Old City Reloaded: Eskişehir

Eski-şehir means "Old-city" in English. I remember Eskişehir as a cold and old provincial city of middle Anatolia. Last time I visited this city I was very positively surprised. Thanks to its mayor Prof. Dr. Yılmaz Büyükerşen and its two universities, the whole city metamorphosed into a glowing city and a culture hub.
The city was founded by the Hittites in about 14th century B.C.. Following them Phrygians in 11th century B.C., Lydians, the Persians, the Macedonians in 4th century B.C .and the Romans in 2nd century prevailed on the city. In 1074 A.D. it is conquered by Turks.
The city of Eskişehir is sited on the banks of Porsuk river. Eskişehir is the place of Turkey's first aviation industry. The railway industry, boron, meerschaum and magnesite mines are also the locomotives of the local economy.

Kurşunlu Mosque

Kurşunlu Mosque and Kurşunlu Külliyesi (complex) is one of the main attractions in the historical quarter "Odunpazarı". It was built with the order of Selim I.'s leading vizier Damat Melek Pasha between 1515-1525 by the palace architect Acem Ali. The part caravanserai of the complex was built by Mimar Sinan (the architect of the Sokullu Mehmet Paşa Bridge in Bosnia and Herzegovina).

Entrance of the Kurşunlu Mosque

Külliye is composed of a mosque, schools, dormitories, bazaar and some other buildings. Bazaar has been used as hand crafts bazaar. Dormitory rooms are transformed into workshops and meerschaum museum.

Hand crafts bazaar

Meerschaum - before

Meerschaum - after

Calabash (Su kabağı) on the wall of a house.

We continued our tour in the Odunpazarı. The way among the old houses took us to Atlıhan which is a bazaar built in 1880 by Takattin Bey.

Entrance of Atlıhan

Interior of Atlıhan

There are many meerschaum and Turkish calligraphy workshops in Atlıhan. The small tea canteen is a nice place to have a break and taste the Turkish tea served in thin belt glasses.
We were hungry and ate in Köfteci Ahmet. Köftes (a Turkish meat ball dish) were really delicious.

Köfteci Ahmet is right in front of the Atlıhan.

Historical Odunpazarı houses are typical examples of middle-Anatolian architecture.

A pretty old-timer in the Oldcity.

This historical place has been used as movie plateau time to time. As this time ...

We went to Köprübaşı, the traditional shopping mile of the city, and shopped some local sweets. Met helvası is a sugar and flour based sweet typical to Eskişehir. Pestil is a fruit based sweet and it is made by drying the crashed fruits such as grapes, mulberries, plums etc. in the sun.

Helvas

A place identified with Eskişehir is Kara Kedi (Black Cat) Bozacısı. Boza is a typical winter drink in Turkey which is made of fermented wheat and chickpeas. It is usually served with cinnamon on top and with some roasted chickpeas.

Boza

In terms of natural springs Eskişehir is a very rich place. The hot springs have been used in Hamams and even in the city center there are several of them. The most famous spring water of Eskişehir is Kalabak. Almost all drink water of the city is supplied from Kalabak. Which tasted so good after our wild tourism marathon.

A small hamam in Köprübaşı.

This house in Kırmızıtoprak Mahallesi is my favourite house in Eskişehir...

Lisbon

Some weeks ago I had the chance to spend a few hours in Lisbon, in my way to a conference in Coimbra. I arrived at Sta. Apolonia station with the night train from Madrid. The train could be modernized to make it more comfortable but, on the other hand, this way of travelling still gives you the chance to share time and conversations with other travellers.

With the time difference between Portugal and Spain, we arrived at the train station about 7:30 am of a Sunday morning, so there was almost nobody on the streets and I had the opportunity to walk through the meandering streets of Alfama (the fishermen's quarter) without crossing anyone. This is a nice experience, walking on your own in a new city, having nothing but your own senses to fully experience it.

In this walking around, I could see the many building with tiled façades that Lisbon has. This gives it a very distinctive image, which I had not seen before. You can also find some noble building, like the "Casa dos Bicos" (House of Beaks), built in 1523, and that soon will be the home of the José Saramago foundation. It is remarkable the contrast of this very nice house with its neighbour. Indeed, Lisbon is full of contrasts between buildings, with some of them apparently about to fall down, which just gives to it a special air.

Casa dos Bicos in Rua dos Bacalhoeiros

Another colourful image of Alfama

But walking around makes you hungry! So it was time to find some nice breakfast, and following a suggestion of my guidebook, I headed towards to central quarter of "Chiado" and in particular to the Café A Brasileira. This is a very nice café with an art nouveau interior and a sculpture of Fernando Pessoa outside that captures the attention of all passerby. I had a simple caffè latte ("meia de leite") and a pastry and the price was quite ok even been in the very heart of the city.

