Blog 7: Fruit and Vegetables and Trains! Adana Week ending 11/11/12
It’s been a few days or more since my last blog as I was
sick a due to possibly sun stroke. Tip: Wear a hat! Lol Then it began
to rain here in Adana. Quite frankly, it
has been a welcome break with cooler temperates more like I was expecting for
this time of year.
Adana in the Summer can be extraordinarily hot!! 40’degrees celeuis
and then some!! Most people here vacate
the city for either a cooler location like a village house in the mountains or
a sea side apartment in places like Mersin. Last year we did just that to
escape the heat in July. But even at Mersin it was so hot. I remember I slepping outside on the
veranda and put my bare face to the cement to keep it cool! Lol
Mersin is great though in the Summer months for all markets and
music for miles that line the sea side parks till early hours of the morning. Also the waters are beautiful and
calm like you would imagine in along the sures of the Mediterranean sea. Sooo nice!!
But the hot weather is very hot in the summer months! Needless
to say, best times I think to visit Adana is mid to late August on to Nov and
March through to May. June, July, August
is Holiday season and all the pools open, but you may want to visit the sea
side resorts cities in Turkey like Bodrum or Antalya during those times if you
think the hot weather will get to you.
This is my first time in Adana for November and I like it!
We have had some hot days, 30’s and some cool days, 20’s so far (Celsius –
Sorry to you folk in the US that work with Fahrenheit! You guys should really
get with the rest of the world! ;-) Lol)
Adana is often (mostly from my experience) wrapped in
skyline smog. (maybe all the Kebab bbq’s!) So today was an exceptional clean
air day and for the clearest day ever I’ve found to photograph the Mountains in
the far distance of the city. They are pretty impressive!! If you click on any pictures you'll see the better size and impression of the mountains.
Update: on such clear nights you also
hear more than just one singing Hoca (Imam) singing calls to prayer from
speaker mounted on all the Mosque minarets ( starts around 5am in the morning) Seriously
I counted around 5 echoes of the same chorus, all overlapping each other at
different times. Last year I counted 33 Mosques from the balcony view point
looking in just one direction. Turks are very religious, but more casual and
modern than their eastern neighbours.
It’s these mountains above that provide the clean drinking water
and fill the pools that they constantly refill and empty so often here. (they don't use chorine, just refill with fresh and empty very frequently) Unlike Istanbul
where you are advised to only drink bottled water (They recycled water in
Istanbul) Adana’s water is cool, fresh and extremely drinkable as the snow clad
mountains continues to provide.
Yesterday (Friday the 10th of November) was the anniversary
of Mustafa Kemal “Ataturk”death.
At exactly 9:05am the whole country stops for
1 minute to commemorate his death. And I do mean stops!! Everything does. People
have great respect for this man. They sound a big horn, like train horn or air
raid horn over the city for the minute.
Mustafa Kemal “Ataturk” is the hero of this country, it’s
first leader (Prime Minister) and the leader and liberator of the new reformed
Turkey after the defeated Ottoman Empire ceased in WW1. Turkey was divided up as spoils to the victors
as part of the Ottoman Empire surrender in WW1 and Ataturk reunited it and kicked out the occupiers in 1922.
He also was the main reason for the Allied defeat in Gallipoli
in 1915. That and also the very incompetent general-ship and poor planning in
the ill-conceived English lead invasion.
My great uncle (an Aussie artilleryman) fortunately survived
that fiasco at Gallipoli to fight on with his brother in the great and terrible
battle of Sommes, France where remarkable they both survived!
Truly, Mustafa Kemal “Ataturk was a great man and made this
nation of Turkey great! Unfortunately there are
those that oppose his greatness today here in Turkey because Ataturk dared to
separate religion from state.
The photo above is at Ataturk Park Adana taken on the 11th, the day after Ataturk’s day, Ironically the 11th is Armistice day (or Remembrance
Day) for all Aussies – marking the end of the 1st World War
(Armistice with Germany). We Aussies have 2 minutes silence at 11am to commemorate
that.
Fruit and Vegetable markets.
