Day 6 - Bursa

Day 6 - Bursa
Saturday, June 25th
Weather - 80 degrees, and, you guessed it, sun!
Plans - Travel to Bursa, Iskender doner (gyro), silk bazaar, Karagoz shadow puppets, Turkish bath

Finally - a great night's sleep! I'm starting to adjust to the time zone change, but I'm sure the seaside hotel and maximum air conditioning helped, too.

We awoke very early to travel once again, as this will be our M.O. for pretty much the rest of the trip. From the Aegean Sea we traveled to Bursa, which is the 4th largest city in Turkey (approx. 2 million), which our tour guide Ohran has dubbed "the Detroit of Turkey," since it's where the automobiles are made.

Bursa is a lot different from the other places we've been to because we're no longer on the coast, and it's mountainous. The city used to serve as the center of Ottoman operations prior to their conquering of Istanbul, so it was very important prior to the 15th Century.


Iskender Doner Kebop

However, our first treatment of Bursa (pronounced, Boo-rh-sa) was to a thing called Iskender kebab, a 19th century treat. Claimed to be the first variation of doner (which means "spinning" in Turkish, or more familiarly "gyro" in Greek), the Iskender was abso-positively to die for. To describe this particular (trademarked) dish, the Iskender doner kebop begins with a small layer of diced pita bread, braised beef cooked on a rotating spit, Turkish yogurt (pronounced yo-oort here), tomato sauce, and topped with a bit of sauteed butter. Awesome, awesome, awesome. Made the Philly cheesesteak forgettable, and I'm certainly going to be bringing that recipe home.


Silk Bazaar

For me, the silk bazaar was neat just because I like the bazaar concept. However, since nearly 75% of the shops were selling almost entirely silk scarves to be worn as hijabs, I didn't really see myself buying things nor did I want to buy them as gifts. I still do like the bazaar concept, so it's nice to walk around, and I did get some great chocolate ice cream - love it because it's always dark chocolate. And Mark accomplished his burpees at the fountain out front - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpOj7MlONtA


Karagoz Shadow Puppets

This was our first stop we had on the tour where no one spoke Turkish but our tour guide and the 2 Turkish Cultural Foundation staffers. The host was a really nice man and talented at his job, but the language barrier made it hard to connect with him.

To explain the shadow puppets, this is a 15th century form of entertainment that had almost been lost to history until a few guys in the 1950s, our host included, revived this almost lost piece of culture. What the puppets are made of is camel or cow leather, and they are treated to become transparent. They also have 1 or 2 sticks attached to them, which one would hold in their hand to make the puppet move. In addition, there are many joints on the puppet, so even though you might only be able to move an upper extremity (like a torso and an arm, for example), you can still move a lot of the other parts of the body because it's all hinged. It's really hard to explain, even with photos (which I have attached here), so I also recorded a video of the shadow puppets in motion. Check it out, because even if you know no Turkish, it's still very unique! -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ah_6C3x840Q

Afterward we were able to go backstage and try our hand at the puppets, so that was also a great hands-on experience.



Turkish Bath

Yeah, it would've been odd to bring my camera into the Turkish bath, so let me just describe them to you. At our hotel in Bursa is a natural hot spring that's been channeled by the Turks since the 8th century. So Mark and I were the only guys in the group to head down and give it a try.

The first thing you do at a Turkish bath is get into your swim trunks - however, we learned for ladies, they're a bit more, how do I say, indecent. Then you grab a quick soaking in a side room with water that's about 85 degrees Fahrenheit. After that we head to a larger room, where the water there is about 90-95 degrees. And more still for the heat-seeker is a smaller pool of water that must be 110 degrees. It was so hot I could barely get my feet in there.

While there we were able to soak, wash our selves, and swim in the pool and just soak away the loads of travel we've been enduring, it wasn't anything that totally surprised me or blew me out of the water (pun points!) One thing that was nice, though, was after we surfaced from the hot baths we were wrapped in a towel to keep the heat in our bodies and sit in a chair. I did that for about 40 minutes and fell asleep, being wrapped up like a baby.

For 21 Turkish Lira (about $15), it was worth it, but I don't necessarily feel I'd have to do it all over again. But for the ladies, they loved it. They all added a massage and an exfoliation for an additional 30 TL ($20), something that would cost upwards of $190 at the Hershey Hotel, according to my lovely girlfriend Devin.

After our Turkish bath a bunch of us met for our dinner, which was a buffet, in the heart of the hotel. It was excellent. To say I'm full is an under-exaggeration, and, coupled with the Turkish bath, has made me quite ripe for another good night's sleep.


Back to our rooms

On our way up, though, we saw a large and swanky partying happening on the steps between the hotel and the mosque, and, upon further inspection, realized it was a bris (bay-reesh as pronounced here) for a Muslim youngster. The people here looked better than they would at an American wedding, which could be because of this 5-star hotel or because of the importance of such an event in the religious culture.

Time to sign off. Tomorrow is a big day - first we visit a famous, ancient, and still operable mosque here in Bursa and then head to the Greek ruins of Ephesus, a true highlight on this trip.

Yarın bakın (see you tomorrow)!

Jake