One thing I've come to appreciate about Turkey in my brief time here is that no one location or perspective really represents the complexity of the nation. Driving through the plains and the rugged highlands of northern Turkey, this point was reinforced physically and later, upon our arrival in the quaint Ottoman town of Safranbolu, I appreciated the cultural aspect of modern Turkey's diversity. Safranbolu is an old town perched amongst rolling hills near the Black Sea coast, just four hours north of Ankara. It was once a major trading center on the Silk Road, specializing in saffron, which gives Safranbolu its name and therefore somewhat excuses my Mellow Yellow pun in the title. My whole cohort--14 of us--visited the town as a retreat after a week of work at Bilkent, spending Friday and Saturday nights in a boutique hotel in the historical city center, and returning Sunday evening. There was some work involved--we were in meetings on Sunday morning--but overall it was a fantastic excuse to relax and see some sights.
Safranbolu is preserved as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, not for any particular landmark but for the entirety of the town, which retains many of its Ottoman-era buildings and has a decidedly antique feeling to it. We wandered throughout the shops in the old town, which is known for its woodworking, textiles, shoes, Turkish delight, and, of course, saffron. I was able to pick up a beautiful blue cloth for five lira (around $3) that's designed as a tablecloth but is now hanging on my wall as decoration. I also have a spoon-shaped thermometer that doubles as an evil-eye detector--talk about multi-function! On Saturday we ate lunch in a beautiful caravanserai, an old inn which might have housed Ibn Battuta, the famous Arab traveler, in the fourteenth century.
On Saturday we took a day trip to Amasra, about an hour and half north still of Safranbolu, right on the Black Sea coast. The mercury flirted with one hundred Fahrenheit all afternoon, and we were very glad for the cooling dip in the sea, despite the menace of dozens of jellyfish. Amasra is pretty much just a beach town, and so we didn't stay too long, but we did have a great fish dinner on our way out. Note: that's Hannah and I near the top of the third picture, playing frisbee with two young Turkish boys.
After a few hours of meetings on Sunday and a bit more shopping and eating, we headed back to Ankara. With an off day today, most people opted to sleep in this morning. But I and four intrepid colleagues, mindful that we owed the holiday to the national observance of Victory Day, which celebrates the 1923 victory for the Turkish nationalist forces in their independence struggle, decided to look for the celebrations in downtown Ankara. We were only partially successful--we found a column of soldiers haphazardly marching out of Ataturk's mausoleum, presumably on their way to a parade elsewhere. But we did get to check out the mausoleum itself, which is imposing and, I thought, a fitting tribute to a man who did such service to his nation. The museum underneath the monument is especially impressive--it's obviously a hagiography of Ataturk and the republican struggle, rather than a critical study, but the artwork and the memorabilia were fascinating. We were also able to have some adventures with the city bus system, which left us all a bit more educated.
So that's that. We have a week and a half more of training, followed by a five-day national holiday to mark the end of Ramadan, and a bunch of us will be heading south to Antalya and Olympos on the southern Mediterranean coast. Out of respect for my employers, I won't be blogging much about the actual work I do at school, but suffice it to say that everyone here is wonderfully kind and accommodating. Our CSI group is a really fun bunch as well, and we're all eagerly looking forward to an amazing year in Turkey!
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