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How much richer all our lives wld be if we all learnt to accept, even welcome cultural differences. https://t.co/HwGdrjyzKd

by Pat Yale

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Thoughts reverent and irreverent from the road in Turkey

TURKEY: THE GREAT POWER OUTAGE

by Pat Yale in bloggingaboutturkey

Apr

1626

That was the day that was! Last Tuesday I woke late to hear the next-door hotel's generator roaring away. Concluding that the electricity was off, a not uncommon situation, I picked up a book and prepared to sit out the usual half-hour or less of power outage. But when there was...

PALU: FORGOTTEN RUINS NEAR ELAZİĞ

by Pat Yale in bloggingaboutturkey

Mar

2998

Erol was a cheery chappie. I’d been assigned him as a driver when I ventured into the Belediye in Palu, near Elazığ, to ask for advice on getting to the ruins of the old settlement. As we bumped along the dirt track leading into the hills above the modern town he...

BEHIND THE BEAUTY OF EĞİL

by Pat Yale in bloggingaboutturkey

Mar

1731

I bump into Ali inside the ruins of the castle at Eğil. He was collected medicinal herbs in an old water bottle but was keen to stop and chat to a stranger. “Come round here,” he instructs me. “The view is much better.”Eğil Castle stands high above a gorge on the...

THE DUSTY DELIGHTS OF DARENDE

by Pat Yale in bloggingaboutturkey

Mar

6392

Sometimes I strike it particularly lucky with taxi drivers as was the case when I arrived in Darende, midway between Kayseri and Malatya. Mehmet, my driver, was immaculately dressed in a shirt as clean and neatly pressed as if he had been a teacher. He had his price list ready to...

TURKEY: A TALE OF TWO BUS STATIONS

by Pat Yale in bloggingaboutturkey

Feb

2003

Imagine a bus station. It’s right in the centre of town. On the top floor buses arrive and depart for distant destinations. On the bottom floor buses wait to whisk passengers to nearby localities. Big boards indicate which bus leaves from which stand. Spare space is filled with cafes, shops and...

ON THE MALATYA SOUP TRAIL

by Pat Yale in bloggingaboutturkey

Feb

1518

It was early in the morning and I was rushing through Malatya’s bazaar on my way to catch the bus to Darende. It was too early for anyone much to be working except, rather surprisingly, in the forge section which was already abuzz with activity. As I rushed past I was...

THE MAN FROM TRİLYE

by Pat Yale in bloggingaboutturkey

Jan

1049

In his youth, I think, Hasan must have been something of a heart-stopper. Even now in his fifties he seems wholly at ease in his body in a way that only those who know themselves to be good-looking ever truly are. Ahead of me he strides, back held straight and proud,...

HOW TO BECOME TURKISH IN NINE EASY LESSONS

by Pat Yale in bloggingaboutturkey

Jan

14079

While in İstanbul recently I got chatting to a woman who had been married to a Turk for more than 40 years. Like many foreigners she had been happy to rub along over the years with a regularly renewed residency permit. Like many other foreigners, though, she was reconsidering her situation...

TOSSING THE CROSS: EPIPHANY IN FENER, İSTANBUL

by Pat Yale in bloggingaboutturkey

Jan

1779

The man sitting across from me in the corner cafe is almost blue with cold. What’s more his hands are shaking uncontrollably. “Here, have this tea,” I say, pushing it across to him. “Put your hands round it. You’re freezing.” He smiled and indicated the glass already beside him. Then he...

WAITING FOR THE BURDUR BUS

by Pat Yale in bloggingaboutturkey

Oct

21919

I’m in Burdur otogar waiting for the bus to Bucak when a woman sits down beside me who, at a sidelong glance, I’m sure must come from Somalia. She’s wearing a ragbag mix of clothes and far too many of them, in my opinion, for the sticky hot weather. Her head...