Short Trip to Usak, (Eastern Aegean Turkey)
Nov 11th, 2013, 11:03 AM
#1
Short Trip to Usak, (Eastern Aegean Turkey)
We decided last night to make use of the unseasonably warm weather in this part of the world and hit the road from Nicea to travel 315 kilometers to Usak, starting early this morning.
The concept of "early" has many different definitions for humans as well as birds. It also can get stretched by anything amount of time measures by pets, stray animals, banking requirements, medicine pack preparations, a laptop case left leaning against the screen door, remembered 15 minutes down the road and other items and events of varying virtues and nuisance values.
We woke up about 7 AM and then again at 7:30 and 8:00. Showers, partial shaves, grilled cheese sandwiches, map, notebooks with notes on hotel and route, chaining the cycles, searching for spare pair of sneakers, bumping into each other multitude times in the narrow common well-traveled areas of the small living room, buying the daily papers in town resulted in a ETD of 10:02 AM.
35 minutes down the lovely, scenic, route, the sleep that had evaded me earlier the night before hit me with a vengeance. I slowed down enough to move my partially shut eyes sideways to shoot a loving or possibly pleading glance at Eser to ask if she could take over for a while. This move had three results:
- I realized that I had not slowed down much.
- I noticed that I was on a viaduct with no emergency lane.
- I found out that fear could wake me enough for another few minutes of acceptable driving
- Eser was either dreaming of a film actor of her choice or that she was faking it.
It was fortunate that that disgusting American creation, "The Ubiquitus Outlet; was within 12 kilometers. The idea of a cup of coffee, a clean lavatory and some leg stretching exercises was enough to give me that final burst of energy. Thus, we made it to Bozoyuk outlets where the coffee was not that exciting but they had just the satin lcotton sheets eser had been looking for.
I am writingat 10PM after a heavy dinner. Eser wishes to show me something on her i-pad in the bed. I remember Anthony Quinn, in Zorba the Greek saying, never turn down a woman who invites you to her bed or something like that. So will continu tommorrow, possibly back at Nicea.
Tarhana soup
Extreme driendliness of locals
Old French style Inn converted to ???? hotel
$10 kilims
and much more to come
The concept of "early" has many different definitions for humans as well as birds. It also can get stretched by anything amount of time measures by pets, stray animals, banking requirements, medicine pack preparations, a laptop case left leaning against the screen door, remembered 15 minutes down the road and other items and events of varying virtues and nuisance values.
We woke up about 7 AM and then again at 7:30 and 8:00. Showers, partial shaves, grilled cheese sandwiches, map, notebooks with notes on hotel and route, chaining the cycles, searching for spare pair of sneakers, bumping into each other multitude times in the narrow common well-traveled areas of the small living room, buying the daily papers in town resulted in a ETD of 10:02 AM.
35 minutes down the lovely, scenic, route, the sleep that had evaded me earlier the night before hit me with a vengeance. I slowed down enough to move my partially shut eyes sideways to shoot a loving or possibly pleading glance at Eser to ask if she could take over for a while. This move had three results:
- I realized that I had not slowed down much.
- I noticed that I was on a viaduct with no emergency lane.
- I found out that fear could wake me enough for another few minutes of acceptable driving
- Eser was either dreaming of a film actor of her choice or that she was faking it.
It was fortunate that that disgusting American creation, "The Ubiquitus Outlet; was within 12 kilometers. The idea of a cup of coffee, a clean lavatory and some leg stretching exercises was enough to give me that final burst of energy. Thus, we made it to Bozoyuk outlets where the coffee was not that exciting but they had just the satin lcotton sheets eser had been looking for.
I am writingat 10PM after a heavy dinner. Eser wishes to show me something on her i-pad in the bed. I remember Anthony Quinn, in Zorba the Greek saying, never turn down a woman who invites you to her bed or something like that. So will continu tommorrow, possibly back at Nicea.
Tarhana soup
Extreme driendliness of locals
Old French style Inn converted to ???? hotel
$10 kilims
and much more to come
Nov 12th, 2013, 06:48 AM
#2
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OC..what? No further plans for exodus to USA? My granddaughter was in Istanbul on business and had a crazy-full three-day schedule, so I didn't suggest a contact with you. She'll be going back periodically, so next time.
I recall the time we saw a Wrangler outlet after leaving Priene....it just didn't belong. I agree with your assessment..
stu
I recall the time we saw a Wrangler outlet after leaving Priene....it just didn't belong. I agree with your assessment..
stu
Nov 13th, 2013, 06:03 AM
#4
Tower, I was going to speak at the Denver chapter of CFR but the schedule conflicted. Ceylan did some work with the Chicago Expo as an interior architect and now has to help SIL and then visit in-laws in Detroit Thanksgiving and Christmas. At least she gives those as reasons why we should not visit her. Also we have rented out our Chicago flat till end of July.
