Traveling far south and a little east

Gaziantep

The city of Gaziantep is famous for being one of the world's oldest and continuously inhabited cities in the world.  It is located in the southeastern part of Turkey and has about 1.400.000 citizens.  We spent a day in Gaziantep and fell in love with the old markets and nearby workshops where coppersmiths and their apprentices were hammering on their beautiful, traditional pitchers and trays.

The old market

Dried peppers and eggplants

Prayer beads

Antique keys

Beautiful mirrors

Lovely old wooden buildings that seem to have
been the center for craftsmanship and trading for generations

One among us bought bigger trays than others, and had to suffer the stares of locals
and the verbal abuse of his fellow travelers...

...we suggested a coffee pot to go with the tray...

...and if you have a big coffee pot, you need a lot of cups!

Generations of craftsmanship

Like father, like son

Precision, patience...

...and steady hammering

The results are stunning

Fresh vegetables for sale on this street

I forgot to ask what this was, it just looked facinating

Eggplants by the bushel

The barber (check my reflection in the mirror)

A mobile sales cart full of everything you might need

A real tinker shop where you can get anything from a portable grill to a watering can

Recycled vegetable oil cans

The Tin Man himself and his apprentice
He is fixing a portable teakettle, that salesmen carry around when selling tea on the street

Fascinating scaffolding all over the city, made out of thin wooden poles

Looks like the house is covered with toothpicks

The scariest was to watch this worker disassembling the platform he was standing on, several stories up in the air!

Lots of beautiful minarets in Gaziantep

Fascinating windows on the wall of a pastry shop (baklava, of course)

The hotel and neighboring streets

Google map told us to drive all the way up to our hotel, but we found it a little difficult to fit our mini van through these streets.  Luckily we had an excellent driver, with good help from his co-pilot and some curious neighbors, we managed to make a left turn and wiggle our way back to the main streets.

The courtyard at the hotel


Local speciality coffee made out of dried pistachio nuts.  Yummm...

Lunch at a fantastic kebab house

No menu, no choice, and they bring you several types of kebab along with the freshest of bread and salad.
You find a seat wherever you can and strangers share tables with one another.  The clothing may have changed, but this place has been run the same way for generations.  

A city of Mosaic

The city of Zeugma was located on the banks of Euphrates, and is said to have been founded by Alexander the Great's generals back in 300 B.C.  The Euphrates delta is historically known as the cradle of civilization with very fertile soil and rich culture.  It is not surprising to find evidence of extraordinary culture in this area, and the city of Zeugma was such a find.  Most of the city's treasures were discovered during digging and construction of a new dam on the Euphrates, and this dam would cause the ancient city of Zeugma to be permanently flooded.  A hectic period of rescuing mosaics and artifacts started, and the pieces in this post became the Zeugma Mosaic Museum in Gazientep.

Not a painting

Also - not a painting

The details in these pieces were certainly worth contemplating.

This is the most famous piece of mosaic in the museum, nick named The Gypsy Girl due to her unkempt hair and wild eyes.  The rest of this mosaic is missing, so it is difficult to determine who this face is supposed to represent.  Guesses are many, and usually the mosaics portray gods.  One interesting hypothesis is that it could be a portrait of Alexander the great, wouldn't that be cool?  Like the Mona Lisa, the eyes in this piece appear to follow you no matter where you are in the room.  Only it's made of rocks. And nearly 2000 years older.