To Izmir

In the morning there was news on the TV about an earthquake (deprem) the night before. It was a Richter scale 6 quake that had struck a little north of Ankara. Not much more detail. Later I learnt that it had killed 2 people and damaged 100 buildings. A small one as far as Turkish quakes go.


Breakfast in this hotel was even more elaborate than in Istanbul. They had börek, simit sticks, fresh cherries and apricots, halva, more types of cheese, and even some pâte. Also cherry (kiraz) and orange (portakal) juices.

I packed up and took a walk around the town. The markets were waking up. In a confectionery shop I bought some candied chestnuts. Luckily I only bought 250g because it wasn't to my taste. Incidentally the şeker in the shop sign is from the same Arabic root that gave us sugar.


It was a humid day and sweat was pouring out of every one of my pores. Perhaps it was the lack of cooling breezes like in Istanbul. I gave up sightseeing, checked out and waited where the tourist office said the bus to the otogar would be. It took 20 minutes to get there, meandering through the city. As I suspected it only passed the terminal and didn't actually enter so I had to walk some 200m across the road to the building. The huge signs over the ticket counters showed that there were heaps of bus companies represented. I didn't see the recommended one, so I went for the biggest and most professional looking one, Uludağ. I had some time to grab a lahmacun and a soft drink for lunch. The bus station was large; it even had a bakery in it.


The bus left on the dot and we wound our way out of the industrial suburbs of Bursa. One of the civilised rituals of bus travel in Turkey is that the conductor will come around to pour a splash of cologne water in your palm for you to freshen your face. Then he will give you packaged tea or bottled water. Unfortunately the smokers were out in force again. Even the bus driver lit up as we left the station.


We travelled through low mountain ranges. I had decided to give the ancient sites in Bergama (Pergamon) a miss and instead visit the ruins at Efes (Ephesus). These biblical names remind one that the land is ancient.

Many buildings on the outskirts of Izmir (in the past, Smyrna) were incomplete, with the reinforcement rods sticking out of the concrete. Build by installment I guessed. I wondered if I should go for a pension but decided to seek out an air conditioned hotel room. The first choice from the guide was full, they could only offer me a hot attic room which was simply no-go. I went to the second choice, but later realised that I walked into the wrong hotel. It was also in the guide so it wasn't too bad a mistake. The room was a bit dingy but had air conditioning.

For dinner I found a street full of pavement tables and accepted the blandishments of an enterprising restaurant owner who talked me into having a chicken kebap with patlıcan (eggplant). It was very tasty. By the time I finished it was too late to go up to Kadifekale castle to get an overview of the city, although I made an attempt to find the bus service.

So I walked to the docks and enjoyed the cool breeze at the water's edge. Scores of shoeshine boys hounded me, but I refused them. I was wearing beaten up sneakers anyway. A beggar woman tailed me for some time. At first I ignored her, but her pitiful entreaties changed my mind and I gave her some small change. I wondered how long it would last her.


Izmir is the third largest city in Turkey and a major port. It also wanted to be cool and attract travellers. Signs said that a festival would start in a day or two, but I hoped to be out of there by then and avoid the crowds. I noticed that Izmir was large enough to have a metro and I decided to give it a try the next morning. It only ran during peak hours, 0700-0900 and 1700-2000. There were train services out of Izmir but the times didn't look at all suitable.


Back in the room, I turned on the air conditioner and watched a Michael Douglas movie dubbed in Turkish. I fell asleep watching and showered the next morning instead of before bed, as is my habit.

Bursa

The mosque sounded calls to prayer at 0400 and 0500. One of the drawbacks of visiting a muslim country I suppose. Time to start my explorations of other parts of Turkey. I caught the tram to Laleli Caddesı (Laleli Street) and walked to Yenikapı. I should have taken the main drag instead of the small streets, so I got a bit confused, but fortunately I had only to keep heading downhill towards the water. The ferry terminal was very prominent and spanking new. So was the catamaran. It was air-conditioned and had two levels. I hoped that the rocking and the diesel fumes wouldn't make me seasick. Some Asiatic looking visitors were speaking Turkish (or what sounded like) and reading Turkish newspapers. I guessed that they were from Turkmenistan.


The departure was punctual. The TV screened archive films of the earthquake of 1999. Yalova, the port I was heading for, was about 70km from the epicentre. I didn't stay long because I immediately transferred to a bus for Bursa, about 2 hours away by road. But as we drove out of the town, I saw many damaged buildings. But people were rebuilding and life went on.

As is common in Turkey, the otogar (bus terminal, hint: it's a loan word from French) was some ways out of the city. A helpful clerk pointed me to the bus for the city centre. After Istanbul, Bursa was a pleasant surprise. It was tidy and prosperous looking. It had clean streets and civic pride. (Note from the future: Wikipedia informs me that it's an important centre of industry.) The hotel I picked from the guide was very clean.


I had the recommended İnegöl köfte of the region for lunch in a small restaurant and it was indeed very delicious. Even now, looking at pictures of it makes my mouth water. Turks make tasty food from basic ingredients. I'm sure that the freshness of the produce is key. Turkey is one of few countries that is self-sufficient in food, with their fertile land.

I took a dolmuş from the bus station to the base station of the teleferik (cable way) which goes up a ski slope near Uludağ. By the way dolmuş means stuffed, like paprikas, eggplants and so forth as dishes, and this refers to the service leaving when there are sufficient passengers rather than to schedule. I caught the cable car to the middle station. A friendly Turkish family waved to me as the car ascended.

I wasn't going to the ski grounds, as it was summer, but just wanted a cool escape from the heat of the lowlands. I decided I would tarry until the temperatures there cooled a bit.

The forest was coniferous with deciduous varieties. It was very quiet, and had the feel of a resort of out season. Here and there were groups of people cooking over grills, families I supposed. There were also a couple of buses of schoolgirls all with headscarves, religiously observant. A friendly group of girls waved to me. People around here sure are friendly to strangers, I thought.

But there were also mosquitoes near the mountain stream, even that high. They're a bit hard to see in the photo, hahaha.

For dinner I had an İskender kebap in one of the chain of restaurants still run by the descendants of the inventor. Before that, drippings from the meat would fall into the charcoal and catch fire, giving the meat a burnt fat taste. His great breakthrough was positioning the spit vertically.


My kebab was served with bread, salad and clarified butter for dipping. Absolutely delectable but artery clogging stuff! Good thing I don't have it often.

In this fountain plaza, residents are cooling off in the evening breeze, as was I.