Coming back to Urfa:
The bed at Uzumluoglu Han a restored caravanserai from early 19th or late 18th century, could have dampened even Anthony Quinn's spirits in terms of size and the hardness of the mattress.
We had one of the four corner suites, which meant a slightly larger room, measuring all of possibly 130 feet plus a 75 feet smaller room separated by a bathroom with standing shower only. The bath stank until 6 AM when I discovered that the floor drain needed to have some water poured down it to block the noxious fumes being sent our way from the nether hells.
But the courtyard was terrific and the google reviews of other lodging possibilities made this the only choice.
We were famished when we arrived in Usak and having watched a TV program of a traveler describing taste stops of out-of-the-way places just the Saturday past, we decided to trust Google to direct us to "Halime Ablanin Yeri" a special bakery of boreks, baklavas made her special way. Googled failed again. Ay some stage it tried to send us somewhere 105 kilometers away.
We were frustrated, I was getting sleepy again and we decided to push in to the hotel to which I had already ;earned a route from the deepest recesses of my ancestral memory and the inadequate hotel site directions. Neither the hotel site nor my ancestral memory had prepared for the municipality pedestrianizing a kilometer length of the main street we should have driven.
the hotel is on a narrow one way street with a very practically placed largish car park across it. However, the park was full and they waved us on. We perched on the corner of the street before the hotel as well as you can make a car perch. Eser went to check to see if hotel had a valet. They had not heard of the word in its French, English or parking usage. I asked Eser to drive around and discover the authentic hovel of narrow one way streets and get back to the parking lot where I could see some cars leaving while I proceeded with the checking-in process which requires a man's deft touch and heavy past experience of my many years.
It turned out that some guy pulled out three cars ahead of her on that side street and she showed up with our carry-on in a few minutes which was not even sufficient time for me to get the vital statistics of the lovely young lady at the reception.
We settled, somehow did not smell the bathroom and rushed down to ask about Halime Abla. Our question was followed by blank looks and. We checked a map they graciously let us have, to no avail and finally thought of asking for a place nearby where we could get something absolutely very local. That question surprised them also because they thought that everything and anything they ate was local.
The consensus was that we could have some soup at "Tarhana Baba"
meaning "Tarhana Dad" tarhana being a powder made of sun-dried tomatoes, peppers and flour or semolina, allowed to ferment and then dry again, to be made into soup, especially in winter months. Well, we made life long friends with Tarhana Baba and the owner of the watch store next door, received tips, bought a book on something to do with the city, lots of Tarhana, spicy and not-spicy, for all the family members back home and sme sesame paste whose use definitely escapes me although I am sure it is spectacular and must be available in every kitchen.
We were sent to the municipality to find a man who had written a book on Usak cuisine. No one at the municipality new of such a man or a book but they were nice enough to give us another map and two pamphlets on Usak and call the archeological museum to tell us it was closed on Monday and we would not have made it anyway since it was already 4:45PM and the regular hours were till 5.
We had already dropped the tarhana purchases at the hotel, so could actually carry some things and when we found out that Usak is the town for blankets and kilims, we just had to, at least, see what they were like. Eser said we needed some bed covers and maybe blanket manufacturers also produced bed covers. I had already used up, in fact, totally wasted, my argument quote of the day; so I sheepishly nodded and we proceeded to find the shops catering to the likes of us, meaning, consumers who take pride in their vocation.
Coming back to Urfa:
The bed at Uzumluoglu Han a restored caravanserai from early 19th or late 18th century, could have dampened even Anthony Quinn's spirits in terms of size and the hardness of the mattress.
We had one of the four corner suites, which meant a slightly larger room, measuring all of possibly 130 feet plus a 75 feet smaller room separated by a bathroom with standing shower only. The bath stank until 6 AM when I discovered that the floor drain needed to have some water poured down it to block the noxious fumes being sent our way from the nether hells.
But the courtyard was terrific and the google reviews of other lodging possibilities made this the only choice.
We were famished when we arrived in Usak and having watched a TV program of a traveler describing taste stops of out-of-the-way places just the Saturday past, we decided to trust Google to direct us to "Halime Ablanin Yeri" a special bakery of boreks, baklavas made her special way. Googled failed again. Ay some stage it tried to send us somewhere 105 kilometers away.
