their things and head underground.

Derinkuyu itself has over 8 floors underground and full complement of civic buildings in addition to residences.

We descended into this abandoned town. The hallways were not that nice, often very short (three to four feet tall) and sometimes quite dark. But the rooms really did open up. We saw houses, stables, churches, a winery, and other assorted buildings.

One impressive part was the locking system they had. Every so often on a staircase, there would be a large marble wheel that could be rolled over the passage way, sealing it off from foreigners that wished to do them harm.

There were many dark tunnels to explore. One was a loop, and I unexpectedly ran into my sister!

We also found the school, and the hopefully poorly named "student cells."

Finally, eight floors down, we found the end of the line, an unceremonious small room likely used for storage (and maybe used for graves).

What a cool place to explore, literally!

Food borne on the river

Jenika, Liz, Ann, and I arrived in the small town at the end of the 4km, meeting up with my parents and Sahana. A well known tourist hike has created a bunch of riverside cafes, most with the opportunity to eat on a small platform sitting over the river.

We took them up on the offer for lunch.

First was a bread course, which came with the fixings of crumbled cheese, butter, yogurt, and a small salad. The bread was excellent, obviously freshly baked. It was good dipped in the yogurt, with a little bit of cheese, or just plain.

Next was a whole trout, freshly caught and freshly grilled. This was good, rich from the grilling process with other vegetables in a casserole dish.

The lamb casserole we had was just ok. The lamb was a little off and the mushrooms, while a great conceptual addition, were dried out from the grilling process.

The grilled chicken with assorted vegetables, however, was excellent. The grilling had done its job nicely and created juicy and charred bits of chicken, which were well complemented by the marinated onions on offer.

Also good was the chicken cooked with bulgur, which had a nice tomato sauce on it that wasn't too heavy but imparted a wonderful bit of flavor.

There was a bit of back and forth over the bill - some items had been added and others overcharged for, but, in contrast to the experience at Konak Kebap, this one was resolved excellently by the host, who explained that they are used to tour groups (and overcharging them?) and so don't get many walk-ins. A novel explanation!

A wonderful stroll through a river valley

To the Ihlara Valley! This approximately 15km long valley had been formed by the successive eruptions of local volcanoes and by the spreading of different kinds of lava. We would be hiking the middle 4km portion of it, known for its churches, rock dwellings, and general nice trail.

The steps down into the valley provided some great panoramas of the surroundings. Soon, we were down and hiking along the river.

We came across a couple of very classy man made additions, one a bench across the river and another a wonderful little cafe with tables on the bank and hanging over the river be.

Up high on the valley walls, we could see former habitations, including places for groups of pigeons to roost. Their dung would be collected for fuel and sometimes themselves met a fiery end to become food.

Finally, it was also nice to see some wild plants along the way. Trees, shrubs, and overgrown weeds. A splendid little stroll.

A shady little cafe lunch

For lunch we headed to the shady outdoor cafe just outside of the Zelve museum. In truth, we were lured by their massive gozleme sign.

And that's what most people got, spinach, potato, and cheese gozleme. It was a well done version, with the spinach a new and nice addition. Combined with the cheese, it was a gooey and slightly healthy delight. The burrito style was also appreciated and reminded my of El Farolito back in the Mission, with their grilled burritos of happiness.

After begging some gozleme off friends and family, I also had a kofte plate. These meatballs were very nice with good seasoning and still juicy. Didn't quite top the kofte at the top of Buyukada, however.

Two museums open to the air and to exploration

Amazingly enough, we were back from the balloon ride at 9am and still had a full day of attractions in front of us. On tap for the midday were a couple of open air museums.

First up was the Zelve Open Air Museum of Ruins. This was a mind-boggling set of three valleys, were previous inhabitants had carved dwellings out of the rocks themselves. Amazingly, it was an active habitation under the 1950s when the government decided it was too fragile and too risky for people to continue living there. It has now been opened as a museum where visitors can explore the houses and other buildings used for the better part of the last millennium.

We set out on some adventures.

We found one house that had a clear chimney flute for the kitchen. It was also clear that it would have been rather annoying to live here, as the soot from the cooking had accumulated into a black dust all over the walls. Finally, there was evidence of the danger in these rocks when we saw how thin the floor was in one room.

In the back of another house there was a stairwell into the darkness. Using only the puny little light on my camera flash, I ventured into the nothingness. It turned out to be a tunnel that connected up with the valley next door! A shortcut!

There was also a very neat little window into the valley I had just left, from way up high.

Returning to whence I came, I was afforded a much bigger view over the valley. And a great opportunity to team up with Jenika and Liz for some whole body shadow puppets.

What a cool museum.

After lunch, we headed south to the Goreme Open Air Museum. The more famous of the two, this was known for the quality of its rock churches and, in particular, their frescoes.

Though the quality of the buildings and paintings was higher, I found it less interesting. It seemed like a very well-trod complex and had paved sidewalks every place. Not much of a chance of the feeling of discovery, here. That said, there were some neatly done buildings and interiors. One interesting fresco had a painting of a hermaphroditic saint, another of a saint fighting a very large serpent. No photos allowed of frescoes, to reduce damage, so we're left with these rocks.