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Published: September 13th 2008
Cappadocia
at sunrise the skies fill with balloons "The first condition of understanding a foreign country is to smell it."
- Rudyard Kipling
1st of Elul arrived (September 1st in the Turkish calendar ) and with it also the 1st
of Ramadan and the Moslem world entered a different phase, the holy month of
Ramazan (Ramadan in Turkish ) The Muslims are expected to follow the 5 ‘pillars’ of
Islam, one of them is keeping the fast of Ramazan , if capable of doing so. When
preparing for the trip, we saw that the ramazan will begin at the middle of the trip,
but we did not know what to expect from the people and would it be difficult to get
food
Ramazan month has its own temperament than the rest of the year. We eat
breakfasts at the hotels we stay in so it isn’t a problem, but lunch time is tricky some of the times. The
more rural the city is, the less chances you will find food that is not packed in plastic bag and answers the name
“Ruffels” 😊 in the rural places people seems to keep the fest and
Urfa Baliki Gol at night
you can see the hold fish inside you hardly see them eat or drink during day time. As
the city gets bigger and modern, it is easy to find people eating and
drinking during day time. The day we arrived in Sanliurfa ( The great
pilgrimage town) we did our own little Ramadan and we felt like entering
an antique time zone. Ancient limestone houses, grey-bearded med
in traditional baggy Arabic pants and women cloaked in black chador.
We passed in the maze of the bazaar watching the hassle and bustle of
locals buy ekmek(bread), vegetables and et (meat) and spices to prepare
for dinner. We entered the mosques and people were preying surrounded
by the unique smell of carpets, feet and rose water. The streets were crowded with women, man and children all busy. Around 6:30 pm, we returned the hotel to make a phone call and the smells along the streets drove us crazy! We where hungry since we didn’t eat lunch (and apple doesn’t count) and waited for dinner. Along the streets, tens of small food stalls opened up and started preparing. The smells of grilled tomatos and red peper that arrives with every dish
started spreading in the air, every stall, poses small tables surrounded by small chairs. In the tables, fresh onions, parsley and amazing just-out-from-the-oven bread with an aroma that could break any fast without waiting. By the time we left the hotel, 15min later, we found an empty street deserted from people everyone was near a plate at home or in a restaurant waiting . We looked for a nice place to eat and found one not far. At 7 pm, the canon shot and the muezzin started praying and everybody smiled, drank some water and started eating their chorba (lentil soup) and the rest of the food. Half an hour later most had finished and tea was served and the air was filled the cigarette smoke (smoking is forbidden during the day).right after the streets were packed again with people shopping, eating sweets and walking. We finished our dinner and paid and received lemon cologne sprayed on our hands to remove the grill smell of the food.
A week before, in Baharal , we stayed in a great family pension and waited to dinner while watching the family prepare their table. Bowls of rice, soup, meat, potatoes and fresh
Urfa Mavlid-I Halil Camii
praying and reciting the Qurans bread started pile on the table. 10 minutes before time, the family gathered around the table, talking, waiting and gazing at the food. Then the muezzin started praying “
allah hoo akbar, allah hoo akbar ” and his prayers echoed in the mountains and could be heard from the village 1km below. All the family started eating and drinking. For the outsider watching it looked very warm and felt like this month is getting the family closer to each other. Overcoming the difficulty of fasting through daytime, and enjoying the big meal eaten together. Even when we where just walking in the street, entering a grocery store when the canon shot, we saw the clerks gathering in the corner side and breaking the fast together.
We where disappointed to see people eating in the street in day time but than remembered as a Jew that not all Jewish people are fasting in YOM KIPUR. Turkey is a very secular country although in the east it looks like more than 90%!o(MISSING)f population do fast. The combination of a secular state and non-fanatic Islam makes connecting to the local religion very enjoyable and even spiritual.
Liya’s Ramadan
Nazar boncugu
against “eval eye” The most interesting thing during Ramazan is that the person who feels most identification with that month is actually Liya! Until we found things that she likes eating, she pretty much did Ramazan of her own. Fasted during the day (well, drinking some water doesn’t count for a baby) and eventually in the evening she got hungry and started eating everything we offered her (that’s how we found she likes pasta with tomatoes sauce). On this stage of the trip, we pretty much understand her wishes and even found some good fruit mashes in the market that she likes. Back home we are so suspicious about thing we give her. Checking every detail about the composition… here, you don’t understand the written stuff, so you see a photo of an apple, banana and some apricot, you buy, she eats and you are glad. Nowdays, you will not find us without fresh apples, plums, bananas and lately she goes nuts if not eating lots of BEIGALE. I weighted her the day before and it seems like she didn’t loose weight! Her doctor will give me a medal!
Other Headlines
- we drove
Urfa
tables in the street ready for the end of the Ramadan fest. The Managal is already preparing the papers
1920km this week
- there are many different kebabs that are available all around turkey. Some are called after the cities they originate from. This week we had an
Urfa Kebab in Urfa (with Onions and black pepper) and an
Adana Kebab in Adana (spicy with red pepper). Our conclusion is that Urfa kebab is the best. If fact the meal in Urfa was one of the best we had ever.
- we rate each hotel by the comfort of the
side of the bed because Liya usually decides to sleep to the width of the bed it leaves us only a few cm on each side to enjoy ourselves
- after 16 days our
lost bag was found in Ben Gurion. we will meet it in tel-aviv on the way back. in the mean time we are doing OK with our credit-card which proves the saying
"When preparing to travel, lay out all your clothes and all your money. Then take half the clothes and twice the money." - as can be seen in the map our unexpected trip to the South-East cornered us. to
Urfa
preparing bread for the end of the fest get out we could either drive 2 long days or fly. Liya prefered to fly so we will to our next stop...
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