Category: Turkiye

Minarets and museums

stitchesoftime2 Comments

Antalya Old Town is full of the minarets of mosques, and towers dating from pre 20th century development of the city. This gives it is a beautiful skyline, especially against the blue.

I have peeked into most of the mosques, but they are very much working places of worship, rather than for tourists, and although visitors are welcome, I have not wanted to intrude.

Ramadan starts tomorrow, and in the main city park there are lots of stalls being set up, and a funfair. I am not sure if this is for the celebration at the end of Ramadan, or something that happens for the busy spring and summer period, as it is a popular tourist destination.

At the back of the Old Town is an area with one of the biggest mosques, with a very large fluted minaret, called the Yivlimnare Mosque, which you can see in the bottom left photo above. There is also a very beautifully restored mosque and tomb complex, which is now a museum about Dervish culture.

This area is still being redeveloped and also contains the remains of one of the madrassas, or religious schools. All that is left is this carved gateway.

I have spent most of the last few days here visiting museums. Although small, they have been beautifully set out, and have contained lots of my favourite kinds of displays, textiles. They are housed in original mansions within the Old Town, so have been restored to show some of what family life would have been for people who lived here.

The Ethnography Museum is right next to the port. Housed in two buildings there are really interesting displays of crafts such as weaving and woodcarving.

It reminded me seeing the tablet weaving cards in the top left photo below, that I did try and get to grips with this for medieval re-enactment, but never managed. These are useful for weaving strips which can be used for straps, or sewn together to made bags or saddles.

The loom is being used for a tufted carpet rather than a woven one, and you can see the individual knots of different colours on the warp.

These socks, which are knitted on five needles look very much like the ones my Norwegian friend in Spain knits, it must be so tricky doing patterns in the round, I can barely manage rib!

One of my favourite displays was this one showing a house bathroom, with the many different sorts of taps used. The household would also use the public hammams, so would take their soap and loofahs in a tin with them. Its little things like this that really bring daily life home to you, that little container and the old soaps, a simple thing but so relevant.

The gardens between the houses had a collection of Ottaman era tombstones. I saw some of the these when I was in Larnaca in Cyprus, at the fort. The men’s ones are those with turbans, and the women’s are decorated with floral shapes. If they died unmarried they were made to look like veils at the top. They are so gorgeously carved with different complex motifs.

The textile display was small but had some goldwork and embroidery displays.

This whitework was really interesting. There appears to be a combination of stitching and pulled work, much like Hardangar, which is very much associated with Northern Europe.

This white and goldwork robe shows so clearly the problems of looking after old textiles.

The museum answered the question of why I’ve not seen much in the way of tilework here. Even in the older restored houses it is absent. As it was so much a feature of decoration in other Islamic countries I have visited, I was surprised not to see more of it. The museum’s ceramics display stated that due to the ceramics experts keeping their methods secret, much of the craft had died out here.

There is certainly a lot of beautiful ceramic ware for sale here, but it is very similar to what we have in Spain, so may be made elsewhere. I am trying to resist the urge to buy more of these bowls, just gorgeous!

The other museum belongs to the University here, again really well restored, and displaying life in the courtyard houses of Anatolia.

I love these paintings of the port, no date but I am assuming late 1800s, before any modern development.

Although I couldn’t get any very clear pictures, there was a display of an embroidery frame with a box of thread next to it.

Much of the embroidery I saw was on very fine materials, often gold and metal work on silks and fine linens, such as veils and gowns, so I assume a lot of it was frame based.

This picture is dated 1931, a woman and her friends. Possibly they are dressed for a wedding as the information was about wedding rituals.

There was also quite a lot of regular count work, that looked very reminiscent of cross stitch, but on evenweave, and some vibrant examples of flowers.

As well as the focused visits much of my time has just been wandering again, noticing little things about the architecture. I have discovered even more lovely windows and doors 😉

There are so many gorgeous little things that people probably don’t even see unless they look up. Like these carved supports for the windows, and the way that the roofs nearly touch in some places. It must make restoration really tricky here. I thought the same in Morocco, everything must have to be done with such care.

I have also had a little wander around the more tourist focused area, up at the top of the Old Town. Antalya is definitely the place to come if you want jewellery, I have never seen so many jewellery shops, and there are also some amazing sweet shops.

With those, and the incredible bakeries and cake shops you could end up eating something different every day for a month. There are so many varieties of sweet stuff here, baklava, rice puddings, meringues, as well as so much Turkish Delight of all shapes and colours.

I stopped one day for a coffee just because I loved the cups it was being served in, so detailed. I’m not a huge coffee fan, and when I do drink it I have it very milky, so the little cubes of Turkish Delight were much appreciated. It was so strong ;-0

The other thing that has amazed me about Antalya is the sheer amount of bridal shops here, selling the most amazing gowns. There is one street near my hotel with about 30 shops. Most are white or cream dresses, but there are some more traditional colours displayed as well. If you are wedding shopping come and do it here, I saw one shop advertising bride AND groom outfits for £500 in total 😉

The detail in the beading is amazing, so you can guess what I’m going to be making next for my Barbies!

