Safranbola

Another weekend we took a day tour north into beautiful tree covered small mountains,  to the town of Safranbola renowned for many buildings built during the Ottoman Empire.

Its many handsome three-story stone and timber konaks (mansions) were built by wealthy merchants and craftsman.
In Ottoman times, the town lay on a major trade route - the historical Silk Road.  Below is an Inn for caravans built in 1645.

Traditional and historic Cinci (Turkish) Bath.  Separate times for men and women.

Two more beautiful mosques.  We are finding each interior is different and one needs to remember these are all painted by hand.  

wall to wall carpet with already sewn individual prayer rugs spaces - saves men bringing their own, I guess.












The Safranbola area is also a major producer of the spice Saffron.

A few miscellaneous pics around town.

A beautiful Turkish bride.  The wedding dress industry is huge in Turkey - there must have been at least ten wedding dress shops just in our small neighborhood in Ankara.

candy merchant with props. 

a ride with büyükbaba (Grandpa) 

not too sure I'd feel safe living in these houses....

Some of the streets were old time real cobblestones - whatever they could find.  Not exactly easy walking but we did fine in our sturdy Keene walking shoes.










Then we drove about a half hour East to a small village - Yörük (nomads) that was once famous for its valiant calvary.

My dad would have gotten a kick out of the sideways chimney 

We walked through an old semi restored house

The gord is cool but I was more interested in the small, most likely hand-pieced quilt.

old pack saddle

cute little wood stove

Last stop was a communal laundry room that was 300 - 350 years old and was still in use until 10 or 20 years ago. 

Laundry room 

One of two large fireplaces where they heated the water

These huge pieces of stone had been cut and pieced together to incline slightly towards the center where the drain was.   One side was higher for taller women and the other side was lower for shorter women.  Ingenious.  And we read how that there are 12 sides to the washing table - something with Muslim symbolism.

Then the fun began.  Our local "docent" came running up (I think she forgot about us) and in rapid Turkish was explaining how the women of the village would come together to do their laundry.  She was quite a character and whatever stories she was telling must have been hilarious as the Turks in the group were laughing quite a lot.  Our tour guide did translate some about how the mothers would always be on the lookout for possible wives for their  sons who were good workers.  Then she grabbed Roy and hugged him - maybe she was husband hunting too?  He showed her his wedding ring and pointed at me and she kinda shrugged and laughed.  Some of her stories must have been a little off-color as our guide didn't seem to translate everything and there was much laughter. 

Roy and his new Turkish girlfriend 

It never fails - if someone in the group is going to get hugged or kissed, it always seems to be Roy.  Maybe he looks "safe"?  Disneyland,  dinner theater in Spring TX, and now Turkey.  

our nice tour guides