Plumbers and headaches

Finally…work has started on the hotel.  We have had to decide what is urgent and what can be put off until next year as, despite our dire threats of not taking their guests this year and the resultant apologies (and bottle of Jack Daniels forwarded to Cem), we have still not received the remainder of the money from one of the agencies for last year’s guests.  They are supposed to pay 50% of the money for this year’s advance bookings in May, but that seems increasingly unlikely.  What seems almost certain is that we will start the season with another big dispute with them, sitting in their office explaining that it is hard to pay electric bills, wages etc. when there is no money coming in.  We also make threats to leave the next arrivals at the gate, but the trouble is they know these threats are empty as we don’t want to ruin anybody’s holiday.  So they have us over a barrel really.

Anyway, there is very nice young plumber in the hotel, quietly and efficiently going round each room fixing the many leaks and drips.  Since we built the hotel, the most persistent problems have been of the plumbing variety.  Part of the problem is poor quality materials – pipes that with no warning split and turn rooms into paddling pools, not to mention a strange toilet-flush system that relies crucially on a piece of string.  If the string is too long, the toilet doesn’t flush properly; too short and the reservoir never closes off and the water runs continuously.  It’s not enough to get them the right length as each time you pull it, the nylon thread slips slightly and will eventually be too long again.  Who invented this system?

Another problem is the workmanship.  If I ever build anything again, I will take most care choosing the plumber.  The one we used when building the hotel fancied himself as a bit of an artist and designed pipe connections to rival spaghetti junction for the number of bends and turns they take.  Perhaps he ordered too many pipes and felt he needed to get them all in somewhere, I don’t know.  Anyway, I don’t need to detail the result of these bends on the free flow of water through the pipes.  Suffice it to say that we are now aware of the various ‘black spots’ in the plumbing system and leave easy access to these points.

Tuesday was Cem’s birthday.  We didn’t make a big deal of it, but we had a couple of friends round for dinner and some drinks.  Entertainment was in the form of the boys’ wii – and it’s amazing how grown men are happy to look ridiculous spinning imaginary hula hoops, or flying – in bird form – between imaginary perches, as long as there is enough vodka involved.

Cem celebrating his birthday

I had a couple of glasses of red wine, but not enough to deserve the fuzzy head I had yesterday morning.  It wasn’t aided by the fact that the whole world seemed determined to make a lot of noise – starting with the hotel opposite us whose generator was working at full volume, and the building site next door which had a very large digger delivered - toe-curling screeches as it drove down off the lorry, then the drone of it digging out the foundations for walls.

I went to the hotel to give a lesson and the marble men turned up to polish the travertine round the pool.  This involves a machine which looks a bit like those that polish floors in schools and hospitals, but grinds the top layer off the marble – you can imagine the noise that makes.  To top it all, the plumber decided to tackle the room with the biggest problem, which involved breaking the wall with an angle grinder.

Oh well – it will all be worth it if the plumbing problems are sorted!

Seasonal Adjustments

Sometimes guests have asked me, looking at the seemingly endless days of sunshine, if I don’t ‘miss the seasons’.  Actually, there is much more variation through the year here than most people experience at home.

Firstly the weather.  I won’t go into it much (I seem to mention it a lot!) but the summer sunshine definitely does NOT last all year round.  The two worst months of January and February are out of the way and as usual I was amazed that as soon as we get into March, spring is in the air and the sun seems to be warmer.  Still, there is some rain and it poured down so hard while I was at the market on Sunday that everyone was marooned under the canopies.  These are not, however, are guarantee of staying dry since the water builds up on top of them until it reaches some crucial point and then empties itself in a bucket load – splat – not good if you are standing under that point! 

With the spring weather, the whole world seems to come alive again.  The Poppy tortoises were out the other day – three of them, still covered in dirt (they dig themselves underground to hibernate), playing chase round the garden with a view to making up for lost time!  Soon the martins will be here again – their fourteenth year – to raise more babies and leave their messages all down the front wall (and on Kenny’s window sill!)

 A trip to the market also reminds you what time of year it is as many things are seasonal.  At the moment oranges are plentiful and cheap, but strawberries will be around soon and then the wonderful cherries.  Even some fish are seasonal so ‘hamsi’ (sardines), which are very popular here, are only good for a few months in winter and you must have those from the Black Sea as they are (apparently) the best.

But the biggest difference, or course, is due to tourism.  Through the winter everywhere is quiet and I can walk the dog on the beach and not pass another person.  Soon, the beach will be full of sunbeds, umbrellas and frying bodies.