I only have two days left here. There is one more museum to see, and I shall have a last wander round the port to look at the mountains. The weather is going to be glorious tomorrow, 20 degrees, so you may well find me with a cold beer in a bar overlooking the harbour. I shall really miss these mountains. Turkiye you have been brilliant, and I am looking forward to more of your joys on future visits.

I do have a few more mountains coming up in the next few months though, and am excited that next week I am reunited with Katy, and we are on the road again. It seems forever since we were adventuring, and we are going somewhere that holds a very special place in my heart. I have been before, but not to some of the area, so am very excited. All will be revealed in a couple of weeks!

Until then, as always, have fun, take care, stay safe and thanks for visting.

Not all who wander are lost…., well maybe only a little bit!

stitchesoftime2 Comments

The first part of the title of this blog post is a popular van life sticker, I don’t have this one, (yet!), but one of my greatest pleasures of my new life is the time to just wander around, and really absorb what I am seeing.

I did wonder if three weeks in Antalya would be too long, would I find enough to see and do here, but I needn’t have worried. I am going to have a busy summer, and so had decided that rather than see a lot in one month, as I did with Morocco, I will spend more time in each city in Turkey. There is so much loveliness to see here, and the Old Town is absolutely brilliant for wandering, without getting too lost.

Unlike the medinas of Morocco, where getting lost was very easy, the Old Town is open to the sky, which gives more landmarks to go by, particularly the many minarets that are in and around it. Also it is bordered on one side by the port, so if you head there you can easily find your way out.

The port still has most of its original features, including the defensive walls. The city walls were demolished in the 1920s.

Most of the Old Town has been beautifully restored. There are so many houses, small hotels, apartments, bars and restaurants here.

At the other side of the Old Town is Hadrian’s Gate, built to honour the Roman Emperor. It is brilliant that this has survived the expansion of the city. You can see in one of the later pictures how two of the columns have been replaced, and one of the crumbling ones supported.

There are also a few museums, and the university has a gorgeous restored painted building which is an Institute for the Study of Mediterranean Culture.

Some of the streets are quite wide, others are narrow alleyways, and each area has its own character. I love all the pots in the Barbaross area.

And of course there are all the doors, and windows. Just so many beautiful examples of woodwork and ironmongery, a real testament to the artisans here.

I think this one has to be my favourite, so far!

I have also seen a couple of the same motifs that I so loved in Morocco. I still have to design an embroidery based on this motif as it is my favourite design.

As most buildings are restored there are few older pieces, but I did find this beautiful carved window cover.

I have been really good and resisted all the many retail opportunities there are here. Turkey is famous for its carpets, but there are also some beautiful textiles and ceramics. However, I only have a very small bag back for the plane to Spain, and Katy is full!

Although most properties have been restored there is still some work to be done. Hopefully there is some additional funding to help businesses do that, as it must cost so much to bring these places back to life.

These were two buildings opposite each other, one has been restored and is now a hotel, and the other is still falling apart. You can just see the sheer amount of work it would take to fix it.

I sill haven’t fully finished exploring the area, I have only visited two out of the four museums, and have yet to go into any of the mosques, so that is on the itinerary for next week.

I did have a boat trip this week as well. It was a glorious day, and we went an hour down the coat to see the Duden Waterfalls, where we were rewarded by a rainbow in the spray as well. A magical trip that I will remember forever.

I also have to give a mention to the many, many cute cats of Antalya. All throughout the Old Town, and the rest of the city, and all of the parks, there are so many cats here. Some lives in the houses and restaurants where people feed them, and there are some little cat hotels in some of the parks, and at the port, where they can also get food and shelter.

I only have six days of exploring left, so will be spending most of my time doing indoor things now, I had wanted to take advantage of the good weather for wandering this week, just in case it rained again. It is due to be fine most of the week, so I am very much looking forward to soaking up as much sun and blue sky as I can before my return to the UK. March’s travels are to a place know more for its wet weather than anything else!

I shall return next week to share the last of my Anatolian adventures with you. Until then, have fun, take care, stay safe and thanks for visiting.

New mountains and a new language!

stitchesoftime1 Comment

Welcome to my first post from Turkiye! I actually left England last week for my first visit to this beautiful country. I scheduled my last post for a couple of days ago, as I wasn’t certain how much I would be able to post from here. Thankfully I have excellent wifi so all is good.

I have wanted to visit for so many years, especially after watching Chris and Marianne from Tread the Globe, who were here far longer than they intended after Covid found them stuck in a car park in Istanbul for 93 days. They later spent a year touring here, and gave me so many ideas for places that I wanted to see.

I had a really hard time deciding where to come to, there are so many beautiful places, and it is such a big country. Thankfully there looks to be no sign of them joining the EU just yet, so I am allowed to come here for my winter exiles on and off for the next few years I hope. Therefore I decided to just pick one location for this year, and to explore it thoroughly.

