Salt Water and Nargile - Turkey, Day 6
Thursday, June 2, 2005
I woke up at 5:45 a.m., threw on some clothes, grabbed my camera and headed out of the room to take some early morning pictures. When I got down to the lobby at the pansion, there was a middle-aged French guy with curly hair just standing there with a confused look on his face. Apparently he had been standing there for a few minutes because he wanted to go out and walk around also, but the door was locked and the only way out was with a key. We woke Salim (one of the guys who works there) up and asked him to unlock the door. Poor guy probably didn't go to sleep until 1:00 a.m. He was always at the pansion, morning, noon and night.
I walked the streets of Kaleçi for quite a while, snapping pictures. When I walked to the park to look out over the bay, I saw the mountains on the other side for the first time (it had been pretty cloudy every day since we had arrived). Wow. They were huge.
I walked down to the harbor to take some shots of the fishing boats heading out for the day.
It was great to wander about the old city for a couple of hours. The streets were very quiet. Just about the only person I encountered was the curly-haired Frenchman from the pansion. He was wandering the streets too, so we had several different conversations over the next couple of hours. As far as not seeing many other people, most people in Antalya stay up late and wake up late. I'm not sure if that is a Turkish thing, a Mediterranean thing or just happens because Antalya is a resort city. Anyway, it was nice to be the only person on the streets for a while - very peaceful. It's funny, I hate waking up early. But, when I actually make myself do it and I get out to take pictures or walk or whatever, I really enjoy my time.
I made my way back to the pansion around 8:30 for a leisurely breakfast. Then upstairs for a shower.
We had some team time at 11:00. Singing, prayer, sharing, etc.
At noon, we met "I" downstairs, then all of us walked to a little streetside döner place called "Golf." This place was funny because they had astroturf under in the whole area where the tables where. More döner inside a piece of flatbread. And of course, cola. I think it was around this time that we started to call James "light cola." You see, when all of the rest of us were ordering our 100 calorie cokes at each meal, James was using his willpower to order a diet coke (or "light cola" in Turkey). So for some reason, we started calling him by that name. Or sometimes just "LC".
We then walked about 50 yards to the Tromvay stop. The Tromvay is basically a trolley that runs from one end of the city to the other. It is the fastest and most economical route to the beach - our destination for the day. We had planned to meet P, T, L and several other friends at the Tromvay stop, and by the time we got on board, about 8 more people had joined us. We rode to the end of the line and got off. Then it was a short 10 minute walk down the side of a hill to the beach park.
The beach park is actually a series of beaches, all with names. Each beach has it's own lounge chairs, umbrellas, lounge area, sometimes a volleyball court and always a DJ spinning up tunes (which, by the way, are always some version of techno/house music - ask me sometime about the whistling song that we heard everywhere we went). The beach park goes on for what looks to be a couple of miles, though we never walked to the end of it. There are tons of restaurants, coffee/tea houses, bars, shops and resort hotels also. The entire area was very nice.
Our destination for the day was Yiğit (pronounced "Yeeet") Beach. This was about the 4th or 5th beach down the line. We rented a couple of umbrellas and staked our claim to a sweet spot. The Mediterranean is a deep blue color here and the waves are very small by virtue that this is a sea and not an ocean. And there is no sand. Just colorful, smooth pebbles in all shades of white, gray and black. We could see Kaleçi to our left and the mountains to our right. A very sweet spot indeed.
The guys tossed the football around for a while, much to the amusement and curiosity of all the Turks on the beach. I don't think they really see much American football there, so we were an oddity. A couple of times, the ball would land near someone that wasn't in our group and they would attempt to throw it back to us. That usually resulted in an awful pass because unlike most every boy in the U.S. who grows up throwing a football, this was probably the first time any of them had ever touched one. I guarantee that they could spank us in a game of Tavla (Backgammon), though. We also tossed the frisbee and swam. The water was warm and EXTREMELY salty. After swimming for a while, "I" and I threw the football for a long time - probably about 45 minutes. After a while, my feet started to really hurt from running on those rocks, so we gave the football a rest. (Later, I would realize that I had given myself pretty bad blisters from running on those rocks.)
