Tales of Touring Turkey by Fred Moore:

A TOUCH OF ADANA

© 2009 by Author

We spend as much time as we can in the city of Adana (the weather determines how long we stay out usually). We continue to explore the culture, even after three years, there’s always new to be found. There’s nothing more dull and boring than sitting at home when we live in such a vast world of cultural discovery.

SO, we walk, drive or get a base cab to the front gate. A cab on base is generally $2-4 anywhere except to the golf course. The golf course is in the far corner of the base away from all our other facilities. We leave through the base gate on Saturday mornings to get what is called a “dolmus”. That’s a mini-bus here; nine to twelve passengers; the word in quotes is Turkish and literally translated means "to stuff" and on occasion the bus is very full, therefore stuffed! When we lived in Ankara, many times a dolmus was an antique American car that had been altered to take 6, 8 or even 10 people. They were mostly ’50 model station wagons (Ford, Dodge or Chevy). As an example: a ’57 Chevy wagon was altered to include three seats and room to sit on the floor believe it or not. It costs us about seventy-five cents each to ride down town on our local mini-bus/dolmus. Most have NO air conditioning (none so far for us at least) although we hear some do have a/c. With their windows open they are quite tolerable though. These buses run a specific route to and from the city and they run about every ten to fifteen minutes from like 6 a.m. to midnight. They constantly stop along the route to drop folks off and pick up new folks who wish to get down town. Everyone pays the same no matter where they get on. Needless to say, the closer you get to the end of the route the less they stop to pick up people and more stops they make to drop off folks. A cab ride to the city is ten to fifteen dollars or more depending on where you want to be dropped off; taking the same route as the dolmus would cost about $15, I would guess. So, as you can see the dolmus ride is far cheaper and in our opinion, is much more interesting; it’s the way Turks get around in all the cities! Many Americans won’t even try it, no a/c you know; a shame too, because it’s simply a part of the culture they’re missing out on. We continue to see many families travel here by wagon, drawn by a tractor or they are simply loaded in the back of a big truck. When I say families, it could very well be 20 people. The other day we happened to see a motorcycle with a makeshift sidecar with no fewer than six family members in it going down the street. Safety is simply NOT an issue; getting where one is going as economically as you can is.

The other thing we love to do that most Americans won’t is eat out in these little “hole-in-the-wall” places that don’t look like much. There are probably many other foreigners who won’t either so I shouldn’t generalize. But we figure if the Turks eat there it must be fine to do so and very often it’s better than some of the quote “fine restaurants in the city”, the prices certainly are lots better. Carol and I can generally eat for $5 and eat all we want. I can assure you on a number of occasions we have found excellent food at some of these little out of the way places. The service is always excellent in these little places; they truly look after us. I think some are even surprised a foreigner would stop in their place to eat and there is always the occasional stare from the locals. It’s a great way to learn the language too. We’ve gotten very familiar with things down town and we’re now pretty much settled on a place for our shopping and eating. Many times we’ll have breakfast and lunch down town. I would explain some of what we eat but it probably wouldn’t make much sense nor would you think it very interesting. HaHa! Since we’ve been in country three different times we know a lot of what is available and even try new things on occasion. It’s not Ankara, our old city (where we lived twice before) but it’s still great fun. Our breakfast is usually a simit or similar baked good; lunch is usually wherever we happen to find ourselves at lunchtime; we haven’t settled on a specific place there are so many good places for a quick lunch. We’ve gone to a few places for breakfast too, but really like one in particular.

We find it amazing how much different Adana is from Ankara though they are only 500 miles apart. It’s very comfortable here as it was in Ankara; the locals are ready and willing to help with anything! It’s hard to get lost down town because there’s always someone willing to help you find what you’re looking for, they want you to be comfortable and they’re very hospitable people. They also want very much to better their English skills so some will talk you even when you wish they won’t; be kind and gracious with them, most will leave you alone IF you wish not to be helped.

We had a lot of adjusting to do in this environment; not the least of which was getting used to what I call, the unbearable heat. Although this city has much in common with Ankara it is quite different. Even the new versus old is different. That’s certainly not a surprise but what I mean is the way things look. The newer part of Adana is simply European while the old is still very much Turkish/Ottoman. Ankara too is this way from the modern to the ancient. We were used to walking through shopping areas of Ankara that specialized in different products; fabric, copper, gold, leather, shoes, lumber, stoves and furniture for example, (we used to refer to these areas as gold or copper alley) here things don’t appear to be so organized.

We go walking through the older city here and we find sheet metal shops right next to fabric shops and food stores butt up against shoe shops or clothing shops. Don’t get the wrong idea though; I don’t see this as bad it’s simply different. There are car sales places here too; something we just never saw much of 10 and 20 years ago when we lived in country. We saw very little of that in Ankara back then, although there were a few. Car sales shops (not dealerships) are interesting here too; they have become standard in the city. You see a storefront with only one car, some 2 or 3 cars but business doesn’t appear to be booming. The numbers of times we’ve been down town, I can tell you, I’ve not seen a single person looking at cars. There’s a park near the dam down town that holds a car/truck bazaar every Sunday, that place is always booming.

