Under Construction
Trip Start
Jun 05, 2007
1
7
15
Trip End
Jul 31, 2007
Gaziantep,
Turkey
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
The food here is some of the best in all of Turkey, I've been told. In my experience, this is true. The bread alone is worth the travel from Istanbul--chewy, flavorful, real bread! Compared to the bland, fluffy styrofoam eaten in most of Istanbul, the pide and lavash here are a blessing. After a lunch of a spicy soup with chickpeas, lentils, wheat berries, tomato, garlic, and tarragon, sikma (in Gaziantep this refers to a local cheese wrapped in a large piece of warm saj bread) mini lahmacjun, and a dish of yogurt, beef, chickpeas, rice and meat dumplings, and mint, we hung out with a nice high school girl who wanted to work on her English. She told us that in Gaziantep, there is not much to see, only things to eat. Although that's not entirely true, she gets close to the mark. The food here is great.
Sadly, we did not see any of Gaziantep's important cultural offerings. Instead we were welcomed in the home of Mursel and his incredibly warm and hospitable family. Never have we experienced such kind and generous people.
Evrim and I walked around Gaziantep looking for a suitable hotel and stopped to ask a man for information. He pointed us in the right direction and we continued on our way. I popped into the local Migros to buy a lighter (digression: In Turkey, it seems to be common practice to sell lighters that don't work in the bakallar (small corner store type of places). They also like to sell dead batteries. Stopping in a large grocery store and buying packaged items greatly inceases your chances of buying working products). I returned to the sidewalk and found Evrim deep in conversation with the man he had spoken to a few minutes earlier. Eventually, I was made to understand that the man wished us to come to his home for dinner and stay as his guests. Evrim and I waffled over the correct course of action in this situation, but regardless of our protests, Mursel insisted. With a little trepidation and innate American distrust and skepticism we agreed and boarded a dolmus to take the ten minute ride to Mursel's home. He lives with his family in an immaculate, modern apartment building outside of the city center. Mursel introduce us to his wife and five children and made us feel very welcome. He led us to the balcony where we sat around the table and talked. Or rather, Evrim talked with the family in Turkish occasionally translating, and I smiled a lot and laughed.
Before long, Mursel's wife and daughters brought plates of stuffed vegetables, freshly fried icli kofte, bowls of cacik, , a plate of fresh mint, parsley and lemon, a huge pitcher of frothy ayran, and a pile of warm lavash. Everything tasted great. Not only was it one of the best meals I'd eaten in Turkey, but it may have been one of the best meals I'd ever had in my life. Evrim accidentally ate kabak stuffed with rice and a little lamb, but he survived and admits it was excellent.
