Route of Turkey trip in 2014


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Bearing the imprint of time

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We are still not getting very far, very fast. Today we are back in Güzelyurt visiting Monastery Valley, and as we head down into it we are enchanted by how parts of this place look as though it has stood here for centuries. Monastery Valley is overlooked by a small domed church, now a mosque, reputedly built for St Gregory of Nazianzus in the early 4th cent AD at a time when being a Christian was no longer a crime. He was a theologian and a scholar whose writings were among those that influenced the split to Orthodoxy. During his lifetime, wherever he was stationed, people flocked to hear him preach.  A monastery was set up here to train young novitiates and the near vertical rocks on all sides of this pretty and ancient valley are riddled with cave dwellings, chapels, and churches that have grown up through the ages. Too many to count. Pilgrims trekked from afar to visit. Then, and now. Monastery Valley follows a stream, edged with willows, and there is a tree, probab
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Hidden gems

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After a good night's sleep we spied Miss Bec attempting to snuggle a little more sleep deep under her covers to escape the chill in the Ankara air, then we were up and away heading towards Istanbul. We lunched in Eskişehir and followed our usual routine of finding the specialty food for the town to hunt down. This often involves dedicated effort trying to find the place that sells this specialty food, but today this was easy: we only had to walk a few hundred metres from where our motorhome was parked. We ordered Cibörek, and what a delight it is. This dish was bought to Eskişehir by the Tartars of the Crimea early in the 19th century, who were among the early settlers in this town. It is light as a feather pastry, thicker than filo, but so fragile you barely know it from air. Ours was filled with mince meat, shaped like a half moon, and cooked in vegetable oil. It should be deadly, but it is one of our favourite dishes, to date. Mind you, we say that at least once every
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Çiğköfte and charık

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We were hunting coffee at Kumluca, tho’ without success, when we noticed activity beyond the norm. There looked to be some sort of ‘cultural do’ happening in town, as crowds were gathering in the city park, so in we wandered for a peek, and ended up buying the most delicious lunch, from some amusing vendors who insisted on posing to have their photos taken. We tried our first vegan çiğköfte here, which is usually made with raw meat like a steak tartare, but ours, we think, was made using walnuts, bulgur, onions, tomato, hot paprika and other spices. A huge platter of the çiğköfte was prepared, then small bits were pressed into rippled meze shapes by squeezing it tightly through the fingers to form a mouthful. To eat each piece you wrapped it in a lettuce leaf and popped it all into your mouth. This is so spicy and delectable we will have to try making this at home as an appetiser. We ate delicious smoked, barbecued chicken prepared on the spit, followed by some wicked h
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