Thursday, May 22, 2008

Akçakoca, Turkey, Tuesday May 20th

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We stayed in our room all morning and worked through our ‘to do’ list. We had accumulated a few things so we organised two parcels to post, wrote postcards, caught up on some emails, wrote pages of blog, did some planning and looked for accommodation in Istanbul. We rang all our kids and spoke to everyone except Aidan who was out and Yonah who we heard in the background while we talked with Kathryn. Frey invited us to take an aeroplane and come to Castlemaine next week.

An excursion to the post office set us back considerably financially. Some young men about to graduate from university in the field of tourism administration leapt to our assistance when they saw us standing in the doorway of the PTT. We were thinking that it was crowded and we should come back later. They told us that there are hardly ever any ‘guests’ in Akçakoca, and that they were glad to have some ‘guests’ to help. The post office staff only had boxes in two sizes so they squashed in everything we had to go to Joel’s in a box that was a little small. We hope that the padding on the little model boats protected them. They used a kilometre of wide PTT tape on the box to secure it, and weighed it after that. I am sure that the 45 grams over the 2 kilograms made the difference but we didn’t have the heart to say “Untape it and we will take something out.” We would have, though, if we had realised the cost before everything was completed. Maybe the cost was to cover the tape and not the postage at all. Meanwhile the students helped us with forms and one waited until everything was completed. Ah well, another case of live and learn.

After that exhausting excursion we went back and had some lunch and did more on the ‘to do’ list. It seemed to keep growing, since we would think of something to add every time we completed anything.

Eventually we were exhausted by lying about doing things so we went out for tea. We only went to the café next door to the hotel, where we had a delicious meal of omelette, salad and chips and were suddenly revived. Licking ice-creams, we set off to see the progress of the bonfire of the night before. The band of large but benign dogs that had been sharing the rubbish bin booty the night before, were sprawled on the grass in the dog equivalent of chatting over some chai. We followed the paths through the park to the wharf, and then along it to the light house. Fishermen chugged out in boats, while others tried their luck with rods. Some larger boats were out of the water for repairs, very distant relatives of the Bodrum fleet. At the shore a strange statue stood; a classically inspired female figure with a globe of some kind in one raised hand. A thick electric chord ran up her chipped arm and around her neck like a noose. Two cloned lions stood one each side of her, with their identical heads looking shoreward. Over time we would inquire the meaning of it all from locals and everyone was as perplexed as we were.

This is a great town for sculptures and they are significant reminders of history and heritage. It is only this perplexing figure and the other seven or so lions dotted about the place that remain unexplained.

The bonfire was out, so we turned for home. The beautiful modern mosque grabbed my attention again and we went over to read the information. Three ladies motioned for us to go in, so I put on the scarf Emeni had given me and we entered. This nosque took 14 years to build and has a very unusual tent-style roof, rather than a dome. The decorative paintings on the walls matched parts of the carpet designs and the windows were exquisite when viewed with the light behind them. The twin minarets had blue glass in them that caught the light during the day. Small lights echoed the large light in the centre, which, in most mosques, is quite like a chandelier, but in this case was like an enclosed diamond. The atmosphere was hushed, with only two men present.

The men welcomed us and we took some photos and whispered with one while the other prayed. He, Yusef, indicated that he was very happy that I had worn a head scarf in the mosque. We left and had gone a little way up the hill when we heard them calling to us. They asked us if we would like to go home and eat with them. We said that we had already eaten but that a cup of tea would be great. Zeyd rang his family to warn them that he was bringing home two strangers and we all took a taxi to his place. He lived in an upstairs apartment with his parents and two sisters. Harun and Kibar were very welcoming and ushered us into their lounge room, which had book shelves, sitting furniture and dining furniture in it. Beautiful crystal bowls and ornaments decorated the dining room table and religious calligraphy was on the walls. It was a neat and cosy room, with double doors leading from it to another similar room with seating around the walls. Zeyd had a laptop with a translation program on it and we had the dictionary and our photos and maps. The evening passed very pleasantly and with quite a bit of laughter. Zeyd is to be married on Sunday so we looked at photos of his fiancée and of him and they make a beautiful couple – good looking and with a sweet friendliness too. The family appreciated out attempts at Turkish and they tried out a little English. It was easy to chat about jobs, families and travels. We enjoyed tea, hazelnuts from their hazelnut orchard and a puff pastry and hazelnut paste dessert. Yusuf had to leave early and said that he was sad to be going. They invited us to stay the night and visit their rural block and Zeyd asked us to come to his wedding. Unfortunately we had already bought our tickets for Istanbul or we would have been tempted to stay on. What a friendly and hospitable family they are, and how happy. We have noticed ease between different generations in Turkey on many occasions and it was certainly true today. Zeyd drove us back to the hotel where we reflected on the warm generosity we keep meeting in Turkey.

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