A sweet fishing village by the sea. Relaxed. Not crowded. Three mosques. Eight or nine bars. Twenty tea rooms. A number of excellent fish houses. Countless boats. One museum. One public library. “Stray” cats and dogs. And us equals a magical mini-break.
For the longest time, even while living here, I thought “Turkish Delight” was mixed nuts – like Bombay mix. I was wrong. It’s candy. Not saltwater taffy, but similar – with a clearer base and less artificial colorings and not as sweet. Actually, it’s not like saltwater taffy at all. Try some. I never thought they looked like anything yummy – no visible chocolate coating or candied berries or succulent pistachios or walnuts, but Turkish Delight is a nice addition to the list if you’re making a trip to a local Mediterranean store anyway and they stock that sort of thing.
Men here fish and women sew beautiful embroidered shawls (it was raining and too dark in the shops for me to photograph their handiwork). I am sure there are other jobs here: like baking bread, serving in a tea shop, working in a hotel or running the local Playstation Salonu (there were TWO in Amasra where apparently, all of the adolescent boys spend their time).
Or, of course, there is the library to be staffed.
The stunning location of Amasra makes it seem like owning property anywhere in the town would afford one a sea-view. The people are friendly and warm without being pushy in that southern-costal-tourist-town way (i.e., as in Antalya where they want to sell you everything and are pesky) and everything is half the price that is in Ankara!
This picture of boats in a row was snapped while having tea and tost. Everyday should be like this.
The famous Amasra salad was a highlight for me. Who knew a salad could be like a geological survey? One website says that depending on the season, the salad could have 28 different ingredients! I believe it. I think ours had close to 20! And I am certain that everything in the salad can be bought from Salad Lane near our hotel. There isn’t actually a Salad Lane but there really were stands and stands of families selling only salad ingredients. Mmmm. Amasra salad.
And a parting view of the main harbor stiched together by Peter using the panoramic feature on the camera. Gorgeous. But it is remote. Hard to get to. A real "Turkey through the back door" type of town.
