TURKEY NOVEMBER 2013 -7- OUR ANTALYA EXPEDITION ALONG THE MEDITERRANEAN COAST

ANTALYA EXPEDITION

11.15.2013

The week went by very quickly. After a day in Foca and another in Kusadasi where our family summer houses are, I head to Antalya, the tourism capital of the country. I like going to Antalya to visit its smaller towns like Kemer, Side during the low season. Even these small towns turn into commercial, tremendously crowded places in the high season that leaves no room for breathing to one like me, who enjoys spending time with locals, chatting with them to learn their life stories, and truly learning a place. These people, who are too busy to make the most off of tourists, become more mellow, more friendly and open to outsiders to really connect with them late in the fall and winter.

 

Fisherman displaying his fish along the promenada in Foca (Phokai)

In the summer, on the other hand, the 5-star hotels and holiday villages that form an ugly wall (to me) between the city and the sea employ all the locals either as owners or paid-hands, who are all too busy with chores, groups of visitors in a fully commercial world. Then, it is impossible to connect with anybody, it is not possible to see the hospitable face of Turkish people.  To tell you the truth, if I end up going to Antalya in the summer, I feel like a chicken, with every store, hotel, enterprise waiting to pluck my feathers one by one.

Each small hotel in Foca has as small a "pier" allowing access to the beautiful Aegean

Every time I happen to be in one of the hotels lining the entire Antalya downtown coastal line, I crave to be back on the Aegean, where these hotels are a rarity (still ugly, perhaps uglier than in Antalya), moderated by many many small boutique hotels and guest houses, that are much more personable, no doubt. And part of this perception is related to who visits these 5-star monstrosities in Antalya versus the numerous small villages along the Aegean coasts. These hotels offer three meals and a variety of entertainment packages and try to lock you in as if you are on a cruise ship (another thing, I highly doubt I would ever consider). I like colorful people full of curiosity, intellect, sense of adventure, who are able to think out of the box. I must say most of the people I bump into at these hotels when I am assigned, occasionally, when I have to lecture at a conference, are very very pale in color....

 

On the city boat to Karsiyaka in Izmir

That is why, I probably will never get on a cruise ship, a tour to visit India, stay at a 5-star hotel on my own accord, but will plan my own travel in a way to reach out to locals as much as possible, will stay in places close to the real people, eat at places where locals frequent, make my own plans on what to see, what to experience, what to buy what to take back with me (and most will be memories and friendships) and what not from the lands I visit. That is why you will come across me along the Aegean much more frequently than around Antalya.

Kusadasi against Greek island Samos

However, I have a dear friend from Iowa City visiting Antalya during a conference he has to attend. Although, I am not a native of Antalya, either, and Antalya has clearly changed tremendously since the last time I have been here some 10 years ago with its sprawling legs and arms in all directions, I still am a bit more knowledgeable about what has been unique in this city at least historically. I am looking forward to exploring the city with him to discover what has changed and what has continued anchoring this some 3000 plus year old city. We were scheduled to rent a car at the airport and drive ourselves to our hotel since we arranged to arrive in Antalya pretty much around the same time. I have printed out all the details of the route since our hotel is in the old town, Kaleici (meaning inside the fortress), which consists of a maze of very narrow alley-like cobble stoned streets (the latter we will discover once we get there). Alas, my flight is 3 hours delayed and he decides to take a taxi cab to the hotel and I will follow him the same way when I get to the airport. When, I get to the hotel I will take a deep breath that we didn't have to drive into this maze the very first night, it would have been close to impossible to find the place, really.

 

Hotel Tuvana is just behind the fortress walls

As I walk through our hotel, Tuvana, I am amazed, just as I will find out my friend to be in a little bit. It sprawls into a full block in this lovely, well-cared for maze. It consists of several small buildings some 300 years old built during the Ottoman Empire that were used as the mansions of the elite. They are irregularly situated around a courtyard, which is used as the open-air restaurant adjacent to the very elegant restaurant "Serazer", one of the best restaurants in town, we will learn later specializing in French cuisine (not my thing in Turkey, really!). My dear friend Ali from high school arranged this hotel for us. Its charming manager Nermin, who is a family friend of Ali has not left knowing that my flight was delayed (how sweet). As my luggage is being wheeled through the courtyard into the building where our room will be, Nermin appears with a very personable and warm smile and gives me a hug as if I am her friend also: That’s how things go in Turkey; if one of your friend tells you their friend needs help, their friend becomes your friend instantaneously and, you are expected to take care of them as if this stranger has been your friend all along! When it is your turn needing help, you get the same treatment of course. Along these lines, Nermin and I will become friends over the next few days of our stay at Tuvana. Right behind Nermin, towers my friend and surely, he is well taken care of by Nermin, who also personally met him a while ago. I join him to share his salad along with a glass of wonderful Turkish wine around an outdoors fireplace.