Café A Brasileira, 120 Rua Garrett

Lisbon is well known for its tough orography, which led to the construction of several elevators and cable cars to join different quarters of the city. Nowadays most of them are no longer working, but you can still catch the Ascensor da Gloria ("Glory cable car"), which is a National Monument, from Praça dos Restauradores to the nice viewpoint of Sao Pedro de Alcántara. The only elevator still in service is the impressive Elevador de Santa Justa.

Ascensor da Gloria at its bottom station,
ready to climb the Calçada da Glória

After visiting Praça dos Restauradores and the nearby Praça do Rossío --the heart of Lisbon--, I walked through the streets of the Baixa quarter. These streets link the center of Lisbon with the Praça do Comercio ("Commerce square"), so named because it's just next to the Tagus river, so it was the natural entry point of goods into the city. Not a surprise then that these streets are named Rua Ouro (Gold st.), Rua Prata (Silver st.), and so on.

You shouldn't visit Lisbon and not go to the Castelo Sao Jorge. There is in fact not much left of the castle, but the views from the hill are said to be impressive. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to make the queue, so all I could do was go to the nearby "Largo das Portas do Sol", which has this nice view of the Tagus river and Barreiro, the town opposite Lisbon over the Tagus. Tagus is so broad here, that sometimes you have the feeling you're already seeing the Atlantic ocean rather than a river!

The Tagus in Lisbon

Hiddensee: Hidden Charm of the Baltic Sea

Dornbusch Lighthouse

This weekend I discovered hidden beauty of the Baltic Sea; Hiddensee island. I have been in Gdańsk/Poland at the Baltic Sea cost before and I liked there a lot. Hiddensee was a part of DDR before the fall of the Berlin Wall. At some point they tried to be a part of Sweden without success. In order to reach there first I took the train until Stralsund from Berlin Hauptbahnhof. After getting off at Stralsund, I catched the ferry from the port to Hiddensee. All together the journey takes about 5 hours.

I stayed in a small charming pension called Lachmoewe, "laughing sea gull", directly situated in front of the port Vitte. (I learned this is a sea gull species.) It has cosy rooms, a nice cafe with very seductive choices of home made cakes and the staff is very hospitable. The prices are reasonable.

One should visit Hiddensee, only if he/she likes nature. The cars are forbidden, so no bus no metro. You can either rent a horse or a bike for transportation. But bringing your own bike to the island is forbidden. Because they rent the bikes, this is one of the limited incomes of the island. It costs about 7-8 Euros per day.

By my bike I made my way down to the south of the island. There are more things to see in south. The costs of the island are well maintained. The smell of the roses suppresses the smell of the sea. One can see the farms around. Actually, the whole island is like a big village.




Don't be optimistic with the weather. At the end of May the weather was cold, windy and time to time rainy. Nevertheless, inhaling fresh air made me fell good.

The nature was blossoming, all colours of flowers were attracting my attention all around.

Horse carts

In Kloster, there is Heimatmuseum where the history, flora, fauna and some pieces of Wikings' treasure are exhibited. Gerhart Hauptmann Haus has been used as a cultural centre in the island after Gerhart Hauptmann (1912 Nobel Prize in literature). However, I heard from the people of the island, he was not used to be a beloved one there because of his arrogance towards to the poor fishermen habitants. He was not the only artist of the island. Actually, Hiddensee hosted many artists, especially in 20's. The german expressionists Walter Grammatté, Erich Heckel of the Die Brücke group ("The Bridge"), painter Elisabeth Buechsel, stunt film star Asta Nielsen, dancer Gret Palucca also lived in this island.

The artistic spirit is permeated to the island. There are galleries, arts & crafts ateliers processing famous amber of the Baltic sea and the charming small theatre See Buehne cherish the island. I saw an interesting version of Goethe's Faust at this theatre. It was a puppet theatre and the play was very successfully adapted.

To eat in a fisher island of course my first choice is fish. Annemarie's Fischkist offers quick, delicious and very cheap fish sandwiches. It was interesting to see, every house has totems in their gardens such as hanging stones, sailor marks etc.

Fischkist

Strandkörbchen

Strandkörbchen are very characteristic to the beaches of the Baltic Sea. They are designed to protect people from the wind, not surprisingly. I enjoyed walking along the long beaches-without anyone swimming or sun bathing:)-, being alone with the sound of the waves and the wind.

Windmill

There is a charming old windmill along the cost. It has been used as an atelier nowadays.
In the south of the island there is Dornbusch Lighthouse. For me it is the most impressive attraction of the island.

Dornbusch Lighthouse

I came by my bike until the entry of the national park-then bikes are not allowed. After hiking a small hill, I reached the lighthouse. Dornbusch Lighthouse lies at 54° 35' 57'' N, 13° 7' 10'' E. It was built in 1887/1888. The tower height is 28 m and the light height is 95 m.

