


and more Prague photos inside the post >
Here are two beautiful photos taken by my cousin:

– Bozdag in Central Anatolia / fotocommunity: photos from Senem Tug

– Balloons across Bosphorus / fotocommunity: photos from Senem Tug
You could give a visit to Senem’s fotocommunity page in order to check some other images. I am sure she will go on filling up her space with nice photos and images.. 😉
I just discovered this great photo blog:
Mis fotos de Menorca by Sergio.
There are lots of beautiful images from the pretty and picturesque island of Menorca. Fotomenorca is just one click away from you.
update: By the way, here is my Menorca photos gallery: Photos from Menorca
Yazik degil mi bu yazilara Martin Mystere ? Bu yazI da sok bir kararla yayini durdurulan martinmystere.blogspot.com a konuk sanatçI olarak katIlan bay Zindirzimba’dan idi. Bir kültür hizmeti olarak gördügüm eski martinmystere iletilerini yayinlamayi daha ileri tarihlerde sürdürecegim.
Zindirzimba’dan…
Baktim da, Saraybosna gezisi ile ilgili bir yazi yazma teklifi
neredeyse 5 ay olmus. Bugün seyrettigim 2004 yapimi, Godard’in
Müzigimiz (Notre Musique) filmi kafamda daha net bir Bosna imaji
oturtunca hadi tuslayayim birseyler dedim.
Bu gezi fikri nasil çikti derseniz açiklayayim. 2004 yazi baslarinda,
yurtdisinda bir yerlere yaz tatiline kaçma fikri belirdi. Tek basima,
sirt çantamla rastgele bir gezi olsun diye planladim. Ve tabii ki vize
derdi olmayan bir yer nereler olabilir diye baktigimda en yakinlarda,
Bosna-Hersek, Hirvatistan, Makedonya ve Arnavutluk seçenekleri
belirdi. Hirvatistan’in Bosna-Hersek’le komsu olmasi dolayisiyla bu
iki ülkeyi kapsayan küçük bir rota belirleyip, bileti alip uçtum. Ilk
defa yalniz basina seyahat etmenin tedirginligiyle Saraybosna’ya
indim.
Sehrin tamamen turistik özellikleriyle ilgili halim tüm gezi boyunca
devam etti. Daha derinlerde birseyler oldugu hissi ne yazik ki buraya
dönüp daha detayli arastirip, okuyunca belirginlesti. Bu sehrin en
önemli özelligi, umut baglanan bir toplumsal proje olan “Avrupa
Birligi” rüyasinin çökmeye mahkum oldugunu gösteren bir simgeye
dönüsmüs olmasiydi. Avrupa’nin ortasinda farkli dinlere ve köklere
sahip insanlarin bir arada kaynasmis bir sekilde yasamalarinin, kanli
savaslar ve vahsetlerle artik olanaksiz hale gelmesi, çok kültürlü
toplumsal yasam formlarina duyulan özlemin paramparça olmasina yol
açmisti. Sehirde savasin izleri ve insanlarin sessiz kinleri ve
kayitsizliklari, ülkesinde savasi bire bir yasamamis sansli bir
yabanci için fazla birsey ifade etmiyordu. Kendilerine, merakli
yabancilarca sorulan “siz, dinleri farkli, ayni kandan gelen, ayni
dili konusan insanlarsiniz. neden böyle oldunuz?”gibi sorulara oldukça
öfkelendiklerini fark etmemek olanaksizdi. Evet, “kardes kardesi
öldürmedikçe savas savas olmuyor”. Ortada oldukça karmasik bir
toplumsal sorunlar yigini durmaktaydi. Güney Slavlarinin diger Avrupa
etnik gruplari gibi tek çati altinda birlige dönüsmesi pek kolay
olmamisti. Habsburg, Rus ve Osmanli etkinlik bölgelerinin kesistigi bu
cografya, kisa ama güzel bir düsü yasayip, travmatik acilarla
dagilmislardi.