After a while, someone suggested we walk over to a Nargile (pronounced "Nar-ghee-lay") Cafe, so we packed up and headed out. After a 5 minute walk we were there. Now, this was going to be an interesting cultural experience. Nargile is a thing that you smoke. Basically, you have this really elaborate and decorative water pipe that you smoke a mild, flavored tobacco in. This particular Nargile Salon was outdoors, so everywhere you looked there were bean bag chairs that were circled around little tables where people would put their tea or other drinks. Many peoople were playing Tavla as well. Then also in the middle of each little circle was this decorative water pipe and people were puffing away. Apparently Nargile has been around for a long time (possibly even thousands of years) and it is a staple in traditional Turkish life.
We found an area where we could pull a bunch of bean bag chairs together (there were about 16 of us). Then we ordered drinks and a couple of Nargile pipes. Eventually this dude came over with 2 water pipes and began to prepare them for us. Here's how it works. In the top is this canister where they put this mild, flavored tobacco. (We ordered apple for one pipe and banana/mint for another). Then they put these hot coals on top of the tobacco. At the bottom of the pipe is a big, fancy glass thing full of water. Emerging from the side of the pipe is a long, leather tube with a big decorative pipe on the end. Each person gets their own little mouthpiece that they attach to that pipe when it is their turn to puff. When you draw on the pipe, the smoke is drawn through the water, which somehow filters it. Almost all of us took a turn at the pipe. The smoke was very flavorful and smooth. There must not be any nicotine in it either, because even though we smoked those 2 pipes for over an hour, I never did feel anything. It is my understanding that the experience is supposed to be a slow paced opportunity to talk and relax. It was a hilarious thing to watch people take big puffs of smoke from this exotic pipe. Very Turkish indeed. We took lots of pictures because it just seemed like good blackmail material someday.
When in Rome... I mean Turkey...
Actually, this was a tremendous time of hanging out and building relationships. Many conversations were had between people on our team and Turks. I know that the gospel was shared with at least one guy and many other life stories were shared. It was a tremendous opportunity for life on life conversations. Who would have ever thought that we would have shared the gospel while puffing away on a Hookah?
Soon it was time for dinner, so we walked back up the hill to the Tromvay stop. Rally Türkiye was getting ready to start, so the Tromvay wasn't running for the rest of the day. For those of you who don't know much about racing, Rally car races take place over several days and the "track" is on a combination of paved roads, dirt roads, muddy roads, etc. Usually more of the race is off-pavement than on-pavement. Racers drive small, souped up cars with amazing suspension and steering and they are usually all-wheel drive. This all helps them cope with the various terrain that they will be driving on. Rally racing is really big in Europe. Well, Rally Türkiye was a big Rally race that was starting in Antalya on this day.
So, we had to walk all the way back to the heart of the city. It was at least a couple of miles. It was fascinating to walk through the city, though. We finally made it to our destination, "Martı Mantı". Famous for the seagulls painted on their windows. IN DEFENSE....
They served Mantı, which is basically meat-stuffed tortellini covered in a yoghurt sauce with tons of spices in it. It was very tasty. I think it was at this point that I decided that I definitely like Turkish food. I'd probably have to search hard to find any Turkish food in the U.S., though.
After dinner, we walked across the street to Öszüt, which was a restaurant that served amazing desserts. We all ordered different things and shared. Decadent cakes, delicate pastries, rich puddings, sundaes, you name it. We stuffed ourselves silly.
Goodbyes all around to our Turkish friends and then back to the pansion. It was an amazing day of experiences. Shooting pictures around Kaleçi in the early morning light, going to the beach, swimming in the Med, smoking Nargile, walking through the city, eating great food and having amazing conversations with some really cool Turks. It doesn't get much better than that. But it did. More to come...