View of Baltic Sea from the top of the lighthouse

They say the lighthouses stand alone. But this lighthouse was not alone at all with so many visitors. One needs to just climb the stairs! But there were chairs at the floors to rest for a while. And the view worts it.




On the way back, I visited the Nationalpark Haus where the geological history of the island can be learned. I was amazed when I saw how fast the north of the island is rising and getting larger.

Ponys can be seen and smelled everywhere of the island.

One day on the cost I saw people searching something among the seaweeds. A woman showed me the ambers she found. I started searching for them, too. And I was lucky! At the costs of Baltic Sea I found ambers.

A DDR Nostalgia: Dresden

Trabby

This beautiful city is the capital of the upper Saxony and it was a part of DDR before the fall of the Berlin Wall. Dresden is situated on Elbe River side. It was my first long trip to an old east-german city.

Dresden has been the city of art. The baroque distric, old city of Dresden reflects the old glorious times of Saxony. One can see statues of workers from communistic times spread around the old classical statues in parks. Although some beton blocks rise among the 17th-18th century churches, palaces, the texture of the city is quite well preserved.

Frauenkirche

The most famous image of the city is the Frauenkirche. This 18th century masterpiece of arcitecture was totally destroyed during the second world war. After the unification of Germany it was rebuilt. With the old original black stone pieces embedded into the new limestone walls, Frauenkirche recalls its reincarnetion.

There are restaurants and bars among the street from the church to the terraces near the Elbe. From the terraces, the night view of the old city is really worth to see.

Following an insider tip I got from Nina, we went to see the new city. This contemporary part of the city lies on the other side of Elbe. Thanks to all day long running trams, the transportation between the two sides of the river is quite well. Opposite to the old city, here the life starts by night. Even it was Sunday night, the streets were full with young people. With its huge technical univesity, Fraunhofer, Max Planck institutes and many R&D centers Dresden is the only ex-DDR city appeals the young educated people.

We tried to eat something at Schaune but it was full and we could find seats at the bar.

A large part of the Dresden castle, Zwinger including the old master's gallery (where Sistine Madonna of Raphael is exhibited) was under restoration. Then I made my way to the Green Vault where the largest treasures of Europe is exhibited. It was founded by Augustus II the Strong (1670 - 1733, elector of Saxony, king of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania). But my real goal was to see the Türckische Cammer. Weapons, otağs, üzengis and historical customs of Ottomans is a real feast for the eyes. The collection was started by Augustus II the Strong due to the collaboration of Ottomans and Saxons. Suleiman the Magnificent wanted Vienna and Augustus II the Strong wanted to be the emparor. Most of the pieces of the collection are the presents of Turks to their old allias. However, the allias was broken when Suleiman the Magnificent came to the skirts of Vienna. Because Augustus II the Strong was suppressed by the other Europen leaders and the Pope threatened him by dethroning him. Note for visitors: Take the long long ticket queue into account.

In the following days I met the guys from Les Houches. I took them to Schaune. This time we were lucky and got a table. The kitchen is mostly Indian, the prices are not cheap but still acceptable. One should be patient to reach the food, service is slow due to crowd. The guests are quite international and this place is very popular among the young adults. The restaurant is on the ground floor and there is a stage on the first floor, at nights there are live performances going on. The ceiling of the bar is totally covered with mistleoes. The story tells one can kiss a girl if there is a mistleoes is hanging above. That's why mistleoes is everywhere at X-mas. Well, this is a story, try it at your own risk.

After having dinner we went to Groove Station which lies few hundreds meters down. That was a nice place to have a drink and play mini football, as a tradition from Les Houches.

Another attraction of the Neustadt is the charming Kunsthof-Passage.
There are a number of coctail bars, arts & hand crafts, second hand and book shops in the passage. But the characteristic of the passage is the creative design of the passage itself.

I took the way down to Bautzner Strasse to find the most beautiful dairy of the world. That's how they call Pfunds Molkerei. Although the company does no more production, the dairy is a touristic attraction with its history and renovated Villeroy&Boch majolicas.

Last night I dined at Brennnessel. This restaurant is at 10-15 minutes walking distance from the Zwinger. However, this quarter is far from the touristic rush of the old city. The menu is fully vegetarian and delicious. I recommend Gebackener Schafskäse-baked sheep chease. At late hours the musicians of the concert haus came to dime with their instruments, too.

I wish I could visit Sächsische Schweiz, too. But it was still cold in the middle of March and the possibility of running into some skinheads-although during my more than 4 years stay in Germany I have never met any of them, they warned me some of them are still alive-at rural part of the east Germany stopped me.

So, I enjoyed Dresden. Until next time!