 

Part of the maze in Kaleici leading to Hotel Tuvana

Nowadays Turkish wine producers are producing very good quality wine, some of which are Okuzgozu, Karecik karasi, etc. My friend makes arrangements so that the rental car is brought to our hotel the next day, rather than taking a taxi back to the airport to pick up our car. It turns out to be a very good plan, I would have never thought of, his extensive travel experience turns out to be quite a problem solver for both of us. The next morning, we have a leisurely breakfast in a different outdoors setting beneath the courtyard furnished in Ottoman style. We are now ready to begin our expedition. Before we head toward Termessos, dear Nermin prepares a map of directions for us with her own hand, color-coded, one way roads, overpasses and underpasses all marked, clearly a fool-proof guide. How sweet, I think, one more time. You can never get this at a 5-star hotel despite all the civility and politeness. This warmth and care can never be replaced with any commercial caretaking. That is why, I prefer staying at places like Tuvana, rather than a 5-star hotel, wherever I go and I think it will stay that way for quite some time if not forever.

Street boy selling gevrek (Turkish bagel with sesame seeds) off of a wooden tray

TURKEY NOVEMBER 2013 -6- FIRST TRADITIONAL KIDS AND ALL GET TOGETHER (1.GELENEKSEL COLUK COMBALAK TOPLASMASI)

11.11.2013

Unfortunately, some of my dear friends still smoke. After many emotional moments, it is time for a smoke breakL In the mean time, we are still questioning whether Umut is coming or not. Zeynep's lips are still sealed, although from her avoidant looks, I suspect he might be on his way. However, nobody else seems to know anything about it, either. Gulce finally starts calling Umut on his cell phone. Cell phone is turned off. That is impossible for a businessman: Of course I wonder whether he is on a plane or not. To my surprise, he finally picks up the phone! We learn that he is in Istanbul... I cannot believe it! The Umut that I met a few weeks back in Iowa, certainly would be and must have been in Izmir now not in Istanbul. I feel betrayed... I pick up the phone, he abashedly tells me he is heading to his girlfriend's house and apologizes that he won’t be able to join us this weekend. I can kill this girlfriend of his now!!! (not reallyJ) What can we do? Of course a 28 year-old young man can be expected to choose his girlfriend, whom he gets to see occasionally (one lives in Istanbul, the other in Vienna) over his parents’ old friends…. In my heart I forgive him, although I know this evening is not going to be the same as it would have been if he had surprised us just like Zeynep did. I was wrong, he is not coming.

Kids and I

The group has scattered a bit now. Suzan and Aysegul, who went for a smoke are still missing. Seeing that it takes a long time for them to come back, I go to the kitchen to see what is happening. Suzan and Aysegul are almost glued to the window looking at something intently. All of a sudden, one screams silently almost whisperingly, "Yes, it is him, he just got out of the taxi!" I know, who they are talking about.... My dear Umut held onto his attempt to surprise us all till the last minute. I know what will follow now: surely the doorbell rings, the outside door is unlocked via intercom, the doorbell rings one more time, this time the entire crew is in the vestibule. Now we know, Yildiray and Zeynep knew all along. Everybody meets him with hugs and kisses and tiny screams of joy. Umut is surprised big time: He didn't know Zeynep was coming! He is lovingly upset with her, I am even more upset with Zeynep for not sharing her surprise with him! it takes a while for zeynep to convince us how she wanted to surprise Umut as well... We are now one big family with only one missing item, Baris, he will find his way toward this circle of love sooner or later...

 

Happy mother Aysegul with Umut, her son

Yildiray now can have his main dish "I was waiting for my son to arrive", reasonable explanation now... Lots of photos are taken, which will be published on Facebook or dropbox with the title of "the first traditional get together of kids and all" we will make this a traditional get together, hopefully on a yearly basis. next, we will meet at Saniye and Mehmet's, in Guzelbahce, a coastal suburb of Izmir, next at Yildiray and Aysegul's in Karaburun, where they have a lovely authentic summer house in an authentic village, finally in Suzan and Levent's in Foca, at their summer house, an hour north of Izmir. All of these get togethers will be overnight. We will bring our sleeping bags and get lined up "like sardines" wherever we can. Perhaps, next get together that I will do, I will hold in Kusadasi at my summer house. Just like in the old days. It is such a wonderful treasure to have friends, with whom one can go back to college years. And having experienced all of this together with such a group is yet another level of treasure. I find myself so very lucky that I have had them in my life and will forever, hopefully, from this point on only to get closer. 

