Friday, June 25, 2010

I missed you, friends

The other night I had a dream of one of my blogger friends -- or was this a symbol for many of you? And I was trying to find out how you were. Now I'm back online, and I'll find out.
Next chapter of my travelling adventures. The place where we were is a new village on the south coast of Turkey, a place that is only 30 years old, an assembly of hotels. Yesterday, we took a taxi plus driver. He drove us up past the ruins of an aqueduct from Roman times to an embarkment up in the mountains. I asked him to take us there and to some quiet place where we could eat typical Turkish food, and we ended up on his aunt's lanay. His cousin made wonderful flatbread for us, filled with spinach and cheese, plus a few more lovely dishes, a salted yoghurt drink (ayran) and more stuff. We finished the meal with tea and watermelon. The aunt charged 18$ for all of it. No, not per person. For the complete meal. So we were integrated into the family, real genuine Turkish village inhabitants, and this was part of his sales management. It is funny, how business and privacy are being mixed for a higher purpose. We departed with kisses on both cheeks, and our driver thanked his aunt with a Turkish hand kiss: He kissed his aunt's hand and then touched it with his forehead. Very charming gesture.

3 comments:

Michele said...

Ooooh, I'm so jealous. It looks like a gorgeous place to get away. I'd love to know more about all the different foods you enjoyed. Michele

Diane Cransac said...

Oh that sounds so wonderful. So much better than a touristic restaurant. Really glad you had such a nice visit!

Rayna said...

What a great experience, meeting a real family and eating home-cooked food! You really lucked out. YUMMY.