We were frustrated, I was getting sleepy again and we decided to push in to the hotel to which I had already ;earned a route from the deepest recesses of my ancestral memory and the inadequate hotel site directions. Neither the hotel site nor my ancestral memory had prepared for the municipality pedestrianizing a kilometer length of the main street we should have driven.
the hotel is on a narrow one way street with a very practically placed largish car park across it. However, the park was full and they waved us on. We perched on the corner of the street before the hotel as well as you can make a car perch. Eser went to check to see if hotel had a valet. They had not heard of the word in its French, English or parking usage. I asked Eser to drive around and discover the authentic hovel of narrow one way streets and get back to the parking lot where I could see some cars leaving while I proceeded with the checking-in process which requires a man's deft touch and heavy past experience of my many years.
It turned out that some guy pulled out three cars ahead of her on that side street and she showed up with our carry-on in a few minutes which was not even sufficient time for me to get the vital statistics of the lovely young lady at the reception.
We settled, somehow did not smell the bathroom and rushed down to ask about Halime Abla. Our question was followed by blank looks and. We checked a map they graciously let us have, to no avail and finally thought of asking for a place nearby where we could get something absolutely very local. That question surprised them also because they thought that everything and anything they ate was local.
The consensus was that we could have some soup at "Tarhana Baba"
meaning "Tarhana Dad" tarhana being a powder made of sun-dried tomatoes, peppers and flour or semolina, allowed to ferment and then dry again, to be made into soup, especially in winter months. Well, we made life long friends with Tarhana Baba and the owner of the watch store next door, received tips, bought a book on something to do with the city, lots of Tarhana, spicy and not-spicy, for all the family members back home and sme sesame paste whose use definitely escapes me although I am sure it is spectacular and must be available in every kitchen.
We were sent to the municipality to find a man who had written a book on Usak cuisine. No one at the municipality new of such a man or a book but they were nice enough to give us another map and two pamphlets on Usak and call the archeological museum to tell us it was closed on Monday and we would not have made it anyway since it was already 4:45PM and the regular hours were till 5.
We had already dropped the tarhana purchases at the hotel, so could actually carry some things and when we found out that Usak is the town for blankets and kilims, we just had to, at least, see what they were like. Eser said we needed some bed covers and maybe blanket manufacturers also produced bed covers. I had already used up, in fact, totally wasted, my argument quote of the day; so I sheepishly nodded and we proceeded to find the shops catering to the likes of us, meaning, consumers who take pride in their vocation.
Nov 13th, 2013, 06:14 AM
#5
HappyTrivir,
Usak is almost directly 218 Kilometres East of Izmir.
Was a border area between Phrygians and Lydians until the Lydians took over completely.
Here's the Wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U%C5%9Fak
Usak is almost directly 218 Kilometres East of Izmir.
Was a border area between Phrygians and Lydians until the Lydians took over completely.
Here's the Wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U%C5%9Fak
Nov 13th, 2013, 08:26 AM
#6
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I see the new Uşak Archaeology Museum is supposed to open next year.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/new...=238&nid=33488
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/new...=238&nid=33488
Nov 13th, 2013, 09:14 AM
#7
Croesus, I am sorry that you lost your treasure and hope that you do not mind that part of it is displayed in Usak.
The new museum is expected to open sometime late Spring or early Summer of 2014, but these things are invariably delayed.
Usak suffers because it is not a stopover for tourists going from one attraction to another and has not yet been discovered as an attraction of its own.
It also requires a car to visit all the rather widespread natural and historic sites, like the World's second longest canyon after the Grand Canyon, some ancestral trees nobody knows about, interesting old bridges over interesting streams and at least four antique cities.
We managed to see a very small part of the canyon, only one antique city and little else of the countryside. The city also deserved much more than the small amount of walking we could manage to check some of the old streets and structures
The new museum is expected to open sometime late Spring or early Summer of 2014, but these things are invariably delayed.
Usak suffers because it is not a stopover for tourists going from one attraction to another and has not yet been discovered as an attraction of its own.
It also requires a car to visit all the rather widespread natural and historic sites, like the World's second longest canyon after the Grand Canyon, some ancestral trees nobody knows about, interesting old bridges over interesting streams and at least four antique cities.
We managed to see a very small part of the canyon, only one antique city and little else of the countryside. The city also deserved much more than the small amount of walking we could manage to check some of the old streets and structures
Nov 14th, 2013, 03:59 AM
#9
Yes, we did see small part of Ulubey Canyon (72 k altogether)
and spent about two hours at Blaundos. Not much remains, but still exciting. Could have seen a bit more if it were not for the vicious looking and growling dog guarding a large flock of sheep while the shepherd was eating and brewing tea on a mound which probably hid something interesting.
