Our Black Sea Break

We just spent an amazing 3 weeks in the mountains inland from the tiny town of Pazar on the Black Sea coast of Turkey.  Hubby's family reign from this area and still have several properties scattered throughout the mountains from both his mother's and father's sides of the family.  Both families were (many many years ago) dairy farmers.  Due to the extreme temperatures of the area, the farmers would gradually move their herds up and down the mountain from one property to the next with the changing seasons.  The families still retain land from each of these grazing pastures.

In the weeks we were there, we visited several of these properties, some with the original houses still standing, others with no more than a few bricks on the land.  Without exception, every place was incredibly beautiful.

Words and pictures cannot adequately describe the beauty, the atmosphere, and the smells of these places.  But hopefully these photos will give you at least an idea of why I'm so in love with this part of the world.

The first place we visited was my mother-in-law's hilltop property called 'Sugidap'.  Unfortunately, the original house was left to the elements and over the years the house collapsed and one by one, every brick was taken by thieves. The MIL loves this place so much that she's started rebuilding there.  To maintain the authenticity she brought a 'serander' (grain storage house) from another property and is having it remodelled into a holiday house.  As much as possible she intends to keep the original look of the serander, combined with the style of the original house.  I'm very much looking forward to see the finished product in a few months.

Next was my father-in-law's house in 'Badara'.  The home has been pretty much kept in it's original condition.  It's hard to believe the colours have withstood more than 100 years.

We also stayed a few days in some other relatives' homes.  This one belongs to FIL's sister's husband's family.

This one, I call the bat house because on the first day we stayed there (which was also the first day anyone had stayed there for over a year) we were "attacked" by bats!  Really!  I woke several times in the night to bats flying around the room.  But scariest of all, early in the morning I awoke again (for the last time that night) to a baby bat on my pillow, another crawling on my leg, and one of the parent bats dive-bombing right into the bed!  Ewwwwww....

We took a few day trips up the mountain to see some of the other properties.  This one is called 'Cupendos'.  And honestly, it is a little paradise.  One of the most beautiful places I've ever seen in my whole life.  Imagine this: a lush green meadow scattered with wild flowers and mossy boulders, a white-water river gushing along one side, enormous mountains covered in pine trees towering all around, birds, bees, and peace.  Sound nice?  Well it's even better than that!

I love this place.

Another beautiful place we visited is called 'Ayder'.  Another lovely valley.  This one backed on one side by the great Kackar mountains, complete with waterfalls and rainforest, and on the other side grassy hills.  A really pretty place.

The last place we visited is called 'Merze'.  It took two hours to drive to this plateau up above the clouds high in the mountains.  The air was so clean and the air was so fresh.  But I found it difficult walking around without feeling a bit dizzy.

Camping!

Last weekend was a truly wonderful weekend.  We risked the threat of gloomy weather and made our escape to a lovely place called Abant National Park, for some nature-loving.

Abant is about 2 and 1/2 hours drive north west of our home in Ankara.  It's about the same distance from Istanbul and also about the same distance from the Black Sea coast.  From Ankara or Istanbul, it's a very doable weekend trip.  And well worth the drive.

The main attraction of Abant, in my opinion, is the lake.  It's entirely surrounded by hilly forest and meadows.

We found a gorgeous spot only steps away from the water in a little field carpeted in wild flowers and backed by pine trees.

True to the weather forecast, it did rain, but fortunately only lightly and only for a few minutes (and unfortunately, while we were putting our tents up and cooking lunch).

The trip was kind of a last minute thing so we weren't efficiently prepared.  Instead we just took everything, including heaps of blankets and pillows and lots of food, most of which was bread and tea...!  Although Murat, Kaya and I eat very little bread, the mother-in-law packed 8 loaves of bread and 2kg of tea leaves!!!  We were only away for 2 days!

Oh, we had such a relaxing good time.  Ky had a ball!  He loved the fire.

He loved the tents.  He loved the field of flowers.

He loved using his old "baby" potty underneath the tree.  He loved the horses pulling carriages of singing visitors around the lake.  He loved the sounds of thunder at night.  He loved rolling big rocks into the lake..

During the first afternoon we walked to a nearby park on the lake and came across a bunch of people peacefully performing tai chi.  Ky immediately joined in and as everyone lifted their arms, he yelled out at the top of his voice, "Picking apples! Picking pears!"  The tranquil atmosphere was shattered as everyone laughed and laughed.  I guess everyone was familiar with the well-known children's game where the kids stand on their tip-toes and reach up high pretending to pick fruit from imaginary trees while singing "picking apples, picking pears..."

We're definitely going to do this again soon.

Beypazarı - A Slice of Loveliness.

This week's quest for beauty took us to a little town called Beypazarı, about 100km from our home in Ankara.  It's famous for silverware, carrots and soda water...  an odd mix.  But we went for the Ottoman architecture, the cobblestone streets and the museums showcasing traditional Ottoman homes.

It was a beautiful day.  A true spring day.  I spent the entire car ride gazing out at the colourful wildflowers covering every hilltop, field and valley.   The entire countryside was in bloom.  Even the mounds of forgotten construction waste, camouflaged under a cloak of springtime colour, had become beautiful.  Man Oh Man, I love this time of year!

Being a weekday and early in the season, the town was virtually empty of tourists.  In fact, besides one primary school field group, I think we were the only non-locals.  Which, of course, suited us fine.

We found a park in the centre of town and headed straight to the nearest restaurant to quench our thirst with a couple of schooners of cold and frothy ayran (plain yoghurt shaken with water and a little salt).  Yummy!

The next hour or so was spent happily wandering around town, checking out the museums and taking pictures of the restored houses.  Since there were no tourists, it didn't take long to see everything we wanted to see.  So by lunchtime we were ready to head out to nearby Inözü valley for some lunch.

We found a sweet garden restaurant in the valley right on the riverbank and enjoyed a couple of hours eating, relaxing, and playing with Kaya.  While we were there we found out from one of the waiters that there was apparently a lovely big lake about 30km away.   With only half the day gone we decided to check it out.

Karagöl (Black lake) is a deep crater lake surrounded by a lovely forrest of pine trees.  Even though it had started raining before we arrived, the whole atmosphere by the lake was so peaceful and calming.  We had a cup of tea from our thermos in the car, took in the view, and leisurely (and a little reluctantly because it was still drizzling) started on our way back home.

Here are a few pictures journaling our day.  I hope they give you a bit of a feel for the loveliness of our day.

The moment we stepped out of the car, Ky went up to this old lady to show her his tool box. 

In a lovely restaurant, awaiting our ayran.

Restaurant decor.

Kaya begging for a sugar cube he discovered on the table before we had a chance to hide the container ...  the begging didn't work by the way.

Helping "Teyze" (auntie) unpack her stock for the restaurant.

Testing out his ironing skills on the table.

An exmple of some of the Ottoman houses.

Cobblestone lane.

Mosque minaret.

Neighbourhood life.

More neighbourhood life.

Contemplating whether or not he could climb this pole ... he decided against it.

Intriguing caves in the rocking cliffs above the restaurant in Inozu valley.

Look at the expression on that little boy!  It's like, "Ahh mum, another photo?  C'mon!"

For a second we thought this was the beautiful lake we'd been told about ... it wasn't.

This is the lake we came to see.

A self-conscious pose in front of the lake...

An old truck adding some character to the forrest.

Another lake view.

Scepticism? Suspicion? What is that espression?

A manly pose by the truck.