Last week when I was in Gaziantep I introduced one of my fellow travelers to şalgam. (Actually, I think I used the phrase "inflicted it upon him".) Before I left town, I made him promise to introduce our mutual friend Sara to şalgam. He did so. Above is a...
Today my only plan was to wake up in Mersin, go to Cennet ve Cehennem (Heaven and Hell, some naturally-occurring sinkholes), take a single photograph, and return to Mersin. In Turkey my plans are usually simple like this. Sometimes people ask me why I make such simple...
Even when I’ve just eaten, I can’t turn down an opportunity to eat hummus. There’s a great hummus restaurant downstairs from the place I’m staying in Mersin. Hummus, parsley, whole chick peas, and a sauce of oil and ground red peppers. All of...
These are the things I’m going to leave behind in Mersin. They won’t get to ride along in my backpack for the final 1/3 of the trip. In the assortment are some notebooks, the contents of which have been scanned and uploaded onto the internet; a Cormac...
I will be in Side for a few days early next week. I have some business to take care of there. If you are in the area, or want me to say hello to someone who is, drop me a line and let me know. My cell is +90 537 493 2356.
Today I joined Melih, a friend of mine in Mersin, and two of his colleagues, Barış and Musa, for a trip to a mining camp in the mountains outside Erdemli, a town on the Mediterranean coast southwest of Mersin. The three of them are working on a project to boost the...
My new friends in Maraş, Hakan and Mümtaz, took me out for brunch at Mado. I’ve been to some pretty impressive buffets in my life, but never before have I seen as much food, offered in as many varieties, in one room before. I practically ate myself sick. A few...
After ice cream and baklava, Emine and I joined Hakan for his Arabic course at a local university. I sat in on the class, which was too advanced for me (I don’t speak any Arabic). It was a four hour night class, and I didn’t understand a single word that...
Emine and I met a man named Hakan, at whose house I would be staying that night, for some baklava and ice cream at Yaşar Pastanesi, the home of Turkish ice cream.
Kahramanmaraş is well-known around Turkey for its ice cream, and this bakery is where it all started. Yes, we did go in and have some ice cream, and some baklava too of course.
