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

 

The Turkish/Armenian Debate in France

Below are some scenes from the Turkish/Armenian debate that happened last January/Febuary. They are all from the Turkish perspective

(c) Yilmaz Demirelli

(c) Yilmaz Demirelli

(c) Yilmaz Demirelli

(c) Yilmaz Demirelli

Thoughts from the RER B : Suck it in

In reference to the post, I wrote earlier about the RER B and it's problems. I have a little story about why not to squeeze and shove people onto the train or even to get on unless you are ready to face the consequences.

My husband was on the train one night and it was packed. The train decided to stop in a station for over an hour, and the driver didn't even make an announcement as to why ! Anyway there were these girls standing next to him, who were trying to impress some guys next to them. The girls kept pushing him and he said "If you don't stop I am going to get sick". Well they laughed at him and were like "Right". They should've taken him seriously because two minutes later he puked on them. I would have liked to see their faces then! Thankfully there was a doctor standing right near him and was able to get the girls to move, probably with some harsh words. and I am thankful that he is ok.

Homemade Yogurt à la turque

After coming back from Turkey trip, Y and I decided to try to make yogurt from "scratch". The milk we used was ultra-pasturized (meaning it does not taste like American milk and doesn't expire for a really long time), so we didn't know if what it was actually going to work. This yogurt is not your average Yoplait or Activia, it is homemade similar to Greek/Turkish, which means a healthier and so much better tasting kind.

What you need is :
3 liters of milk - boiled and then simmered for 30 minutes
Let it cool, covered
Depends on how hot it was in the first place, this can take 1 or 2 hours
Then add homemade ayran (plain yogurt, water and lemon salt ) or with store bought ayran - like 4 ounces or half of a very small glass.
Stir and then let sit covered overnight.





And in the morning you should have something that resembles this

This yogurt goes great with some honey, fresh berries, or just plain! So try it out!

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,

 

Turkish Bread

This past weekend, my husband and I made Turkish bread. We made one batch which didn't turn out that great, because the flour wasn't good. So, we went out and bought a 10 pack of flour and made more. We made at least 8 round breads for 1.78 euros! And a baguette these days costs 90 cents!

How you can make your own Turkish bread
1 packet of yeast mixed with one coffee cup of warm water

2 bags of flour (we used pastry flour)
and 5 cups of water and a little salt

Let the yeast sit 15 minutes, create a well in the flour and then add the water slowly and not all at once. And knead for 15 minutes adding water when necessary. Cover for 1-2 hours.

Then take small pieces and roll them out. We cooked them on the stove.

And then voila! bread! and it's great with feta cheese

One of my Favorite Things!

Favorite area: Strasbourg Saint Denis Part I

It may be surprising to some that my favorite neighborhood is SSD, because it has a shady reputation (I will discuss this later in Part III).

 My husband and I go there at least once a week because it is the one of the biggest Turkish neighborhoods and there are many authentic Turkish restaurants.

Restaurants to check out:
Corba Salonu at 15 rue du Faubourg -Saint Denis
An all you can eat soup restaurant, with a never-ending breadbowl. As soon as you make your decision for which soup, it is served steaming hot before your eyes in less than a minute. All for the low cost of 5 euros.

Genc Ura Dorum at 13 rue du Faubourg - Saint Denis
A small sit-down restaurant with less than 10 tables. The staff is really nice, they speak French, English, Turk, and Kurde. We usually eat a stack of 8 pizzas or lahmucan, that is nothing like the pepperoni and cheese variety, but rather lamb with a mix of spices and tomato sauce. and try it with some fresh ayran (a yogurt drink)

Urfa Dürüm 63 rue du Faubourg-Saint Denis
Another small sit-down place, where one can see their lunch cooked before their eyes. It is a traditional kurde restuarant with little chairs that are kind of difficult to sit on. They offer pizza as well, but the adana kebab is to die for.








If you are looking for something new to try head to Strasbourg and get ready for a mouth-watering adventure!

Current Projects

Currently, I'm working on my final Masters project for school, a concert with American music representing Kentucky, a classical music piece by Mozart and/or Mussorsky, and a Turkish folk/classical piece. My project is focusing on two regions that are unknown in a country that is very well known. Also the concert will present the more humorous side of these two regions: Paris, London, Versailles and Louisville all famous cities located in Kentucky! as well as the castles and mosques of Elazig!

For example, when I tell French people that I'm from the US they automatically think New York. I tell them politely "no I'm not from there, I'm from Kentucky" and the looks and responses I get are so funny "KFC"? "Where's that?". And then I have to explain that Kentucky is in the center part of the eastern part of the US and then explain that I have never been to New York, which was once again is a shock. The same goes for my husband who is literally from a tiny village in the middle of nowhere, and every single time someone asks if its near Istanbul, he gets angry because Istanbul is not anything like where he is from.
  
Therefore, this project is a way of connecting two cultures (American and Turkish) in a culture that is not like either of these, the French.

At the moment I am in the process of finding music and groups to play the pieces I have picked out. If any of you, the adventurers know of someone or a song representative of these two cultures, don't hesitate to contact me, I would love to hear your ideas.

Some of the songs being considered:
Kentucky Mountain Music
Music influenced by turkish music: http://www.turkishmusicportal.org/list_songs.php?type=11
Turkish classical music - http://www.turkishmusicportal.org/listen.php?id=460 Leylim Ley

In other news: in September I will be interning at Florence Brunel Artistic Agency (at the moment she does not have a webpage, that's one of my jobs!) near Chinatown in Paris. She mainly has baroque music clients: opera singers, a couple groups, and a few instrumentalists. Some include: VENICE BAROQUE ORCHESTRA,  GABRIELI CONSORT & PLAYERS, CAPRICCIO STRAVAGANTE SKIP SEMPE, GIULIANO CARMIGNOLA, etc!!!




 

Le Marche

Today was a rare experience, I went to two different marches or markets.

My usual Sunday consists of my husband and I going to the market around 10 making the usual stops to ED (the supermarket), the butcher shop, and then taking a stroll down the main street, where there are mostly non-food vendors, before hitting up the baskets of anything your heart desires from a euro, fifty-two cent lady.

But today was not the typical Sunday, instead it was me who did all of the above alone and then returning home, to find my husband ready to go to the other market down the street. A market which was mostly consisted of Algerian Arabic household items and food supplies. I don't think I have ever seen that many arabic/turkish women in one place at one time in my life. The people were all in a hurry and if I spent one minute extra looking at the fish and deciding if I wanted to buy some, I would get angry glances and comments behind my back. Whereas if I was to do that, in my market in Drancy, never would that happen, or even in a Parisian market.

The markets are a place to meet people and where people come together either to sit at the cafes and people watch, stroll along looking at all of the useless items that no one really needs, but will end up buying because it only cost one euro, or for those who want to get in and get out, because they are not into the crowds. There are endless aisles of bread, meats, veggies and fruits in each little building of the market, alongside rows and rows of clothes from socks to suits, wallets, purses, and shoes for only a mere 5 euros. Its just the people that sometimes get in the way...but if you take your time and let the other people suck it up, the experience is bound to continue.