On the first weekend in June, we had an opportunity to go for a festival at an old town called Beypazarı.
Located 100km from the city centre towards the west of Ankara and on the way of the historical Silk Road, it is one of the oldest residential areas in the Anatolia. Beypazarı was under the sovereignty of Hittites, Phrygians, Roman, Byzantine, Anatolian Seljuks and Ottoman Empire. A place full of cultural richness and natural beauties, it is listed as one of the tourist spots in Turkey. This town is famous with its traditional Turkish houses where the main walls of buildings were made of stone, remaining parts were made of wood and plastered from outside with a roof of tiles.
At the entrance to the street bazaar, we were given a welcome drink that was locally produced at a spring in a valley just 6km away from the town. It was the carbonated mineral water of Beypazarı! It's been one of my favourite drinks in Turkey so far. Taadaa!
Beypazarı provides 60 % of carrot production in Turkey. It is like ala Cameron Highlands with strawberries where you see strawberries, strawberry juice, strawberry balloons, strawberry pillows everywhere. Similarly, you can see people selling carrots, carrot juice... even carrot bolster (of it's natural figure)! Unfortunately, that is one forgotten picture to take but I'm sure you can imagine that!
The town shops
For a living, the residents make handicrafts like "chevre" (an embroidered handkerchief), yazma (a special headscarf), bindalli (a local garment made of velvet), handworks like silver filigree, copperwork, yemeni (another special kind of headscarf), traditional food like dolma (stuffed grape leaves), kuru (a kind of hard biscuit of Beypazarı), guvech (a kind of hotpot dish), kapama (a kind of casserole dish with rice and meat), hoshmerim (a special dessert) to survive.
Festival Street Bazaar
After walking along the street bazaar and around town, we decided to embark on to the nearest valley called Inozü Valley. It took us 4km far towards the north, feeling exhausted and dehydrated, but it was worth it! Look at the scenery! I felt like I was in a mini Grand Canyon... hehe...
Along the valley
Upon the 5th km, we spotted the first restaurant in the valley along the highway. It was a nice and cosy outdoor restaurant called Zindancik.
Zindancik Restaurant
They serve traditional Turkish Food with the local specialties. This was what we had for lunch...
Finally, it was time for us to go back... another 4km return to the town in time to catch the bus. Though we were hot and tired, it was a wonderful experience for me. Last piece of picture for you to enjoy... taken in the bus on the way back home...
We stay in Mamak with his granny, which is about 5km from Kizilay city centre during the weekdays and we travel 25km from Mamak to his hometown at Lalahan for the weekends to visit his parents. Spending 5 days in the bustling city, we look forward to going back to Lalahan because there is where we get to enjoy nature and serenity with delicious local home cooked food!