As we count the weeks until the season opens, many businesses have started repairs and improvements; builders are racing to get houses finished before the building ban comes into effect and everyone is getting ready for some hard work (and looking forward to earning money again).  We also all start talking about what sort of a season it will be, and how things like the price of fuel and unrest in Egypt will affect bookings.

I have this to say… we have never before had so many reservations at this time of year.  So, barring any more volcanic clouds or bankrupt tour operators, fingers crossed it is going to be a good year.

waves at the beach last week

Wonder-full Turkey

While we were in İstanbul, we went to the military museum and were lucky enough to see the Mehter performing.  If you don’t know – and I didn’t even after 18 years in Turkey -the Mehter was the Ottoman military band.  They marched into war alongside the army serving the dual purpose of rallying their own troops and striking fear into the enemy.

The current band, who give performances all over the world, are extremely smart and their marches really are rousing with their combination of percussion and the plaintive oboe-like zurna.  But what really struck me is the fact that they were probably the FIRST military marching band in the world.  The Mehter terrified the Crusaders who travelled through Ottoman lands and supported the Ottoman forces as they marched through Europe right up to Vienna. In this way, the idea for military bands was born in other countries.

part of the Mehter band

What’s more, the music of the Mehter – rousing songs and marches written especially for them – was also much admired, and its form was copied by both Mozart and Beethoven.  So why have we never heard about them?

Wondering this made me remember that there are actually a whole host of things that Turkey SHOULD be famous for…but isn’t.  Here are some of them…

The oldest urban settlement in the world is at Çatalhöyük in Anatolian Turkey, the site of a thriving, planned city nearly 9,000 years ago.  The oldest shipwreck was found in 1982 at Kaş – just along the coast from here.  It is a late Bronze Age merchant boat with a cargo that included copper, tin, glass, olives and trinkets like tortoise shells and ostrich eggs.

You probably know that the city of Troy, which the Greeks supposedly infiltrated with the help of their Trojan Horse, is in Turkey.  Some of you will have seen our own Trojan Horse at Poppy – a winning entry in the Çalış Carnival Parade two years ago.  But did you know that Caesar uttered those famous words ‘I came, I saw, I conquered’ here after victory over tribes in the Black Sea area?  Or that Noah’s ark is thought to have come to rest as the floods subsided on Mount Ararat in north east Turkey?

Yılmaz and our Trojan horse

Turkey was the birthplace of historic legends like Aesop, Homer, King Midas (of the golden touch) and the apostle Saint Paul, while Cleopatra and Alexander the Great came through here on their travels.  By the way, legend has it that Alexander the Great and his men conquered the town of Telmessos (modern Fethiye) by coming ashore disguised as musicians, with their weapons hidden in flute boxes.

Turkey has an estimated 9000 species of flowers, compared to 11,500 in the whole of Europe.  Tulips are native to Turkey and it is said that the Turkish sultan sent them as a gift to Holland.  It is also suggested that tomatoes and cherries originated here.

Altogether, though I have been raving about İstanbul and what a unique city it is, the same can really be said for the whole of Turkey.  It is a country with so much to see and so much to offer and, though I understand that many of the visitors choose it because it is ‘good value’, I hope when they are here they take a little time to look around and see some of the wonders it has to offer!

The sights of İstanbul

So – getting back to İstanbul – there is so much to see and do it is hard to know where to begin.  But the city is divided naturally into sections so it is best to focus on one area in a day; this is what we did.

The historical heart of İstanbul is on the European side, south of the Golden Horn waterway.  Topkapı Palace was the home of the Sultans from 1465 until the nineteenth century.  It was home to up to 4,000 people and contained mosques, schools, a hospital and workshops, as well as a 400-room harem.  The ‘crown jewels’ are on display there – including thrones made of solid gold and an 86 carat diamond.

the gateway to Topkapı palace

Right next to this is Ayasofya, the stunning church which later became a mosque and is now a museum.   Finished in 537 on the site of two older churches, it was the largest cathedral in the world for nearly a thousand years.  The dome, which is 55 metres above the floor and not supported by any columns, was one of the most ambitious structures of its time.  Although various earthquakes have caused the dome to collapse, it has always been rebuilt and still stands almost 1500 years later!

Ayasofya

 

Just along the street from Ayasofya is the entrance to the Yerebatan Sarnacı – an underground water cistern open to the public.  What is so amazing about a water cistern you might ask?  This one was built in the sixth century under the command of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian.  It contains 336 marble columns, brought water from 19km away for use at the Byzantine palace and later at Topkapı and can hold up to 80,000 tons of water.  Bet you’re impressed now!

