Adventures in Turkey : Driving

While in Turkey we ended up buying a car (due to some family issues), a Renault from the 80's for 7,000 lira (2500 euros at the time).

driving to Elazig from the village, dirt roads the whole way till the expressway

Here we are getting the 80's material out and getting black and red retro style in (which somehow I don't have a picture of)

Driving in Turkey is a nightmare. If you have ever driven in Paris, its 10 times worse. I thought that the French drive horrible, with no respect for traffic laws, but Turkish drivers are worse. Since we were in Eastern Turkey, there are not a whole lot of women who drive for reasons I couldn't figure out. So everytime I was driving or got in the car, I got stares, but I brushed it off because I am just as comptent or more as the other drivers on the road.

There is no respect for traffic laws, like there would be stop signs and no one would stop. Or the round about, which I don't even understand in the first place, and people would just all go in at once. Or they would drive without their lights on in the middle of the night. People crossing the street right in front of you (I decided I would honk the horn everyone did this). Lots and lots of stories. And apparently the traffic is worse in Istanbul than where we were!!

Every time we left the city there would be a police check and I kept telling my husband I hoped that we would get pulled over, so that I can give them a discourse on driving in Turkey and how they really aren't doing their job. The one time we almost got pulled over was a false alarm, the police wanted the car in front of us, but I told my husband it was because I was a woman and they didn't want to deal with me!


Have you ever driven in Turkey or do you have a French driving experience ??

Adventures in Turkey : Landscapes

I have finally had the time to literally sit down, upload my pictures from Turkey and write posts about them and did I mention we got back from Turkey over a month and a half ago?

Upcoming blog posts about my adventures in Turkey will be about mushroom hunting, fishing, driving, village life, and tourist spots in Elazig, where my husband is from.

Elazig is located in the eastern part of Turkey, it is neither north or south. There  is a huge military presence at least 3 or 4 military stations scattered across the region. We saw military planes when we were near Tuncelli, it reminded me of the opening of the movie "Gunesi Gordum" (great movie by the way, with English subtitles). There are quite a few tourist spots, I met some Romanian students while we were in Elazig city.

We stayed mostly in my husband's village and we were in Turkey for almost a month. We had wonderful weather, it was hot a few days but only rained three times!






Now for pictures of the countryside

Everywhere there are mountains. Not a whole lot of vegetation on the mountains. They are harder to climb than it looks.

 

Back from Turkey!!

I got back from Turkey a few weeks ago and just got back from Metz a few hours ago.
 I will be updating my blog later this week, new posts about my fantastic trip in Turkey and driving the toll road in France. I will try to updating the 44 meals list ( I know I have fallen way behind, that's what a month long vacation does).


 Meanwhile enjoy a few photos from Turkey.

At a friend's family's garden

Harput, a castle and a tourist destingation

a drive through the mountains

 

Turkey : The Village

I spent at least a week in the village meeting family and cousins. I really liked the village, except for the bug bites. Their house was very open. There were four main rooms, two that were open and the other two were closed (the bedrooms). Most people sleep on the floor but because I was the guest, I got to sleep on the futon.

The bedroom

The "living room"

They grow everything they eat

Aren't these mountains just beautiful

 The children were so cute. The little boys pretended to shoot at me the first day and I said "Don't do that, I am American," in Turkish. The two little girls are nieces. Every single time, the little kids spoke in Turkish, I had no clue what they were talking about, so I said "Tamam/Ok"

There was so much to do in the village, we walked up one of the mountains at least once a day. 

Mountain view

Sneak Peek

Elazig, the city

Kovancilar, the suburb

Yukarikazanlar, the village

Turkish Vacation

Dear Adventurers,
Thank you for your interest in my blog, more posts are on their way as I will be going to Elazig, Turkey from 10-24 June to meet my in-laws. But I will also be going to learn about the culture, how to cook amazing turkish dinners, tourist sites and meet musicians. I am hoping to buy a Turkish flute, similar to a recorder as well!

For those of you who are new or would like to re-read the story, check out this  page and that page


Here is some information about Elazig, "Elazig is the most orderly city of the Eastern Anatolian region, due to its being recently founded with the name of Mamurat-ül Aziz in the 19th century by sultan Abdülaziz to settle some over-population from Harput town. It is situated on a plain near a mountain on 1,020 meters above the sea level and is surrounded by vineyards and gardens. The city today is also a trading center for crops and livestock. It's population is approximately 270.000 today. Keban Dam on the Euphrates (Firat) river and their artificial lakes contribute to the growth and general appearance of this rapidly developing city. Keban lake is the biggest artificial lake of Turkey.

The attraction of Elazig is the Byzantine Fortress of the ancient city Harput, which is made with milk (more on this later). There are also several mosques of the Seljuk period. Lake Hazar, 25 kilometers south of Elazig, is a fine tranquil site, while Buzluk Cave, 12 kilometers northeast, is an interesting cave, which remains cool in the summers and warm in the winters despite the harsh climate of the city."


I will post thoughts and photos after I get back.

Thanks, Merci,