And a proud father Yildiray with son Umut 

When the night is over, it is nearly midnight. Everybody has half an hour to get to their homes and several of them have a 6 am flight to catch. I know, the 6 hours we spent together will be another precious item in the set of special moments in our history, prone to many more special moments like these in the years to come. All of us will be looking forward to replicating these moments.... I love you all my dear friends, brothers, sisters, and kiddos.

Levent scared of what he is learning from Ekin about the financial world's ins and outs...

TURKEY NOVEMBER 2013 -5- FIRST TRADITIONAL KIDS AND ALL GET TOGETHER (1. GELENEKSEL COLUK COMBALAK TOPLASMASI)

11.11.2013

I go back to the end of 1980s even in the deafening chatter of my lovely crowd at my mother’s house. In mid-80s, my husband Zeki had already introduced me to his friend Mehmet and his wife Saniye, who had just had a baby then, our dear Ekin. We had recently moved to Izmir from Burhaniye, a resort town along northern Aegean, where I had worked for two years as a brand new Ministry of Health family doctor at a mother and child health care center. Saniye and Mehmet made me feel like I had known them all my life, I still vividly recall the weekend we spent together at their house. How could I have known then that they would have become two of my closest friends throughout my life? They did become indeed, which continued when they moved to Izmir in the end, and nowhere but to our neighborhood...

Mehmet and Saniye

When we moved to Izmir, my husband was hired by a company where one of my childhood friends Levent worked at. My history with Levent went all the way to our toddlerhood... In fact, his paternal grandmother and mine were neighborhood friends from Crete, where my entire family emigrated to Turkey from. I remembered how our grandparents chattered in Cretan like machine guns (so it felt to me when i was barely in elementary school) when we were kids. His father and mine had grown up together and both had become carpenters, whose wives (our mothers) also had become friends. I recall, our visits to their home in Bayrakli, one of the old town sections of Izmir at the very end of the bay. They lived in a two-story typical old Turkish house, which I admired. How could I have known we would also move into an even older, stone Greek house one summer, only to move into another one in a month due to the enormous size of the former and my poor 21-22 year-old mother being too scared to live in that huge house.

 

Levent and Suzan

Levent during our meeting tonight will bring up the second house of that summer we lived in. It was adjacent to the railroad tracks and an open movie theater. The screen was right behind our house and sitting on the window sill of the back room, we were able to watch the movie every night. It was quite fun for us kids of course, it must not have been so for my mother. At the end of the summer, we were back to where we came from in Karsiyaka. Our parents must have decided, where we had lived was not that bad after all. Isn’t it what happens in life in many situations: Especially, young people wonder the world to find out what they had in the first place was not that bad after all… Some on the other hand travel far far away to find independence and freedom to grow and flourish. I think what happened to me is the latter in life.

 

My honorary pediatric patients, who've now grown to become wonderful adults

Levent introduced his girlfriend Suzan to Zeki (my husband) and I. We liked her right away, she was soft-spoken, sensitive, and quite fun. We started socializing. It was several months after we met her, they came to our house one night for dinner. All of a sudden, Levent uttered "Find an apartment for us from this building or next, so we can get married, too, will you?" We were kind of surprised, but nothing compared to the expression on Suzan's face: She was stunned, understandably, since we would learn in a bit, this was Levent's proposal to her! And she accepted... It was a wonderful and an unforgettable moment (I still remember where we each were in our apartment when this very conversation took place). Moments like this; being witness to such an intimate moment of friends’ history that make people best friends I guess. We couldn't find an apartment for them right in our building, but in about .5 km or so, thus, we became neighbors for a long time, from 1988 till 1998 when I left Turkey and moved to the USA. Their daughter Gulce was born in 1989 and became not only my surrogate daughter but also my patient in my pediatric office, one of my precious patients a member of a slew of kids that were my honorary patients: Ekin, Mehmet and Saniye's daughter and Umut, Yildiray and Aysegul's son among a half dozen kids. I would schedule them personally to the last visit of mostly a Saturday, so that I could spend as much time as needed not only for the kids but for us parents as well. Each of these visits would end with casual friendly catch up conversations, which I treasured throughout my tenure in my private practice. It warmed my heart when recently, Yildiray sent me a message and asked me about Umut’s immunization status! Umut being 28 years old now, I felt sad that I had not kept his card but transferred his file to my friend Demet, who took over my private practice when I left Turkey. Fortunately, when Umut visited us this past fall in Iowa City, I gave him all the info he needed to get his missing immunizations in Austria.