That’s another thing that makes İstanbul so unique – the histories of the Byzantine  and Ottoman Empires converge here to make everything bigger and grander.  One of the stories I love is that of Sultan Mehmet – known as The Conqueror – and how he took Constantinople from the Byzantines.  His Ottoman troops put the city under siege from across the Golden Horn, but they couldn’t access it by boat as the Byzantines had put a boom across the entrance to the waterway.  His solution?  To build a road of greased logs and make his men carry the ships and boats – estimated to be about 80 in number – over land! After his victory Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror made the city the capital of the Ottoman Empire and had Topkapı Palace built as the home of the Sultans there.

 Another place worth a visit in Istanbul, and one that gives you a view over the site of all this turbulent history, is the Galata Tower.  Itself built in 1348, it is situated on the European shore but north of the Golden Horn, looking across towards Topkapı and Ayasofya.  I have to admit to having an attack of vertigo when I stepped out onto the parapet – but the walkway IS 51 metres above the ground with only a waist-high wall around it.  Not wanting to miss out, I made a slow and very tentative tour of the whole walkway and then disappeared inside.  Luckily, Cem took the time to take some photos!

view from Galata Tower

İSTANBUL!

I have been feeling very ashamed that the boys have visited London many times and know most of its major sights but had yet to see İstanbul.  We decided it was time to correct this and took a night bus from Ankara to İstanbul on Thursday.  I haven’t been on a bus in the Uk for a long time but I suspect that the bus system here is rather superior.  Our journey was just 5 hours on a bus with wide, reclining seats (only 3 in each row) and a television for each passenger, a half-hour stop and a change of driver.

In the three days we have been here, we have managed to cram a lot in.  I visited İstanbul myself about 17 years ago and I enjoyed it but I can’t believe now what a relatively mild impression it made on me.  Possibly it was because I had just returned from visiting southern Africa and had cultural ‘overload’, or perhaps it was because I was on my way to spend a summer in Fethiye and decide what I wanted to do with the rest of my life; whatever the reason, I managed to forget a lot of it.  Now, I am completely wowed by the city and am going to recommend everyone to visit!

What has so amazed me?  Firstly, the layout of the city.  You can look at a map and see that it is divided by the Bosphorous into two halves popularly referred to as the European side and Asian side (Turks prefer Anatolian); but until you are here it is hard to appreciate the importance of this.  The Bosphoros is a strait that joins the Black Sea to the Marmara Sea (which opens into the Aegean), with a width of up to 3km and incredibly strong currents.  It makes the Thames look like a little stream!  Tankers and container ships queue up, their shapes looming in the distance, waiting for permission to pass through with oil from Russia or Chinese goods coming in to the docks in İstanbul.  Add to this the numerous ‘vapur’ or ferries carrying people and cars across the strait and out to the islands, cruise boats giving people the waterfront tour of İstanbul and many little fishing boats buzzing amongst them and you will start to understand what a busy waterway this is.

Kaan on the ferry

The ferries are a piece of İstanbul culture, the standard journey to work for many people but also great fun for us tourists (you couldn’t say the same about the London underground!).  You leave one side of the city (nominally one continent!) and cross to the other, getting a great view of the such sights as the Dolmabahçe Palace, Haydarpaşa Station and Aya Sofia.  You can get a glass of tea from the çaycı to warm you up and if you stand outside you can throw bread for the seagulls whose aerobatic skills are stunning – they caught every piece the boys threw in midair!

The other thing about its position straddling the water is that the mega city of İstanbul, ‘the largest metropolitan city proper in Europe’ (Wikipedia) has districts near the centre that resemble small seaside towns in character. Places like Bebek and Tarabya along the European shore, have the boats, the fish mongers and the water-front promenade.  In addition, they are full of traditional wooden buildings – very quaint and very beautiful, though I guess very expensive too!

I will save the other delights for my next blog as I have to start packing to leave but it is safe to say I will make sure it’s not 17 years before I return!

Galata bridge and Tower

Beypazarı and baklava with 80 layers

Every year in the school holidays we come to Ankara to visit Cem’s cousins here.  The journey takes about 7 hours – it’s about 500km – and last Thursday when we drove up here we were worried the roads would be icy.  Actually, the only thing that was icy was the inside of our borrowed minibus, as we found out after we’d left that the heating system didn’t work properly.  Kaan was sat at the back bundled up in his coat and woolly hat!

