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Published: June 12th 2014
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Sanliurfa, Hekim Dede, Turkey
11th June 2014
“Old friends pass away, new friends appear. It is just like the days. An old day passes, a new day arrives. The important thing is to make it meaningful a meaningful friend – or a meaningful day.” The Dalai Lama
“It is the soul's duty to be loyal to its own desires. It must abandon itself to its master passion.” Dame Rebecca West
Abrahim (Abraham of Old Testament fame) is believed to have been born in a cave in Sanliurfa (known as Urfa) about 4,000 years ago. As legend has it, he gave the local king a very hard time about the local king's worship of idols. The upset king had Abrahim strung up to be slowly roasted on a wood fire. God intervened and turned the fire to water and the wood to fish. Now in the middle of this amazingly lay-back and neatly rennovated and kept old city is an extensive aquarium linked by tunnels and canals with abundant and huge fish, surrounded by mosques and courtyards, lawns and eating areas.
The residential areas of the old
city are also being rennovated and beautified with strict rules about keeping it all to the old look. Turkey in general seems to be undergoing a very fast development phase but the powers at large are sensible enough to not let the old disapear. 'Old is Gold', and for Turkey this will certainly prove true in attracting more tourists and pilgrims to more parts of the country.
Hasan is a 65 year old man living alone in his family's 200 year house in old Urfa. Entering through the old wooden gate, one is suddenly amidst a house cum workshop. Everywhere you look bears witness to Hasan's passionate hobby of collecting and fixing up old Vespas. No room, with perhaps the exception of the one I sleep in, is spared from having an old Vespa (plus the odd old BMW) parked in a corner, with tools and parts lying around the place in various stages of rennovation and/or repair. Young mechanics from around the town visit Hasan regularly, sometimes for advice but often just to be with this knowledgable and peaceful man. When I arrived, 25 year old Anil from Istanbul was there spending his annual holidays with Hasan to
learn more about Vespa maintenance for his own older machine, as using mechanics in Istanbul is very expensive.
Hasan has long ago decided that material wealth and elaborate living are of no lasting value. He lives a truly simple and inexpensive life, eats simple local food, cares little for clothes and 'things', and values highly friends new and old.
Each year for perhaps the last 15 years, Hasan takes off in the middle of summer for a European ride on one of his Vespas for 2 or 3 months, complete with tent and sleeping mat. He cruises no faster than around 55 kph and visits many old friends along the way, otherwise sleeping out and never using hotels or restaurants. In between all this Hasan opens his house to travelers who want to stay some days, sleeping on his roof terrace or in the one room not full of Vespas.
Hasan prepares wonderful food, using the traditional system of neighbourhood bread bakeries (which accept whatever you want to bake in their large wood-fired oven in exchange for you buying their fresh Turkish breads and Lamuchan). It's a great system.... so efficient, and widespread in Turkey outside the
big cities. In smaller villages I have witnessed street ovens that are simply common property to that particular neighbourhood. And so you will often pass people with trays of eggplant, peppers, chillies, tomatoes, and meats on their way to, or coming back from the bakery to their homes with said baked foods on top of several pieces of fresh bread.
Married for about 20 years, he has lived in Urfa for the past 17 years since the marriage 'broke'. He has two sons (30 and 35) living in Istanbul. He himself was a dress-maker there for 15 years. He limps around his house/ workshop sporting a motorbike injury. His outlook is extremely positive and inclusive … he is learning English and keeps up with prospective traveler guests through his membership of 'couchsurfing.org'.
Truly a remarkably open, generous and amazing man. One might say enlightened.
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
An amazing trip
This is beautiful.