Tea Sugar A Dream – Thank You, Turkey!

This post is also available in: polski (Polish)

The last morning in Turkey is lavender and pink. We are awakened by the sound of the Sea of ​​Marmara. The first boats set off to Istanbul, the neighbors meet for a morning swim. We leave the room to the sandy shore. Ulvi our host from Efe Cafe has already prepared toasts and teas in bell glasses. He lights a cigarette and tells us about his everyday life in Silivri. In a moment we say goodbye in Turkish: Güle güle and leave the gate carefully so as not to run into a cat that has a bath under an olive tree at the corner of the street.

Huge beige mountains, pine forests, red asphalt, sand, and dust – were with us when we rode the car through West Anatolia. There was a week full of adventures. First, we were enchanted by Istanbul. Kelvan picked us up at the metro station which was on the bridge to his little hotel on a narrow street close to Hagia Sophia. He welcomed us like an old friend we haven’t seen for a long time. Because that’s what the Turks are like.

And Istanbul is a city that cannot fit in a few sentences, with 20 million people living there. Muslim prayers call out from the loudspeakers and mix with the desires of a mosaic metropolis. At the same time traditional and liberal, joyful and sad, as crazy as it is shy, which cares very much for cats and dogs. There are even cat crisps at the metro station or on the columns under the Istambul Archaeological Museum. The best one I have ever been to.

I stand in line at the bazaar for a packet of freshly ground coffee. It does not matter whether, in a rich or poorer neighborhood, newly washed towels dry in front of the barber shops. The Bosphorus sparkles in the sun, with thousands of boats, bridges, glass skyscrapers, and wooden houses. Meanwhile, we eat warm rolls with a fork, cut on a plate, at a wooden table, right next to the bakery wall in our district.

Staring at Asia, photo by Maciek Doczyk

After two days we go to Eskişehir for the wedding of our friends Seçil and Marc. We have no idea that we will be welcomed like a close family and we will do Turkish dance with the neighbors in the middle of the street in front of the bride’s house. And the wedding will be like from a movie, in the garden under the apple trees, with joyful and exotic group dances. Ah, this beat, at times I thought it was heavy metal. There are gondolas on the Porsuk River, and the city is full of greenery and colorful bridges. A tram winds its way through the alleys. I am writing a few words at Uçurtma Cafe and I am eating Saint Sebastian’s fluffy cheesecake, the cat comes in from the street, he has food and water under the bookshelf.

Time to keep going. We take our friend Enrico with us and set off on a tour to visit the ruins of Laodicea Ancient City. On the way, we get lost somewhere in a village warmed by the sun, which spills out of the tall grass just behind the tracks. A warm wind ruffles our hair, the ruins are magnificent. I stare at the paintings and Doric columns for a long time.

Then we decide to spend the night in the nearest Pamukkale – a small village in the Cürüksu Valley, famous for its limestone sediments. In the evening there are no more tourists. We sit down behind the fence on which the peppers are drying. I eat Yaprak Sarma – grape leaves stuffed with rice (I’ve already tried it at Seçil’s house). They are simply delicious.

photo by Maciek Doczyk

In the morning I jump in the pool and then we head to Ephesus, the huge ancient city full of Ionic columns. It is really impressive and burned by the sun. You can hide from the heat only sometimes under big pines. On the second day, in Çanakkale, we visit the legendary ruins of Troy. The quite high walls are made of eternal stones, and we can feel the smell of archeological excavations.

Troy, photo by Maciek Doczyk

Along the way, at night we had a little fear, standing in big traffic on a serpentine. Well, but the longest 400 meters in our life we ​​experience in Torbali. Because there is a struggle for survival on the roads in Turkey, even buses squeeze in, and two lanes suddenly change for five or even six. In addition, hardly anyone turns on the beckon lights but the Turks love to honk. In old cars, the curtains are folded into an accordion, and in one car can sit sometimes seven people.

Ephesus, photo by Maciek Doczyk

I try to describe it all, but instead of words, I have a taste of Gözleme – Turkish thin pancakes stuck together with honey that we ate for breakfast. Cats are tangling under the feet, the fan at the table itself, and a carpet with deer behind the back. After finishing the meal, the host gives us two figs straight from his tree.

Why did I fall in love with Turkey? When we arrive at the huge Havalimani airport and I slowly lose sight of her, tears choke me. I notice blue in my heart. So, I borrow a poem from Mieczysław Łyp who wrote down what I still feel.

Izan

Late warm sunset
the muezzin came to me
He brought the amphorae of the blue of the Aegean Sea
amphoras full of cries of exhortations
He pour Quranic verses into my left ear as a song
In the right ear he whispered my name

And this blue started to dance in me
and the flame began to dance within me
a flame of ripening pomegranates
and the scent began to dance in me
Byzantine domes of golden peaches

I was living
like a pilgrim on the path of eternity

P.S. Thank you in Turkish is Teşekkürler. We couldn’t learn this difficult word until one boy wrote down the pronunciation in a friendly way: Tea sugar a dream. So this became the title of this post. By the way, this English sentence contains a lot of Turkish. You can read more stories about this amazing country on the blog soon. 🙂

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2 Comments Tea Sugar A Dream – Thank You, Turkey!

  1. Catalina 6 August 2022 at 13:28

    Love it. I cant wait to visit this country.
    Thank you = Tea sugar a dream Gosia.
    Magical

    Love,
    Cata

    Reply
    1. Blue Tram 6 August 2022 at 13:38

      Thanks, Catalina! I am glad you felt the magic of Turkey in this post. You will go there, I believe in it. Maybe we will go together, one day… 😉

      Reply

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