On the major highway from the base (E-5 they call it) to the city (about 12 or 15 miles) there are several auto places: Toyota, Chevy, Ford, Renault, Fiat, Peugeot and Mercedes Bends (that German outfit). HaHa! These places along the highway are large facilities (a kin to our auto dealerships: sales, service and the like) but still there aren’t the number of cars we’re used to seeing in the states. There aren’t row after row of cars on the lot; they just don’t have that kind of stock. They are not American either; even the names you recognize out of that list have little in common with what you might imagine. Most all cars here, probably 75% are standard shift 5 speed. They are all European in design and manufacture; although many are manufactured right here in Turkey. They do have a/c and they do have many with great features and options inside and out. I really like the design of the new Renault. I have no idea what they cost BUT maybe sometime later I’ll stop to find out. Certainly not a priority for me now as we won’t be buying one; none are stateside eligible, they won’t meet either environmental or US safety standards.

We too are quite surprised by the fashion of dress here as well. A lot of young woman today are dressed in such tight fitting clothing that little or nothing is left to the imagination! Yes, one does look it's very hard not to. It appears most are in slacks that seem two sizes too small and they have sweaters or blouses to match. Scarves and other head cover are evident but certainly not in the majority, as some Muslims would have us believe. There still exists the old way of dressing for the older woman but even some of them dress in more current fashion though quite conservatively. Even in the more traditional parts of the old city the young are dressed very tastefully. There was some hint of that type dress in the larger cities when we were here before but nothing like what we’re seeing today. Twenty years ago it simply was not proper for women to dress in form fitting clothing. Even though modern dress was evident 20 years ago, the dress was conservative for women as well as for men. The men today are very western in their dress as well but tend to continue to be conservative. The old style of dress for men is not gone entirely but the number of men dressed in the old way are few, at least in the parts of the city we visit. Certainly if we were to venture out into the outskirts of the city or the countryside we would see the old ways of dress more prevalent I’m sure.

Guess we need to talk about the water too; seems that is a subject for a lot of people. I drank the water the whole time we lived in Ankara before but here we’re told not to (where have you been that you haven’t heard that if you travel at all). Doesn’t appear the Turks do either; bottled water is everywhere. I think that’s based more on taste than concern for safety. We were told not to in Ankara either but I didn’t pay any attention; didn’t get ill either. There is sparkling mineral water on the economy here and I drink it, Turkish Perrier I call it. We also drink the national drink; ayran – it’s basically watered down yogurt. I wasn’t a big fan of it before but drink a lot now; Carol always did drink it. It’s the consistency of buttermilk. If it is stone cold it is far better than luke warm too!

I enjoy the highway, no, not to drive on but to simply observe. There is everything on the road here from the occasional horse cart to the most modern German make of car you can imagine. Horse carts can be anything from 2 to 4 wheels and from old wagon wheel type to rubber-tired wagons. Many horse drawn wagons look like our hay wagons, simply flat beds and they can be loaded with anything you can possible imagine. As an example, we see them constantly loaded a foot deep with all matter of produce. We’ve seen many loaded with trash, junk, trees and everything else. Public transportation is still very plentiful and driving is something you simply don’t have to do. Parking is a major challenge anyway so why bother to drive. Don’t get it wrong, parking is available in a few parking garages and there are slots along the street but the slots when they do exist are short and usually narrow little things. There is a lot of parking on the sidewalk here. Turks tend to simply get off the road/street wherever they can and the place really is not important. Some do even park in the street, which makes for more interesting driving. I always enjoy watching a Turk jump the curb to park where you know there is NO parking, but no one seems to care so it goes on (this too makes walking a real challenge). As much as I hate to drive, it’s a sort of comedy for me to watch the traffic, as long as no one is hurt; and I can tell you that is a reality here. But, driving on the highways here now, as it always was, seems to be a circus. Forgive me, I’m not trying to be rude or insulting to our hosts; the driving experience here is simply very chaotic. The major highway between base and the city is six lanes divided three to a side. The median is planted with grass or bushes or there are light and power poles in it as well. Lines are hard to see but they are there. Doesn’t matter however, drivers in Turkey tend to use the lines as markers for the center of the car rather than lane markers; OK, not everyone but a lot of them. Therefore you have cars, trucks, buses and other motor vehicles 2, 4 or even 5 abreast on some of these roads/streets. It’s not the slightest unusual to see mopeds, motor bikes and bicycles weaving about in traffic between all these other vehicles. It’s also not unusual to see drivers driving down the wrong side of the highway or better still, backing down the road so they appear to be going in the right direction BUT backward! You will see tractors as well as other farm machinery on the highway (in the city) making it their own roadway. The use of a signal is the exception not the rule; as in the states, all cars have them but horns, breaks and flashing lights are the signals of choice. Like I said, a real circus!

The other thing that is so interesting here is the sidewalk, as I mentioned above. They actually exist but DO NOT try walking unless you are prepared to watch your step! In the new part of the city fronting all the stores the walks are usually marble, they are beautiful but no two stores have the same size or height. Some are 12 feet out from the store some are 8. Some go from the store all the way to the streets edge. Some have a 4-inch step up some have a 12 and there’s everything in between. Some have a design that makes you think or feel like there is a step down when there is not and others have a step down and you don’t realize it. Can’t tell you the number of times we were not paying close enough attention and nearly fell. You know that feeling you get when you step down and oops no step or a much lower one than you thought! Walking is something you have to pay close attention to. In the old city, walking in the street is the norm because if there’s a sidewalk it’s usually narrow and covered with shop products or parked cars. The shops put out a sampling of their products on the walk; it doesn’t matter whether it’s clothing, sheet metal or household products, they are all set out so you can easily see what’s there. Now that doesn’t apply to gold or silver though. HaHa! It does however apply to some cafes in town. Several places even have their cooking right out on the sidewalk. That would never work in the states; health dept would have a fit, don’t you know! Oh well, food is good anyway.