I will edit and transfer the previous posts to my blog and post the new installments there together with the photographs since most Fodors forums readers are not interested in not so typical tourist haunts or my style of writing trip reports.
Croesus, please drop me a note at [email protected] the next time you plan a trip to Turkey.
and spent about two hours at Blaundos. Not much remains, but still exciting. Could have seen a bit more if it were not for the vicious looking and growling dog guarding a large flock of sheep while the shepherd was eating and brewing tea on a mound which probably hid something interesting.
I will edit and transfer the previous posts to my blog and post the new installments there together with the photographs since most Fodors forums readers are not interested in not so typical tourist haunts or my style of writing trip reports.
Croesus, please drop me a note at [email protected] the next time you plan a trip to Turkey.
Jun 27th, 2015, 12:02 AM
#10
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Glass terrace drawing visitors to Ulubey Canyon...
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/gla...&NewsCatID=379
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/gla...&NewsCatID=379
Jun 27th, 2015, 12:33 AM
#11
Thanks for posting this information which I missed on the regular Turkish Hurriyet.
I am not sure I would have the courage to go on this platform. My wife says she will not.
However, the region is definitely worth another and extended visit.
Seems like the canyon grew longer from 72 to 76 kilometers since my post.
I am not sure I would have the courage to go on this platform. My wife says she will not.
However, the region is definitely worth another and extended visit.
Seems like the canyon grew longer from 72 to 76 kilometers since my post.
Jun 27th, 2015, 02:08 PM
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I think I would jump up and down on it, like I once did on a glass panel over a smugglers' tunnel in the First And Last Inn at the tip of Cornwall - http://www.firstandlastinn.co.uk/ima...llery/inn5.jpg
I wonder if they have them in Cappadocian underground cities yet.
I wonder if they have them in Cappadocian underground cities yet.
Jun 30th, 2015, 09:05 AM
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OC...happened upon this thread (to which i had posted when it was new)...Us(h)ak appears on my maps to be very close to the Lake District around Ergidir(sp.). I have found very little mention (if any at all) about the District which Roz and I thought to be very authentically Old Turkey. We enjoyed meandering through it and staying a few nights en route to Antalya a number of years ago. It was spring blossom time and the apple trees were in full bloom.
We saw or met not one tourist other than a small group of Texans on a "whirlwind tour" of Turkey, staying at our hotel.
If you have a copy of my pics on Turkey which I shared with you several years ago, there is the District in all it's handsome beauty. I'll post them here anyway.
Stu (Hi to Eser, your ally and driver)
We saw or met not one tourist other than a small group of Texans on a "whirlwind tour" of Turkey, staying at our hotel.
If you have a copy of my pics on Turkey which I shared with you several years ago, there is the District in all it's handsome beauty. I'll post them here anyway.
Stu (Hi to Eser, your ally and driver)
Jun 30th, 2015, 09:14 AM
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http://picasaweb.google.com/stuarttower/ScenesOfTurkey
You can scroll down to #111 for scenes of the lakes.
You can scroll down to #111 for scenes of the lakes.
Jun 30th, 2015, 10:07 AM
#15
Thanks again Stu, Us(h)ak is not that close to the lakes but well within reach.
I do not remember which civilization controled the lake area two or more thousand years ago but it was not the Phrygians, although the Lydians may have had a hand in it.
Our friend from NYC says you are one of the few surviving Lydians but can also pass as a Karian or a Phrygian or even a Hittite and should be taken very seriously when talking of these esoteric matters.
Eser naturally agrees and sends her regards.
I do not remember which civilization controled the lake area two or more thousand years ago but it was not the Phrygians, although the Lydians may have had a hand in it.
Our friend from NYC says you are one of the few surviving Lydians but can also pass as a Karian or a Phrygian or even a Hittite and should be taken very seriously when talking of these esoteric matters.
Eser naturally agrees and sends her regards.
May 30th, 2017, 02:33 AM
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I see there's quite a trend in glass-bottomed viewing platforms over canyons in Turkey.
There are other ones at Hatila Vadisi Milli Parkı in Artvin, Tokatlı Canyon in Karabük and the Levent Valley in Malatya.
There are other ones at Hatila Vadisi Milli Parkı in Artvin, Tokatlı Canyon in Karabük and the Levent Valley in Malatya.
May 30th, 2017, 10:18 AM
#17
Thanks Croesus.
By the way my address listed above is no more, until I find the means to reinstate it.
in the meantime, my book and book review mail is operational : [email protected]
By the way my address listed above is no more, until I find the means to reinstate it.
in the meantime, my book and book review mail is operational : [email protected]
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