Yildiray and Aysegul 

The last team that joined our group was Yildiray and his family. Yildiray was a friend of Mehmet and Levent and thus became a friend of Zeki. He happened to move to our neighborhood with Aysegul, his wife and Umut, his son. Umut turned out to be my daughter Zeynep's age! Yildiray was the "baba" (father) figure in our entire group. Always mature, coming up with good ideas on everything, dependable to the T! Aysegul was a "mother" figure, taking care of all our needs when there was nobody else to take care of them, child care being one! In the end, she would indeed start a home day care and become the care provider of all our kids except for Zeynep, whose care provider was my mother already. I "fell in love with her" the moment I met Aysegul and she never failed me! Zeynep became their surrogate daughter, especially after her father and I split, Yildiray played a very significant role in Zeynep's life.

A group of us from the dinner

More importantly, Zeynep and Umut grew up together sometimes fighting, sometimes sharing, sometimes teasing, but mostly in full camaraderie and loving each other.  When we left Turkey in 1998, they were both 13 years old, but fortunately, they kept in touch through the years including face to face meetings in Istanbul or Izmir especially during Zeynep's study abroad for a year in Istanbul several years ago. Every time we meet, we share so many stories together that crack us all up… I won’t share these here, though, since there is a ban on such stories in public from Umut! Our children grew up to become competent, well-trained young men and women. Umut now is in the sales management field at an international company, working in Austria, my daughter is going through her medical education in the USA, Ekin, Mehmet and aniye's daughter is in investment banking in London, Gulce, Levent and Suzan's daughter is a lawyer, going into international studies in Istanbul. The last offspring, Baris, Ekin’s brother, who was barely a few years old when we left Turkey is in college in Istanbul as well, whom I hope will also connect to us all down the road.

 

My brother and his wife

Just as I am going through all this in my mind, we have gone through quite a bit f food at the table including the main dish, hungarian chicken paprikash. For some reason, Yildiray postpones his main dish claiming "I'd like to go slow..." that is the t=rhetoric at “raki sofrasi” while drinking raki. In the mean time, I share with my friends the crystal candle holders I brought for each family. I will keep two of them at my mother’s house and each will get two to take home so that at every house we get together from now on, we will light candles at the dinner table. these candles will be aflame in honor of the light of our friendship that enlightened our paths for so long. It turns into a touchy moment. Suzan and Aysegul are in tears, I can barely hold them back. The guys, as expected are trying to lighten the air with jokes and teasing statements, but I can tell everybody is feeling the same: We all know how precious our friendship has been for all of us. It is such a priceless experience. What is almost more important is that our kids also share the moment with us.  Their faces are full of light, understanding, and love, just like us... We know they will carry the banner of communal sharing, appreciation and bonding to the next generation…

where can one fall asleep like this but HOME? that's how we all feel at each other's home at all times...

TURKEY NOVEMBER 2013 -4- 1ST TRADITIONAL KIDS AND ALL GET TOGETHER (1. GELENEKSEL COLUK COMBALAK TOPLASMASI)

1. GELENEKSEL COLUK COMBALAK TOPLASMASI

11.11.2013

If somebody had told me a month ago all the things that happened last night would happen, I could have never believed them! I went to bed around 1 am right after my friends left last night, feeling more for them (although I was also miserable with jet lag) since 3 of my beloved friends had a 6 am flight to catch, and the rest except for the three vacationers among us, had to be at work by 8 am. Despite all the difficulty involved, they all came, after carrying the sweet anticipation in their hearts for weeks just as I did. They all brought lovely, healthy food that they had cooked with their own hands just like I did, for all of us, our commune of 25 years of age. The only pronoun uttered throughout the night was "us" and "we" and "our" just as in the old days. Tears were abundant, but all full of love, longing, and happiness. Laughter was much more abundant, throughout the night, at times reaching the level of screaming in ecstasy, thanks to two of our kids, who played quite a trick on not only us but also on each other! When they did the most unexpected, put all aside and chose to be with us against all odds...

 

Yildiray and Aysegul

Around 6:30, they started trickling in. Aysegul and Yildiray, Umut's parents came in first. I had met Yildiray through my ex-husband Zeki, who then introduced his lovely wife Aysegul to us. Of course, Aysegul's arms full of sacks, full of her hearty food dishes. We "mourned" over the fact that Zeynep and Umut, our kids weren't able to come, Umut due to his hectic work schedule in Europe, Zeynep due to the distance and schedule conflicts in America. "Oh well" we calmed ourselves down, surely there would be more times to get together with kids and all. We knew at least two kids of our commune were coming, Gulce and Ekin, 5-6 years younger than Umut and Zeynep. We would hug them for all the rest.  

