From Asia to Europe

Our Bursa hotel,  Kitap Evi, delivered a great night’s sleep and a good breakfast. 

We were then driven up to an old Ottoman village,  which,  because it wasn’t on a main route,  modernity passed by, and it happily retains much of its original character.  It does have electricity but the streets are still very narrow, cobbled, and have a dipped gutter in the middle which runs with water. 

Most businesses serve the immense number of visitors who typically come to visit on the weekends from Bursa and even from Istanbul.  Not so many foreign visitors seemed to bother.  We saw a very sophisticated looking group and I would have guessed they were Italian, assessing their clothes (very understated, stylish and expensive, European, well cut) and their gentility, but they were Istanbulis.

We had an extra surprise which was the exclusive use of 4 young people dressed up in very authentic  17^th/18^th century clothing from the area.  This was elaborate multi layered, bloomers, an everyday skirt, an apron, blouse, jacket, various amulets containing prayers against the evil eye, scarves, hats, jewellery, stockings etc.  For the men, woolen trousers tucked into long socks gartered, boiled wool jacket over stripey shirts and an abundance of fabric wrapped around the middle and across the shoulders for carrying things.  And felt hats. 

These four are part of a folk dancing troupe who compete all over the world and have won first place in a recent competition in Poland, and their director runs a museum of costume.  They posed for us, walked in a variety of poses, as couples, singles, fours, away and towards etc etc.  After having taken more than enough photos I wandered away to look for other details and visit a bakery to see the ovens there.

Finally I went to an outdoor café to have a Turkish coffee, a little sweetened.  It comes in tiny cups, and they cook it with the sugar, since if you stir it once it arrives you disturb the grounds and get a mouthful of grit.  They also give you water routinely.  It’s considered to kick start the brain. 

We left Cumalikizik for the coast and lunch in a fish restaurant Meral Abla in the town of Modanya which has some charming streets of old Ottoman homes, all gables, balconies and wood siding.  

Salmon and salad and then, as always, given that the owner is a friend of Nahide, a special treat on the house of tea plus baked tahini, which is mixed with lemon juice and baked until it gets a skin.  Delicious, with the consistency of liquid peanut butter or cake mix. 

And finally we get to the ferry port at Bursa and settle in to make the crossing from Asia to Europe.

Poor Turkey, straddling the two continents with Africa pressing up from below.