On Sunday we loaded ALL the family – including mum, auntie, cousins and children into the minibus and went to Beypazarı, a town about an hour’s drive from Ankara.  It often seems to me that every town in Turkey is famous for something – usually a food item that is grown there, or a dish that is peculiar to there;  so for example, everyone who drives through Afyon buys ‘sucuk’ (spicy sausage) and if you go to Çorum you must try the ‘leblebe’ (chick peas).  Beypazarı goes further and is famous for a whole range of things.

Beypazarı

Firstly, carrots.  We drove into town and were met by an enormous, rather dubious-looking model carrot.  The shops sell carrot juice, carrot jam and carrot ‘sausage’ (actually a sweet sticky confection).  The town is also famous for a type of dry crisp bread that is bought as fast as the bakeries can get it out of the oven.

Beypazarı’s stuffed vine leaves are a speciality, due apparently to the high quality and sharp taste of the leaves growing there.  We bought a total of about 5kg and Cem (helped by the rest of us) ate about another kilo standing in the shop.  The shopkeeper actively encouraged this, giving us one of the pans of vine leaves to finish off and ordering in tea to wash them down with.  Don’t you just love Turkey?! 

We finished off the ‘meal’ with dessert in the form of baklava.  Though you can, of course, find baklava all over Turkey and neighbouring countries, Beypazarı’s apparently beats them all by having 80 layers of pastry.  I am not a big fan of baklava but this was lovely, with plenty of walnuts, not too much syrup and light despite the many layers.

The old town of Beypazarı is made up of distinctive wooden houses.  Many of them have been renovated, some turned into small hotels, and we visited one that has been made into a ‘living museum’.  Apart from the house itself, which was laid out and furnished as it would have been in the mid-nineteenth century when it was built, they had traditional crafts and activities in each room.

doing ebru - or paper marbling

I had a go at ‘ebru’ – the Turkish art of ‘marbling’ paper by sprinkling paints into a trough of water mixed with gum, swirling them together, then putting the paper on the top so it picks up the floating paint.  You can see my effort below- but go on the internet to see how stunning it can be!

my first attempt at ebru

Cem went for a different ‘art’ – that of lead pouring.  This is an old tradition where lead is heated over a flame and poured into water. It is said to banish evil spirits, while the shape the hardened lead takes allows the pourer to tell your future.  The picture below shows it being done (Cem is under the sheet) but unlike with my ebru, we will have to wait to see the results!

Cem having lead poured

School holidays

The school holiday has begun.  In Turkey there are just two terms to the school year – the first from September until mid-January and the second from February until mid-June.  The children have a two week holiday now between these two mega-terms.  It means that, though they have three months summer holiday, they don’t have any more holiday overall than schools in the UK.  But those long terms…the years I have been teaching in school or college  I have been nearly on my knees by the time the holiday came and even the students get very jaded and in need of a break. 

All the students in Turkey, from year 1 of primary to year 4 of high school get their school report on the last day of each term.  Kaan is in primary school where teachers are more lenient and his report was pretty much all 5s.  Emre’s crosses the whole range of marks from 5 for English (not as much of a cert as you might expect), to 1 for philosophy!  The standards are pretty high in schools here, both in the things they are teaching and the level expected, so for example, 54% in a test will only get you a 2.

Traditionally when students get their reports they take them to show family and close friends and – if they are good – get given little presents or money. Conversely students who have got bad grades will try anything to hide it, from forging reports and changing marks to running away from home!

Last week I wrote about our attempts at skiing at Erendağ near Fethiye, but you may have heard of bigger snow events in Turkey, with the winter ‘Universiade’ (university Olympics) being held in Erzurum.  Competitors from 58 countries are taking part in sports, including downhill skiing, ski jump, ice hockey and curling.  It is a big event for Turkey to be hosting and they are very proud of it. They have teams in most events, though they are fairly new to many of them.  Curling, for example, has been causing much amazement!

one of Turkish competitors in Universiade; Erzurum, Turkey

Erzurum is up in the north east of Turkey, where Cem’s family come from and near where we have been to ski in the past.  It has good snow and they have spent a lot of money on the facilities there.  There are also good ski slopes at Kartalkaya near Ankara and Uludağ near İstanbul.  The latter is now attracting some skiers from abroad.

The weather in Fethiye has been bright and sunny, but very cold.  So cold in fact that I have finally given in and let Cem put a wood-burning stove into our house.  These are the traditional way of heating here, where few houses have central heating.  They are not the most attractive addition to your interior décor but they do make the house nice and warm.  Here is Kaan, who is very smitten with it, feeding the stove.