I chose to come to Antalya for various practical reasons, such as easy flights from Manchester, but also because of what I had seen of its location. It is such an amazing place, and I can’t stop taking pictures of the mountains that surround the city. It is located on the south coast, and so is on the Mediterranean Sea. Just look at all these gorgeous blues, and the snow capped mountains.

Much of the city is perched on rocky cliffs, so there are only a few beaches, especially the side that I am on. There are lots of little steps down the cliff, and platform bathing areas that I’m sure must be amazing in the summer, the sea is so clear and a wonderful turquoise.

All along the coastline are parks with lots of picnic areas, and nearer the city, restaurants and bars, as well as lots of viewpoints for the mountains. Up until yesterday the weather has been excellent, so I spent most of the first few days just walking along the coast. I have started to explore some of the old town and some museums, which I will post about next time.

I am staying in a really nice hotel, still very much within budget, but very modern and sophisticated compared to some of the accommodation I stayed in last year. I really loved the riads in Morocco, but this is very gorgeous.

It is called Mi Hotel Boutique, and is about 20 minutes walk from the centre of the old town, right next to the coast, and in an area well supplied with supermarkets etc. Since I am here for three weeks I choose somewhere with a kettle and fridge, and a little bit of ‘office space’, as I am doing lots of writing while I’m here.

It is also a great location to see the sunset over the mountains.

The old town here is beautifully restored, but apart from a few buildings, most of Antalaya is very modern, with low rise apartment blocks.

I did wonder why there was nothing much from earlier in the 20th century and after a bit of research found that it is because the city grew from 27,000 people before WW2, to 2 and a half million now, so quickly that it created a housing crisis. Many of these people were migrants, coming here due to the effects of war, and there were at one time lots of shanty towns. These were then replaced by the current housing from the 1970s. As you probably know I find architectural history really interesting, and this explains why everything is so modern here.

Turkish is not really a language that I had looked at before. It is a very interesting situation to be somewhere trying to learn a language that is very unrelated to anything you’ve learnt before. Spanish, French and English share so much in terms of word, and structure, but Turkish is all very new to me.

So far I’m not doing too badly, social signs help a lot as always. You can probably guess what this red road sign says just from its colour and position and lots of words are similar such as ‘taksi’.

Others take some more working out, which is where supermarket shopping comes in handy. It took me a while to work out ,’tea’, after I realised that the ‘c’ is pronounced as ,’ch’, making the word çay sound as ,’chai’, which is very familiar to me from my favourite chai latte drinks. It’s clearly very popular from the size of these bags in the supermarket.

It also helps that restaurants here have lots of pictures of food, so I have learnt ,’peynir’, and ,’tavuk’, which is cheese and chicken, quite easily. I have already had one of the delicious pide, a form of Turkish pizza, with those ingredients.

I was also wondering about why Turkish isn’t written in a different script, but uses the Latin script that most other European languages use. It turns out that this is the result of a deliberate government policy from 1928. This was to modernise the language from the previous Ottoman, which used a combination of Arabic, Turkish and Persian words, and whose alphabet did not reflect some of the sounds needed. Modern Turkish has 29 letters, 8 vowels and 21 consonants. Some of these letters have been modified to better enable the sounds of Turkish to be represented, such as Ç, Ş, Ğ, I, İ, Ö, Ü. This means you have some letters with and without modifications, so you have to look carefully at which form is being used.

This modernisation took place swiftly, and the new language and script replaced the old. It must have been a major undertaking, it brings to mind decimalisation in the UK in 1971, which I still remember clearly as a 9 year old. This article, by a Turkish/British journalist, reflecting on the impact of the language change for scholars of pre 1928 texts, is really interesting and really makes you think about the links between language and culture.

And yes, as Antalya is a major tourist resort, a lot of people speak English, but half the fun of travelling for me is trying to explain what I want in the language of the country, and everyone I’ve met has been really kind while I mangle their language! I have learnt the words for various lovely flavours of ice cream as well. This is ,’nar’, or pomegranate and it was delicious.

I have also been getting to grips with a new currency and exchange rate. Having all the lira makes you feel very rich, that ice cream cost 30 lira, which is about 66p, and the notes are very beautifully designed. I have not come across any other coins than the 1 lira, worth about 2p. Thankfully I have a conversion app on my phone which saves me having to do complex maths in the supermarket.

When I was visiting Nepal, many years ago with the Scout project, the currency all contained pictures of different animals, so we would work out the costs of our food by saying things like, ‘three elephants and a tiger’, which helped us remember the denominations.

I have been having a quiet couple of days, as it has been a bit wet, which has allowed me lots of time to write up the research I did for the novel, in Alnwick, and at Chatsworth. Tomorrow will be dry and sunny again, so I will continue exploring the old town, and the coast. I have been saving lots of lovely door photos for you, and there are also some beautiful textiles coming up!

Until then, have fun, take care, stay safe and thanks for visiting.