I woke up at 5:45 a.m., threw on some clothes, grabbed my camera and headed out of the room to take some early morning pictures. When I got down to the lobby at the pansion, there was a middle-aged French guy with curly hair just standing there with a confused look on his face. Apparently he had been standing there for a few minutes because he wanted to go out and walk around also, but the door was locked and the only way out was with a key. We woke Salim (one of the guys who works there) up and asked him to unlock the door. Poor guy probably didn't go to sleep until 1:00 a.m. He was always at the pansion, morning, noon and night.
I walked the streets of Kaleçi for quite a while, snapping pictures. When I walked to the park to look out over the bay, I saw the mountains on the other side for the first time (it had been pretty cloudy every day since we had arrived). Wow. They were huge.
I walked down to the harbor to take some shots of the fishing boats heading out for the day.
It was great to wander about the old city for a couple of hours. The streets were very quiet. Just about the only person I encountered was the curly-haired Frenchman from the pansion. He was wandering the streets too, so we had several different conversations over the next couple of hours. As far as not seeing many other people, most people in Antalya stay up late and wake up late. I'm not sure if that is a Turkish thing, a Mediterranean thing or just happens because Antalya is a resort city. Anyway, it was nice to be the only person on the streets for a while - very peaceful. It's funny, I hate waking up early. But, when I actually make myself do it and I get out to take pictures or walk or whatever, I really enjoy my time.
I made my way back to the pansion around 8:30 for a leisurely breakfast. Then upstairs for a shower.
We had some team time at 11:00. Singing, prayer, sharing, etc.
At noon, we met "I" downstairs, then all of us walked to a little streetside döner place called "Golf." This place was funny because they had astroturf under in the whole area where the tables where. More döner inside a piece of flatbread. And of course, cola. I think it was around this time that we started to call James "light cola." You see, when all of the rest of us were ordering our 100 calorie cokes at each meal, James was using his willpower to order a diet coke (or "light cola" in Turkey). So for some reason, we started calling him by that name. Or sometimes just "LC".
We then walked about 50 yards to the Tromvay stop. The Tromvay is basically a trolley that runs from one end of the city to the other. It is the fastest and most economical route to the beach - our destination for the day. We had planned to meet P, T, L and several other friends at the Tromvay stop, and by the time we got on board, about 8 more people had joined us. We rode to the end of the line and got off. Then it was a short 10 minute walk down the side of a hill to the beach park.
The beach park is actually a series of beaches, all with names. Each beach has it's own lounge chairs, umbrellas, lounge area, sometimes a volleyball court and always a DJ spinning up tunes (which, by the way, are always some version of techno/house music - ask me sometime about the whistling song that we heard everywhere we went). The beach park goes on for what looks to be a couple of miles, though we never walked to the end of it. There are tons of restaurants, coffee/tea houses, bars, shops and resort hotels also. The entire area was very nice.
Our destination for the day was Yiğit (pronounced "Yeeet") Beach. This was about the 4th or 5th beach down the line. We rented a couple of umbrellas and staked our claim to a sweet spot. The Mediterranean is a deep blue color here and the waves are very small by virtue that this is a sea and not an ocean. And there is no sand. Just colorful, smooth pebbles in all shades of white, gray and black. We could see Kaleçi to our left and the mountains to our right. A very sweet spot indeed.
The guys tossed the football around for a while, much to the amusement and curiosity of all the Turks on the beach. I don't think they really see much American football there, so we were an oddity. A couple of times, the ball would land near someone that wasn't in our group and they would attempt to throw it back to us. That usually resulted in an awful pass because unlike most every boy in the U.S. who grows up throwing a football, this was probably the first time any of them had ever touched one. I guarantee that they could spank us in a game of Tavla (Backgammon), though. We also tossed the frisbee and swam. The water was warm and EXTREMELY salty. After swimming for a while, "I" and I threw the football for a long time - probably about 45 minutes. After a while, my feet started to really hurt from running on those rocks, so we gave the football a rest. (Later, I would realize that I had given myself pretty bad blisters from running on those rocks.)
