Various Events

June 10

Roshan, Murat, Ilker and I went to Balikaylar for the weekend. I had been thinking the name was Balik-aylar (fish moons) but it was actually Bali-kaylar (honey rocks). To get there, we drove about 1 hour from Istanbul, through Tavsankoy (rabbit village) and down into a valley. Balikaylar is a river gorge. Murat goes almost every weekend to practice rock climbing. There are two cliffs opposite each other which people repeatedly climbed up and repelled down all day. The area is by no means out in the wilderness. There were masses of people picnicing and playing in the pools near the entrance. Ilker, Roshan and I went for a walk up the river side. The river is very small and very rocky. The path isn't very clear so we ended up climbing over rocks and leaping from stone to stone across the river. We walked beyond the crowded areas, resting by cascades and glancing at frogs, snakes and lizards. Eventually, the rocks thinned out to a more pastoral area with green grass, and tamer trees and bushes. We ate lunch in the shade of a tree and soon found ourselves dozing off to the sounds of birds and frogs.

Murat was still climbing when we got back to the cliffs. We gathered our camping equipment and climbed up the steep hill to the base of the climbing rocks.

A strong wind picked up as the day was drawing on. It whistled between the cliffs and shook the trees. We waited for the climbers to finish, trying to shelter ourselves from the wind by huddling against a large rock. Eventually, we climbed up another steep rocky path to the top of the cliffs. THis was where we were going to spend the night.

Fortunately the wind wasn't as strong as it was between the two cliffs. It was still a bit difficult to get my balloon of a tent to stay in place. Roshan set up the kitchen area in protected corner against a large rock. He built a fire, arranged the food, set up rocks for chairs and a table and got his Narghile ready for the evening. As the sun set, we scurried to scrape the barren cliff top for enough wood to keep a fire going. We ate soup and pasta. The evening was spent, relaxing by the fire. The heat of the sun the next morning chased us out of the tents. We took a walk on the cliff tops, had breakfast and then headed back to the city.

June 16, 2000

Roshan and I decided to get married. We have managed to obtain all the paperwork required for the Turkish side of things (Affidavits of Marriagability from our respective consulates, notarized translations of our passports, etc. etc.) and we have an appointment to get married on the 14th of September at 16:00. We will go sign a book in the Taksim Marriage Office. They have a big Marriage hall there but you have to pay for it and it looks like a Victorian carnival carousel: red velvet, mirrors, gold painted frilly molding. I think they must keep the horses behind the red velvet curtain on stage so the bride and groom can ride out on them to the sound of an organ grinding monkey. (incidently, why do organ grinding monkeys always wear Turkish clothing?)

June 17, 2000

This morning we woke up early, planning to go biking. As we got to Tarlabashi it started raining and all around you could hear cars skidding. We decided to go back. Later, we took a walk to Yildiz Saray. It was a quiet afternoon and I think we were the only visitors today. The guard sat reading a newspaper. He turned on the lights so we could look at the porcelain, carved wood articles and other palace paraphenalia. Sultan Abdülhamid II, who frequented Yildiz, loved carpentry. Several of the pieces are beautiful examples of ornately carved furniture. There is a hand mirror believed to have been carved by the Sultan. After we looked at the main museum, the guard took us out the back door around to a private theatre with a ceiling decorated with stars. There was one more exhibit room containing examples of Ottoman art pieces and some interesting old photographs of Istanbul. We weren't able to walk around the grounds (I wanted to get a better look at the pond in the back which was set up in the design of the Sultan's Tugra (caligraphic signature) so we headed back to Besiktas, where the pirate (Western point of view)/Admiral (Turkish point of view) Barbarosa is buried.

July 1, 2000

On my birthday, a group of us went to Burgaz for a picnic. We found a trash strewn beach where there was a boat scooping sand from one side to the other. We found a cleaner part and discovered that we had brought a ton of food. I told everyone to bring a sandwich and everyone brought lots of extra food in case anyone forgot their lunch. Then, of course, we had to buy a watermelon.

Later, we played ball and had a minor Olympiad which exausted everyone. Then we walked around the island looking for a Greek Monastary. One was closed and we couldn't find the other so we went down to the shore and sat in the shade wondering at the abundance of refrigerators standing along the water. We finished off the watermelon sitting in a row looking like an overgrown version of a Norman Rockwell painting of kids in summer.

The refrigerators turned out to be waiting for a boat which brought new home appliances and children's bicycles and took away the old.

On the boat back, we heckled the boat salesman who was selling sewing kits. We bought one so there were no hard feelings. Roshan and I had just been talking about how we needed new scissors. The kit had two pair along with the standard sewing kit items. It also had a cool lighter gun, great for lighting the gas stove and water heater. A deal for $1.75. In good company, the ride went quickly and we were soon back at Eminonu.