Saturday was spent in the old part of Ankara called Ulus where many markets are. Below is a picture from the food market with fresh fruits and veggies, cheese stands, meat stands, grain shops and bakeries. We picked up a kilo of strawberries, a kilo of small bell pepper, a kilo of cherries, two bouquets of dill and a kilo of long grain rice for about 10YTL. I made strawberry lemonade yesterday but the fate of the other goods it still undetermined... we'll be eating bell peppers for days!
The food market was our last stop. Before doing our shopping we had a lovely meal up the road form this bead store. The area is just below the castle and next to a museum (I do not know which one exactly). Across from the museum and just next door to the textile shop shown a few pictures down, is a lamp store. And at the back of the lamp store is an open kitchen. Stairs at the back of the lamp store lead up to a fantastic little place to have a meal and beer. It's just like a scene out of the Anthropologie catalogue as it has a great balcony overlooking the city, with flowers and chic antiques and a very unpretentious but hip-vintage feel about it. As we walked up the stairs this time we were greeted by the scent of drying mint. And sure enough at the top of the stairs were two tables covered with the stuff. For lunch I had a cheese omelet which came with a side salad of mint and tomatoes and baby bell peppers. Peter had a plate of tomatoes (they taste like the true garden variety here somehow! not at all hydroponic tasting!). And of course, cherry juice (visne sul, I think is how its spelled). Peter has been there several times and this was my second. The location, atmosphere and food are perfect but the servers are sort of bitter and not very friendly. Oh well.
I stopped in this bead store and now want to design some jewelry as they had all the findings for some very fun pieces. Below are minaret tops from one of the copper shops in the area. For some reason, I thought minaret tops would be special order pieces but apparently they are not (I am not sure these are actually minaret tops or are modeled to look like such because the shops do have much larger versions of these which might be the real tops and these are something else?) A picture of a man stamping copper is further down.
Here is the textile store. The motifs on these are from the Hittite culture (I think - the tree-like symbol seen on the pink cloth is on a lot of packaging here on things here like certain brands of crackers and there is a deer sculpture in Ankara using these motifs). For more on the Hittites see these pages:
The food market was our last stop. Before doing our shopping we had a lovely meal up the road form this bead store. The area is just below the castle and next to a museum (I do not know which one exactly). Across from the museum and just next door to the textile shop shown a few pictures down, is a lamp store. And at the back of the lamp store is an open kitchen. Stairs at the back of the lamp store lead up to a fantastic little place to have a meal and beer. It's just like a scene out of the Anthropologie catalogue as it has a great balcony overlooking the city, with flowers and chic antiques and a very unpretentious but hip-vintage feel about it. As we walked up the stairs this time we were greeted by the scent of drying mint. And sure enough at the top of the stairs were two tables covered with the stuff. For lunch I had a cheese omelet which came with a side salad of mint and tomatoes and baby bell peppers. Peter had a plate of tomatoes (they taste like the true garden variety here somehow! not at all hydroponic tasting!). And of course, cherry juice (visne sul, I think is how its spelled). Peter has been there several times and this was my second. The location, atmosphere and food are perfect but the servers are sort of bitter and not very friendly. Oh well.
I stopped in this bead store and now want to design some jewelry as they had all the findings for some very fun pieces. Below are minaret tops from one of the copper shops in the area. For some reason, I thought minaret tops would be special order pieces but apparently they are not (I am not sure these are actually minaret tops or are modeled to look like such because the shops do have much larger versions of these which might be the real tops and these are something else?) A picture of a man stamping copper is further down.
Here is the textile store. The motifs on these are from the Hittite culture (I think - the tree-like symbol seen on the pink cloth is on a lot of packaging here on things here like certain brands of crackers and there is a deer sculpture in Ankara using these motifs). For more on the Hittites see these pages:
Ulus is filled with many, many people. These pictures do not depict the claustrophobic nature of so many people accurately. But, I had a much easier time this time round in Ulus with all of the people than I did when I visited in December. I think it has a lot to do with the mentality that this is a place called "home" by so many people, including me now, and I have to find a way to be comfortable in spaces that are really challenging to me since they now hold more than just the intrigue and spectacle of a tourist destination but are instead filled with the possibilities of a place to think of as a home.
1 comment:
It is so nice to see stuff stll being made by hand. Such lovely textiles and brass thing-a-ma-bobbs!
It is great to see you having a great time...
-A
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