Suzan and Levent

Suzan and Levent followed along with their beautiful daughter Gulce, inside and out. Her height was at 25th percentile throughout her toddlerhood. Despite all my predictions that she would probably reach an adult height of 5'2" or 3", she is now 5'8" tall ! Well pediatricians fail sometimes, too… We laugh… We do have 8 pounds of baklava from Gaziantep, the baklava capital of Turkey! Hopefully, the boys will have enough and won't have to fight over it. We all lovingly recall a time when we had gone out to dinner during one of my recent visits to Turkey. Susan had brought 8 pounds of baklava, 4 for us after dinner, 4 as a gift to other friends of theirs to be delivered the next day. We saw very quickly the first 4-lb box being cleared empty. Yildiray and Mehmet were complaining that they had not had enough: However, somebody noticed that their plates were still full of baklava. In no time, Levent discovered that Yildiray and Mehmet had stolen the other box and were serving themselves more and more baklava from under the table! Good thing, he recognized that soon enough, the second box also found its way to ALL of our tummies, certainly with a larger share for Yildiray and Mehmet. When 50 year-old adults act like kids, you know they are with best friends, that’s who we have been for one another for a quarter of a century now, what a bliss…

Ekin, Mehmet and Saniye

The last team we are expecting is Mehmet and Saniye and their children, Ekin, for sure, and perhaps Baris, their son, too.  Around 7, we receive a phone call from Mehmet, who finally declares, he is lost. It becomes clear that instead of following my brother's crystal clear directions, he chose to follow his GPS, which was constantly sending him to a section of town quite opposite of where we were. Eventually, his wife and daughter giving him quite a hell made him accept that a human brain still needs to be monitoring these techno junkies and called us to get the directions. Of course we meet them all  with quite a bit of laughter and "boooo" for Mehmet taking the remaining of his self-esteem away from the poor guy. Saniye and Ekin are very pleased since they had been struggling with his technology obsession for over half an hour. Baris is missing unfortunately, I am sure, for our second get-together, he will be with us after hearing all of our stories.

Female gang before Zeynep's arrival

After all the greeting hugs and kisses and mini-catch-up conversations, I finally feel having arrived home with them all. The first round of raki is being served gradually, thanks to my brother Mehmet. He is taking care of the ice-cold water, cold raki, ice cubes and all. Levent has already devoured multiple pieces of borek. Several of the men are still teasing our friend Mehmet, for his submission to technology and getting  lost. Just as we are settling down, the door-bell rings that sends a cold shiver down my spine: "Who could that be? other than an unexpected, most likely unwanted spontaneous visitor, which potentially might spoil our evening?" Knowing, the visitor is at the ground floor entrance of the apartment building, I volunteer "let's not open the door" knowing too well, that is not possible in Turkey and Kezban my sister-in-law is already at the door letting the unexpected visitor in anyway.

Raki is a must in Turkish get togethers


There is something unusual, though, Kezban's voice, which is neutral and dull in her "who is it?" escalates into a full-of-pleasant-surprise, rather, feeling-pleasantly-stunned in the following "what do you mean it's me? oh my..." as she opens the door: All of this triggers curiosity in all of us but especially me. I peek through the living room door into the vestibule when Kezban has already opened the door, through which I see something, which makes me feel disoriented. For a second, I ask myself, “where am I, aren’t I in Izmir?” since it is my mischievous daughter, Zeynep, who is entering our vestibule with the most delighted chuckle on her face! It is like a dream, I still can't believe what I see, the little devil, she really tricked me… but I am as delightful as surprised. My entire gang is in our small vestibule now, trying to get a piece of Zeynep. Nobody believes, this is as much a surprise for me as it is for them. Delightful screams, hugs, kisses, laughter fill the space now. I am almost sure Umut will be coming, too, however Zeynep totally denies that. Umut's parents? They do, too, the excuse is, he has to come to Turkey next week, he couldn’t make to trips back to back. Two weeks in a row was not an option. Although, I am ecstatic with Zeyno's arrival, I am a bit disappointed that Umut  is not coming since he was the instigator of all this planning by stirring all the emotions from 15-20 years back a few months ago in the first place... I really wish he could have been with us. For some reason, I still have hope…

My crazy but lovely daughter's arrival brought tears to many eyes... happy ones, certainly...