Tabii ki bu zenginligi ve onulmamis yaralari her kösede hissetmek
mümkündü. Çok kültürlü bir sehirde en hizli yeseren seyin sanat
oldugunu fark ediyorsunuz. Eski Yugoslavya’dan taninan nice
müzisyenin, sinemacinin, edebiyatçinin Saraybosna kökenli olmasinin
nedeninin bundan kaynaklandigini anladim. 400.000 nüfuslu bir sehirde
rast geldigim film festivali, yasadigim 4 milyonluk sehrin degme
festivalinden daha kalabalik ve renkliydi. Ülkenin dili olan
Sirp-Hirvat dili, benim gibi bilgisi Simoviç, Veselinoviç agziyla
yapilan futbol yorumlariyla sinirli olan kisiler için basta biyik
altindan gülümseten bir detay olabiliyor. Bol sessiz harfler kullanan,
Rusça’ya yakin olan bu dilde bir kaç sey söylemenin pek de zevkli
oldugunu zamanla fark ediyorsunuz.
Tabii yemeklerden bahsetmemek olmaz. Özellikle “Cevapcici” denilen,
inegöl köftenin orjini olan köfteyi yerseniz daha önce yediklerinizi
her açidan “azaltilmis numune” olarak rahatça niteleyebilirsiniz.
Spiral sekilde tavaya yerlestirilen ve kömür atesinde pisirilen bosnak
böregi “Burek” ‘te mutlaka tadilmasi gereken lezzetlerden. Bir süre
sonra her seyin bizim topraklardan oraya gittigi inanciniz zedeleniyor
ve Osmanli kültürü çatisi altinda nice seylerin paylasildigi ve oradan
oraya tasindigi gerçegini anlayabiliyorsunuz.

Biraz da erkek gözüyle izlenim paylasayim meraklisina. Bosnali kizlari
nitelemek için en basta slav kökenli olduklarini belirtmek gerek.
Güney Slavlari denilen kökene mensup bu bireyler tahmin edilebilecegi
gibi çoklukla kuzey slavi akrabalari Ruslar ve Ukraynalilarin endamina
sahipler ve bir ya da bir kaç ton daha koyular. Hatta türbanli kizlar
bile insana nasil bir dönüp dönüp bakma hissi yaratir, anlatilmaz
yasanir. Bir çogu için çember sakal birakip, hasemayla denize girmekte
tereddüt etmeyecegimi de belirtmek isterim. Çok mu sicakkanlilar,
yumusak baslilar derseniz orada tereddüt ederim. Biraz çaçaron ve eli
masali halleri oldugunu hissettim.
Eh bu yazi fazla uzayip gitti; baglayayim artik sonunu. Neticede
güzel memleket, yesil memleket. Fiyatlar ucuz, insanlari egitimli,
ahlakli; Türklere ne killar ne de yalakalar. Yakin batimizda renkli
bir cografya kesfetmek isteyenlere tavsiye olunur.
Here are some photos from a trip that we realised to the Black Sea (Karadeniz) region of Turkey last summer. I should have been pasting them earlier but I think i am still on time for people looking for a place to visit during their next summer holidays.
The nature, the actual culture and the traces of the previous ones makes this region of Turkey an option that is worth to visit.
Especially the north-east end of the Turkish Black Sea coast is pretty green and humid and full of steep mountains offering lots of options for ones who want to climb, do trekking or just walk in the nature.
Although one might also find and enjoy nice beaches on the coast, I think Mediterranean (akdeniz) and Aegean (ege) could be a better answer for ones seeking sea, sand and sun in Turkey. The mountains, the nature and the people of Black sea and their culture are what to go after. By the way it is a shame that the construction of the highway on the coast seems to be active and in order to start appreciating again the coast probably we should be trying to forget (or not imagine) its old and wild beauty. 🙁

