Picturessss

Precious tree in Baha'u'llah's home. He revealed a tablet under this very tree.
Baha'u'llah's home in Edirne

Selimiye Mosque in Edirne where Baha'u'llah had spent some time

more pictures to come soon...

Lots of Updates

A lot of time has passed since my last update! Sorry about that! We are a lot busier than I ever imagine we would be. Mainly we visit a lot of family, but since Istanbul is so big and crowded, it takes awhile to get from one place to the next. Hence my lack of updates.

I've decided for the sake of convenience to just do the writing first and a separate entry just with pictures.

Since my last post we have gone on a major road trip to central Anatolia. We started our journey by car at 11:00 p.m. and arrived at our destination at 6:00 a.m. the next morning, thanks to Atilla's father's ability to stay awake overnight! We all felt quite tired when we arrived, but once we stepped out of the car into the clean, fresh, crisp mountain air we were all revived. After some yummy breakfast we started our day. We check into our hotel, which was occupied only by us and then we went to visit one of the famous main attractions in the area, the underground city. The area is famous because of it's natural geologic formations which were used by Christians to escape persecution. They built entire cities and churches within these formations and it is estimated that around 1,000,000 people were living in underground and hidden communities.

Kapadokya feels more like Japan than Turkey, if only because there are more Japanese there than Turks. We weren't quite sure what the connection was, but there were entire tour groups there for Japanese and even a Family Mart (which is a Japanese convenience store). We had a really funny time in the underground city because there were groups of 30 Japanese tourists either in front of or behind us. Atilla and I both get a little claustrophobic when we are stuck in very tiny spaces with crowds, but we both made it through with no problems :)

After this we took a little drive around to see the beautiful natural surroundings and then we went to my favorite place in the whole region, called Uchisar. It is absolutely gorgeous! People have modern homes built right into the rock formations and they live on very steep hills. The view is amazing, everybody has chickens and some have goats and sheep and lots of people grow their own tomatoes, peppers, and herbs. It's an amazing place! As we were walking around I heard some nice music coming from a small building and it turned out to be a studio rented by about 4 or 5 artists. There was a man blowing glass and making exquisite jewelry, someone else makes leather goods, another does hemp and beading, and then another is a painter. Turkey has a very old, established bazaar community and unfortunately it has suffered the same fate as many other consumer institutions. You would be hard pressed to find any original goods sold in bazaars or on the streets these days, most people sell the exact same products coming from factories in other areas. The wonderful part about this artist's studio was that everything was unique and original. I bought a beautiful glass ring with a very tradition Turkish symbol (you will see it when I come home) and we found some wonderful gifts there. The people were also so lovely and they did a whole glass blowing demonstration and made a necklace charm for Atilla's little brother. They said they don't get much business which I think is extremely sad. There must be some way in this world to have a balance, so that mass production can be used where it is necessary and crafters and artisans still have a way to survive and pass on their skills.

After Uchisar we went back to our area and ate some dinner and had an early night. Atilla and I took a little walk around and then went to sleep (it had been a long trip and a long day so we were ready for sleep!).

The next day we had full khavalti (breakfast) as part of our hotel stay. It was delicious! Turkish breakfast is the best, it is healthy and delicious. After this we went to the open air museum, which was another entire city of churches and homes hidden in natural formations. Then we went on a hike in pigeon valley (appropriately named for it's massive amount of pigeons) which was quite an adventure! We took a very beautiful scenic walk along the ridge where we could see Mount Argeas (sp) towering in the distance. Afterwards we went back to the Uchisar region to walk around more and spend some time and then we went to the main attraction (the fairy chimneys).

We went back to our little area for dinner again then we went to Avanos (famous for it's pottery) and Can (Atilla's little brother) threw some pottery and we had some tea. Then we went back and slept so we could wake up early for our road trip back.

The next morning we had breakfast and set out on our way to Ankara (which was on the way back). In Ankara we went to Ataturk's masoleum and ate some pastries while there. Then we went 100 km into the old roads to get to Beypazari, a small, beautiful mountain town. We had some dinner there and then drove the rest of the way back to Istanbul through the mountains of central Anatolia. The entire landscape was stunning and we passed a huge salt lake on the way, which is where Turks get most of their salt.

After we came back we had a full schedule with family and friends. We went to visit Atilla's maternal grandma and marveled at her artwork. She is an incredible artist and quite prolific! Such a wonderful woman, down to earth and very loving! I have a habit since childhood of fascination with old photo albums. So as soon as I can get my hands on them I sit with old photos and start asking who everyone is. I have some pictures of Atilla's maternal grandmother as a young lady. We ate Iskender kebap together (which was an experience in itself). The Kebap is delicious and very deceiving. I ate nearly everything on my plate and afterwards I felt that I would not need to eat anything again for 3 days because I was so full. I learned later that there is some kind of science to eating this kebap, people usually only eat it once or twice a year and they don't eat all the bread on the bottom.

Then Atilla went to the dentist, which turned out to be an all day venture. I spent some time walking up and down Bagdat Caddesi (a famous street with lots of shops and a lot of walking space). After the dentist we went to Atilla's uncle's house for dinner (which I was dreading because I thought I might explode if I ate anymore) and to stay over in their house. I love his aunt and uncle, they are a great couple. His aunt is the general manager of BMW here and so she works like mad, but she is very happy and full of life. We watched a slide show of his uncle's time in Japan (he worked there for a year) and then also some video of their wedding.

The next day we visit Atilla's aunt Aysegul and her family in Bebek. We went to the hamam (Turkish bath) together (I had been wanting to go) and we were not disappointed. Atilla and his uncle went to the men's side and we went to the ladies. We were thoroughly scrubbed and our dead skin gone, then we were soaped and lathered and we sat in the steam for a little while. After awhile we were both quite overheated and ready to sit and cool ourselves. After our hamam experience we went to pick up Ada (their 4 year old) from school. She was so excited to have us come to her classroom and we participated in her activities at the end of the day. She goes to an English language school, so her lessons are all in English. Then we spent the rest of the day in their home for a lovely visit.

The next day we met up with Zeynep (Kocaoglu) and had some food and then Zeynep and I took a walk together and I got to meet her parents. I love Zeynep's parents!! Her dad used to be on the Turkish parliament and actually saved Baha'u'llah's home in Edirne from being torn down and used as a school. He was in charge of human rights for Turkey for a certain period and had a few instances, including that one, where he was helping the Baha'is in Turkey. We were excited to hear this news and also he is just such a sweet teddy bear. He reminds me a lot of my dad, very patient and interested in history and likes to eat and has a good sense of humor. Zeynep's mom is a gastronomist. She has a Phd in Nutrition and was teaching for many years at Bosphorous University. We had some wonderful discussions and I realized that nutrition may be a really interesting area of study for me, so I'm now looking into the field.

The next day we had kahvalti with Atilla's friend Borek who's been studying nanotechnology in Russia. After breakfast we went together to visit Nine (Atilla's great grandmother). We spent some time looking at old photos (at my request) and discovered some incredible photos with Ottoman script. Then we went to a place where Atilla could take free Ney (Turkish flute) lessons and then onto dinner with Atilla's self-proclaimed big sister (also named Zeynep).

There are a few more events that happened up until today, but this post has gotten long enough already. I will try to update once more before we leave!