Cigarette smoke and heavy steam – life in the Turkish tea garden Ali and I are walking the streets of Odunpazarı, the old part of Eskişehir. Normally Eskişehir is quite busy, quite crowded, but this afternoon it is quite empty and rather quiet. We decide to go for a walk before settling down to have tea in a çay bahçesi. It's a Friday and the imams are calling from the minarets. That's why everywhere is so empty, so silent. We wait for half an hour for the prayers to end and for the people to exit the mosques and enter the tea gardens. A plump, kind, middle-aged women welcomes us with a hoş geldiniz as we sit down and make our orders. Mainly older people are here, at least in this very moment, and most of
... read more