12/12 - 12/14
Turkey was full of unexpected delights, though we didn't much care for the lokum. Before we even got there we had plenty of adventure, looking for a midnight tram that didn't exist in central Manchester, dozing until 4am in a quite corner of the airport until woken by some astoundingly noisy staff skiving off work and finally taking off in a broken plane that had to circle Manchester for 5 hours to burn off enough fuel to land, get fixed, refueled and take off again. During that last escapade the passenger next to us was utterly terrified and even cried "How can you sleep?" at us at one point, but we were both too shattered to worry.
All in all it took us about 24 hours to get from Bristol to Antalya, so when we were greeted with beers at Soner's place it was a great relief. We Couchsurfed through most of Turkey and had a fantastic time doing it. Ostensibly because of some ancient history the Turks love the Japanese and almost everyone we met made sure we knew it! Soner the customs officer was no exception, and the first night we went out for lamb intestines and salted yoghurt. Both were pretty good, though after becoming used to sugared lassi the ayran was a bit of a shock to the palate. After forcing it down a few times I got used to it, and I think I'll take my lassis salted from now on!
We talked quite a bit about politics and religion, since Soner, Ali Umut and Ahmed are all non-religious communist Muslims. Their views were CENSORED , but since all political dissent in Turkey is both criminalised and punitively policed, they felt pretty powerless about it. Turkey seems very split between the 'European' coast and the conservative inland, as well as along Turkish and Kurdish lines and current pressures are likely only going to make that worse. With incidents like the 30 Turkish citizens being blown to pieces by their own government to provide sparks for the fire, you have to wonder how things will go.
Anyway, Duden waterfall had a number of exquisite autumnal scenes, which felt all the stranger with it being mid-winter! We also had the best orange juice I have ever tasted in a ramshackle road-side stall for taxi drivers.
Turkey was full of unexpected delights, though we didn't much care for the lokum. Before we even got there we had plenty of adventure, looking for a midnight tram that didn't exist in central Manchester, dozing until 4am in a quite corner of the airport until woken by some astoundingly noisy staff skiving off work and finally taking off in a broken plane that had to circle Manchester for 5 hours to burn off enough fuel to land, get fixed, refueled and take off again. During that last escapade the passenger next to us was utterly terrified and even cried "How can you sleep?" at us at one point, but we were both too shattered to worry.
All in all it took us about 24 hours to get from Bristol to Antalya, so when we were greeted with beers at Soner's place it was a great relief. We Couchsurfed through most of Turkey and had a fantastic time doing it. Ostensibly because of some ancient history the Turks love the Japanese and almost everyone we met made sure we knew it! Soner the customs officer was no exception, and the first night we went out for lamb intestines and salted yoghurt. Both were pretty good, though after becoming used to sugared lassi the ayran was a bit of a shock to the palate. After forcing it down a few times I got used to it, and I think I'll take my lassis salted from now on!
Pictured here with the ubiquitous Turkish tea and a big glass of ayran.
We talked quite a bit about politics and religion, since Soner, Ali Umut and Ahmed are all non-religious communist Muslims. Their views were CENSORED , but since all political dissent in Turkey is both criminalised and punitively policed, they felt pretty powerless about it. Turkey seems very split between the 'European' coast and the conservative inland, as well as along Turkish and Kurdish lines and current pressures are likely only going to make that worse. With incidents like the 30 Turkish citizens being blown to pieces by their own government to provide sparks for the fire, you have to wonder how things will go.
Anyway, Duden waterfall had a number of exquisite autumnal scenes, which felt all the stranger with it being mid-winter! We also had the best orange juice I have ever tasted in a ramshackle road-side stall for taxi drivers.
Antalya's old town and harbour were very presentable.
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