After a while, someone suggested we walk over to a Nargile (pronounced "Nar-ghee-lay") Cafe, so we packed up and headed out. After a 5 minute walk we were there. Now, this was going to be an interesting cultural experience. Nargile is a thing that you smoke. Basically, you have this really elaborate and decorative water pipe that you smoke a mild, flavored tobacco in. This particular Nargile Salon was outdoors, so everywhere you looked there were bean bag chairs that were circled around little tables where people would put their tea or other drinks. Many peoople were playing Tavla as well. Then also in the middle of each little circle was this decorative water pipe and people were puffing away. Apparently Nargile has been around for a long time (possibly even thousands of years) and it is a staple in traditional Turkish life.
We found an area where we could pull a bunch of bean bag chairs together (there were about 16 of us). Then we ordered drinks and a couple of Nargile pipes. Eventually this dude came over with 2 water pipes and began to prepare them for us. Here's how it works. In the top is this canister where they put this mild, flavored tobacco. (We ordered apple for one pipe and banana/mint for another). Then they put these hot coals on top of the tobacco. At the bottom of the pipe is a big, fancy glass thing full of water. Emerging from the side of the pipe is a long, leather tube with a big decorative pipe on the end. Each person gets their own little mouthpiece that they attach to that pipe when it is their turn to puff. When you draw on the pipe, the smoke is drawn through the water, which somehow filters it. Almost all of us took a turn at the pipe. The smoke was very flavorful and smooth. There must not be any nicotine in it either, because even though we smoked those 2 pipes for over an hour, I never did feel anything. It is my understanding that the experience is supposed to be a slow paced opportunity to talk and relax. It was a hilarious thing to watch people take big puffs of smoke from this exotic pipe. Very Turkish indeed. We took lots of pictures because it just seemed like good blackmail material someday.
When in Rome... I mean Turkey...
Actually, this was a tremendous time of hanging out and building relationships. Many conversations were had between people on our team and Turks. I know that the gospel was shared with at least one guy and many other life stories were shared. It was a tremendous opportunity for life on life conversations. Who would have ever thought that we would have shared the gospel while puffing away on a Hookah?
Soon it was time for dinner, so we walked back up the hill to the Tromvay stop. Rally Türkiye was getting ready to start, so the Tromvay wasn't running for the rest of the day. For those of you who don't know much about racing, Rally car races take place over several days and the "track" is on a combination of paved roads, dirt roads, muddy roads, etc. Usually more of the race is off-pavement than on-pavement. Racers drive small, souped up cars with amazing suspension and steering and they are usually all-wheel drive. This all helps them cope with the various terrain that they will be driving on. Rally racing is really big in Europe. Well, Rally Türkiye was a big Rally race that was starting in Antalya on this day.
So, we had to walk all the way back to the heart of the city. It was at least a couple of miles. It was fascinating to walk through the city, though. We finally made it to our destination, "Martı Mantı". Famous for the seagulls painted on their windows. IN DEFENSE....
They served Mantı, which is basically meat-stuffed tortellini covered in a yoghurt sauce with tons of spices in it. It was very tasty. I think it was at this point that I decided that I definitely like Turkish food. I'd probably have to search hard to find any Turkish food in the U.S., though.
After dinner, we walked across the street to Öszüt, which was a restaurant that served amazing desserts. We all ordered different things and shared. Decadent cakes, delicate pastries, rich puddings, sundaes, you name it. We stuffed ourselves silly.
Goodbyes all around to our Turkish friends and then back to the pansion. It was an amazing day of experiences. Shooting pictures around Kaleçi in the early morning light, going to the beach, swimming in the Med, smoking Nargile, walking through the city, eating great food and having amazing conversations with some really cool Turks. It doesn't get much better than that. But it did. More to come...
posted by
at 10:25 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home