Considering the dry and nearly desertic nature of Turkey’s interior Anatolian region, East Blacksea region painted with all tones of green and the rocky landscape shaved with countless water sources is shockingly different.
Continuous rainfalls and humid weather makes it an heaven for the farmers who produce tea. Tea production plants and tea farms are especially centered around the city of Rize, which is the second biggest of the region after Trabzon. Someone who knows how much we, Turks like and consume tea would appreciate much better the contribution of this region on our daily lives. 🙂 Rize also is naming the most common tea brand that would be served whereever you are in Turkey.
Also the nearby town of Çayeli (literally this town means Land of Tea) is housing the most famous “Kuru Fasulye” (Haricots Lingots / white dried beans) restaurant of all Turkey. The restaurant is called Hüsrev. However, for this dish which is typically known as the most popular and cheapest plate nearly in all restaurants of Turkey and always served with or on top of rice, here, on the furthest point of Turkey becomes delicious but the most expensive kuru (as it is shortly called) of whole country. ( My wife has the best Kuru Fasulye recipe ever written in spanish language here. 🙂 I can assure it! This is a tasted link. )
Locals of the region were spending the winters in their villages or towns close to the coast and during the summer they were going up to “yayla”, the plain, big spaces that they could find on the skirts and heights of endless series of mountains of the region in order to be able to breed their animals and produce side products.
This old tradition is lately losing its popularity due to the change in their cultural habits. Nowadays people who live abroad or another region of Turkey come back to spend the summer in order to keep their links with their culture and a bunch of other locals who ought to go up to yayla for economical reasons. However,the traditional summer feasts of every yayla keeps their popularity. They are really fun and you could become part of one of those huge circles of people dancing to the sound and rythm of Tulum (an instrument very similar to Scottish Bagpipe) Mid-August 2004 we had the chance to see the Hemsin Yayla Senlikleri (Hemsin village yayla feast)
Honey (bal) production is very common, thanks to millions of flowers decorating the landscape. Honey of Anzer yayla is very famous in Turkey and it is supposed to help and cure lots of health problems(!). The quality of the honey mostly depends on the yayla it is coming, as they are classified according to the number of different flower and plant that is served at the disponibility of the lucky bees. Anzer Bali (honey) is supposed to be made of 400-500 flowers of which 60-70 are endemic, which means that they can be only found at that very concrete area.

end of first part…
We are back in Barcelona… now it is the turn of Bam,the blogkeeper to travel and spend some time hanging out with its pals, for instance in a volcanic island ..
I am uploading a few photos from Tenerife island to justify my absence.. Briefly, we had pretty good time.
Tenerife is one of the seven islands forming the Canary Islands. There are lots of things to do and places to visit. Being a known spot for massive tourism, it is surely not the same what it was… and as far as I am concerned it is not known to be the best protected of all the Canary Islands neither.
Teide mountain -the highest mountain in Spain with 3800 metres- is an impressive volcano beautifully forming the silhoutte of Tenerife..
Skirts of Teide are surrounded by rocky slopes, some other volcanos and valleys and it is known as lunar landscape and full of lava formations creating unusual and dramatic scenes..
Allover the island there are banana plantations (except the buildings that optimistically we filter out in real-time !) and on the north coast, which seems greener they have wine production especially around Orotava valley and Tacoronte – Acentejo villages ! The reds that we tasted had a peculiar taste and they were easy going that we liked so much.
Here are some photos :

The view of Teide volcano as seen from the town center of La Orotava. In the old district of the town there are old Canarian mansions and houses dating back to 17th century, and it is probably an ideal place to observe architecture of the early hispanic period.




Some views from the Parque Nacional de Teide, with the volcano itself and all the lava formations and desertic landscape !

Dramatic cliffs of Los Gigantes. Ugly urban traces are cropped out !! The scene is still beautiful.

Mazca village is a very well protected and pictoresque point of Tenerife thanks to a very narrow,curvy and steep road. It is inside Parque Rural de Teno.

Sierra de Anaga. It is totally the opposite corner of Parque Rural de Teno. Beautiful landscape where the mountains and the ocean prefer to have a serious clash ! The photo is made from pico del ingles.

With Dorada -most popular beer in Tenerife- inspiration is endless :p This is the christmas labeling of the brand with 3 kings !

And a canarian mermaid watching a fisherman`s boat…!