Over the past week when we went out, we mostly shopped, walked the streets, and visited the fruit and Vegetable markets.
The Fruit and Veg Markets on 64003. Sokak (3. Sk.) Adana is great. 1 road, two
blocks long, with markets on both sides of the road. (You can also get fresh fish there)
Fruit and Vegetables are much cheaper in Turkey than Australia (50cents for 1 kg of Tomatoes or even less. My personal favourite pomegranates, just 5 Turkish Lira (about $3 Australia) for 4kgs!!! Omg we pay $3 for just 1 single pomegranate in Australia and here I can get 4 KILO for that price!
Fruit and Vegetables are much cheaper in Turkey than Australia (50cents for 1 kg of Tomatoes or even less. My personal favourite pomegranates, just 5 Turkish Lira (about $3 Australia) for 4kgs!!! Omg we pay $3 for just 1 single pomegranate in Australia and here I can get 4 KILO for that price!
The fruit and Veg is plentiful, fresh and big! You can find
markets like this one in many streets but the Markets here on 64003 street are
open only Wednesdays and also Tuesday nights.
General groceries (food items etc) in Adana are either on
par or more expensive than home, the latter being mostly the case. You will
find the odd thing being much cheaper though, probably because it’s prepared in
this part of the world, just shop around.
Oh, and milk at the market stalls here is all UHD milk (micro-filtration, increasing the storage
life of the processed milk by ultra high temperature (UHT) treatment, and
mixing or culturing milk for flavoured and yogurt products.) So you’ll find it normally on the shelf
rather than the fridge. (Though they do put their UHD milk in the fridge in
some markets also). They do of course have fresh cows and goats milk straight
from milking in the villages and I dare say you can get it if you ask for it. (just confirmed that fact!)
When it comes to meat and alcohol expect to pay 2 to 3 times
the price of Australian prices. For that
reason I am always very sober in Turkey! :-/ In 7 trips to Turkey I can count
the glasses of alcohol I’ve had on 1 hand! Hmm, Maybe 2 hands! (Due to
frequency of expensive travel to Turkey
from Australia, alcohol indulgences have had to take a back seat. Duh!) Doesn’t
mean I can’t duty free on the way home! ;-)
Raki, the Turkish Alcoholic drink of choice here and it is
relatively cheap. You need to try it at least once, but it’s potent and very
strong!! Hic! Not really my taste, but it’s interesting.
Funny thing here is I have never seen anyone walking along
the street with a bottle of alcohol or beer in there hand, “keg” on their
shoulder or anyone drunk for that matter on the street here. Perhaps the price
together with religious beliefs of Turkey (99% Muslim) aid this observation. But
to an Aussie who from the beer loving country of Australia, this is truly odd phenomenon.
Very nice but odd all the same! I’m sure we’d find some normality in the
tourist coastal areas of Turkey but that just might be all the Tourist! Lol
We took my son to see Adana Train Station because there’s a
big 1920’s steam engine there. He loves trains and was very pleased to see a
steam engine like “Thomas the Tank engine and friends” The Train Station itself
was built by the Germans just prior to the 1st World War (1913) as
part of the “Berlin to Bagdad Railway Project”.
My experience of Adana trains this year is much different to
last year. This year, modern trains in modern clean subways, with security
everywhere! Last year we took an older train to these wonderful hot-springs
pools in the mountains about 2 or 3 hours train ride. On the journey back, the
train actually derailed at the station. Then all the men around the station,
passengers and all, helped to put the train back on rails. Truly a site you don’t
see often. I wish I blogged those photos last year!
Then on the way back to Adana on that same trip, the train
passed the station by about 10kms before they realised the error and had to
back the train all the way back to Adana! Lol Very funny!
One last item for my blog. Road crossings. Take a look at
this one. It leads to a fence in the middle of the road so you can’t actually
use it! Lol So typical here! Lol I love it!!
Cheers
Andrew
PS. Many of the pictures I take are on a FUJIFILM REAL3D so if you want a 3D version, email me at andrewaylin@yahoo.com.au and I'll email you the picture you like. They are so much better in 3D.
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