There are things which can't be shown on pictures. This is what I want to share in this blog.
Going to Turkey was a sudden decision. The only reason was to visit an online friend whom I met in May, about 3 months ago. Everything started on LinkedIn. I'm just laughing while reading our first chats. I have to tell, it was Dursun, who started talking, not me. He wanted to get to know me, and I still don't know why. He asked me about my skype id, gmail address etc. So many things you can know of somebody if you get searching carefully. There was nothing I found strange about him except he didn't speak very good English.
I can't tell you the moment I decided to go to Turkey. All of a sudden our flight tickets was in our hands, our hotels were booked, and agreed with Dursun when to meet for a one day out while being in Turkey.
Dursun is muslim - of course. This is why I say in the title "one step closer". It was the first time to get touched by Islamic world. Also it was the first time I travelled with my life partner, Gyuri. He doesn't speak English, so I was a little nervous about the trip.
It was a little strange to see so many covered ladies in Istanbul. They were from other muslim countries and visited Turkey just like us. We stayed only one day in the city, visited the historical places and breathed the multicultural atmosphere. Gyuri walked on the streets knowing each stones. He read a lot about the city and it's history. So he was my guide, and didn't need any help from me. What a surprise!
Being Hungarian in the old historical Istanbul is a unique experience. "Macar pasa" - they called Gyuri, and he felt honored by being called "Magyar" which is "Hungarian" both in Hungarian and Turkish. We have a long 150 years of parallel history in the 15-16th century when a big part of Hungary was occupied by the Turkish empire. Many Hungarians were brought down to Istanbul as a captive for being a wife, a slave or simply a prisoner. But some of them found new home in Turkey and did memorable things for them.
Istanbul was a little crowded for me. Actually I was not very well (had a bad infection), but still I didn't like the old city very much. Too many tourists, too narrow streets, too many cars, too many horns, too hot, too humid, too tired. Too many sellers, too high prices, too little experience in barging.
On the third day we went to Ankara by coach. Seven and a half hours of rest. We enjoyed it very much. We were served like on an aeroplane, yet very cheep. We payed only 40 TL which is about 20 USD.
Arriving at Ankara I felt like starting breathing. Wide streets, great view, much colourful lights at night, cool air, fresh wind, some rain too.
People are so much different in Ankara. There are no more covered ladies. Many of them cover head with a scarf, but not wearing black chador which has only a small slit for looking out.
It was a surprise for me that Turkish people don't speak English. We found very few people who were able to speak a few words in English. Except the hotel receptionists of course. Even though they are very polite and helpful. As soon as somebody realize you are a tourist and not sure how to find your way, he will lead you all your way. Even if he doesn't go to the same direction. It was a very nice experience.
Next morning the most exciting day started. We were woken up at 5:30, taxi took us to the coach station to leave by the earliest coach to Kirikkale, where Dursun and his family lives.
Dursun came by himself to collect us at the coach station called "otogar". He collected his wife at his home after being sure we were not "dangerous" :)
After changing some small presents with his wife she became very friendly and after a few minutes we felt like old friends even though she doesn't speak English at all. We were asked if we wanted to go Hattusa which is closer or a little further to Cappadocia which is more famous. Gyuri was very happy to hear the name of Hattusa, so there was no more question, except if we were hungry or not. We were not, but Hacer, Dursun's wife was, so they called Dursun's sister to ask her to prepare some breakfast for us. What a surprise! She lives in a very small village where only about 50 people live.
Turkish rural breakfast is prepared on the floor. Hacer, Dursun's sister (the same name as his wife) was sitting on the floor, preparing "yufka", the flat huge sheets which can be called a kind of bread. They tear a piece of it, put some vegetable, cheese, eggplant cream or anything from the table, roll it and eat. We were kindly served, otherwise we would have not been able to eat.
There is an international language which you will never misunderstand. It is smile. So we smiled a lot to each other and enjoyed fellowship. Felt like brothers and sisters.
After visiting Hattusa we returned to Dursun's sister and her family (two sons and a daughter) for dinner. But first we had to prepare our own food which was "çig köfte". It is prepared in a huge stone pot. We were given an enormous wooden hammer and had to hammer the mixture in the stone pot. It was the strangest food I have ever seen to prepare. Hacer sat down on the floor again, covered her legs and floor with a cloth, formed balls from the mixture and put them on the cloth. Some of them his son fried in the kitchen and served on plates. The balls were rolled into the yufka (the bread sheet) with some vegetables and it was the main dish. There were scrambled eggs, home made cheese, apricot jam, and all rolled into yufka. The only thing we didn't roll, was the soup, in which "bamya"(okra) from the garden was cooked.
While we were eating at the table, Hacer sat down on the floor and cut melon into pieces. She served it as a desert. It was delicious!
Two more things I have to mention.
It was obvious to cover my head when arrived at rural place. Hacer, Dursun's wife did the same. But Hacer also put on a skirt over her jeans after we arrived. I also was given a long skirt to wear if I wanted. Yes, of course, I wanted.
Some time later Dursun apologized and went into the house for his prayer. After he came out I asked him 'What if I asked you to pray together with you?' 'Why not?' he replied.
Next time we heard the imam from the mosque calling for evening prayer, Dusun called me 'It's prayer time. Are you coming with me?' 'Why not?' I answered. We went into the room, he said I might imitate him, but I said I would rather pray like Christians pray, and went down on my knees behind him, closed my eyes and quietly prayed while he was doing his prayer. It was amazing. Unique spiritual experience.
Life didn't stop while visitors were eating and praying. Cows needed to be milked, engines needed to be brought back from the fields, chickens and cats needed to be fed. After tasting the fresh milk (boiled), we said "gülü gülü" to the lovely family and left to Kirikkale. Another surprise, we were invited to Dursun's home. His sons arrived home and waited us. We sat down in the sitting room, and while waited for the strong Turkish coffee, Burak, Dursun's younger son served some chocolate. Before taking a piece of chocolate he poured some odorous liquid into my hands. I was shown to clean my hands with this liquid and take the chocolate after it.
It was too late, we had to leave back to Ankara. Dursun took us to the otogar, but this time his wife and son came with us too. He bought us the tickets, and helped us to get seats on the minibus. Without their help we wouldn't have been able to get back to Ankara that night.
The last day of our trip in Turkey we visited Ankara. It was a quiet Sunday, but the bazaar was open. We enjoyed it very much.
There is a very private but important thing which is not mentioned in most of the tourists' books. Toilets. If you enter into a public toilet mainly you will find only a hole and two footprints to step on it. If you have never used a toilet like this, you will be shocked. But Turkish people are very familiar with it. In Dursun's sister's house they had a toilet like this. But in hotels there are "normal" toilets. I don't know about other family homes, but I suspect there are mostly normal toilets. After you finish at the toilet, you have to use a plastic jug. For some days I didn't know how to use it. But finding this jug under a tap in every toilets, slowly I found out this is for flashing the toilet. You fill the jug with water and pour it all over the hole, the footprints and the surrounding area. Because of that there is no smell after using the toilet. They are much more clean than normal toilets.
If you feel your feet dirty, you can go out and wash them. There are many places where you can sit down in front of a tap, and wash your feet. It is because muslims have to wash their face, hands and feet before praying, but also they have to use the toilet before praying. So if there is a mosque, there is a toilet too. It's so simple. But you have to pay nearly everywhere for using the toilet.
Nowadays there are more and more public toilets for disabled, and you can be sure they are normal toilets. So use toilets for disabled if you don't want to squat.
After being in Turkey, the very first muslim country I visited, I feel much more "I want to go to Pakistan". And pretty sure, I will some day.
