Our first visit to Turkey was to Istanbul. The hotel was located in a small village called Kirzali not far from the cruise port city of Kusadasi and 45 minutes south of the major city of Izmir. It is complete agricultural country. It was not necessarily our intent but we probably chose to go to a place that was as diametrically different from pace of life and culture standpoint from Istanbul as we possible could. Think if you came to the US and visited New York City. Then you came back and you visited a farm town 45 minutes away from Des Moines. It would be extremely different. Hence our experience here was diametrically different from the one in Istanbul. That's not bad...just different.
First I'd like to give you some pictures of the team that was working with us and the place we were staying, the Ephesus Lodge Hotel
Hotel Owner, Guide and Generally Deep Soul
Sezgin
Super Guide and Tolerating of my Bad Jokes
Işik
Incredibly friendly, service oriented #2 person at the hotel
Mehmet and his girl friend whose name (sadly) I can't remember
The hotel is one that is focused on having you spend time outside and as such a lot of the common areas are outside
We wandered the fields around the village and then through the village itself
One of the hotels five tortoises
Heading to the fields
A common practice in this part of rural Turkey is for a wealthy person to develop for the community a spring for communal use
The amount of fruit trees in this area (not just the local area but over a vast area we traveled in) is amazing. Of course there are the orchards planted specifically for production, but they show up everywhere. There a dozen just on the hotel property and in all kinds of yards and long country lanes. It is one of the most productive areas I have ever visited.
In this vineyard
Up this hillside
In the middle of a field of wheat
There is a custom here that if you are walking along and you want a fruit, you help yourself for it is considered being generous and polite (just one however)
Some incredibly sweet mulberries
And other scenes
We walked back into town to have coffee
The great tradition of Turkey
Men in the coffee shop talking
The village dates from about the 17th century but in the fields around are evidence as with the cities of being inhabited much, much longer
Colors and laundry...the theme continues
A view of the village mosque
Washing hands, head and feet before prayers is a requirement
Unfortunately it was locked so we could only take interior pictures through a window
Tractors are everywhere and they are on the move
This is working agricultural land
This stone dates back hundreds of years
It was...and more importantly still is...used to pound grain to a meal
According to Işik they still do this occasionally as part of tradition
We went to a local restaurant for lunch
One of the dishes (the one in back) is made by pounding the grain as described above with meat and then cooking it to it becomes a paste like consistency. I liked it. Wife was less enchanted.
In the foreground is Manti, a meat filled dumpling with a yogurt sauce
Walking back we passed one of many stands selling local produce and locally prepared preserves and pickles. We've been eating these every day at the hotel for breakfast and they are wonderful. Sadly I was at my weight allowance for flying and had no room to acquire any
As we walked back to the hotel, we passed another local restaurant.
The guys in front asked if we had eaten but sadly we had
But they did acquiesce to my request to take their picture
A lovely end to the day
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