ottoman fashion

A beautiful collection of Ottoman ladies' clothing was on display at the Yakutiye Medresi in Erzurum. I love learning about the fashions of bygone eras, and the colours and patterns of the fabrics and embroidery made me swoon!



Imagine the time and care it took to create such details, and how lovely the ladies looked! When back in Istanbul, I might need to revisit the Sadberk Hanım Museum in my old stomping ground, Büyükdere, which has an outstanding collection of Ottoman women's clothing and a current exhibit on shoes.

remember these?

For you youngsters out there, back in the old days, people would mail each other handwritten letters. Letters were an art— the loops and swashes of your loved one's penmanship, the weight and smell of the paper, the miniature works of art that you'd moisten on your tongue... Oh to receive a letter!

a first time for everything

I've never actually had someone point and laugh at me before— even when I had pink hair and dressed a little differently. There is always a first time for everything, and here in Erzurum, that time had come. First, I would like to mention that neither Pedro nor I were wearing anything odd, revealing, or noticeably "foreign." As we passed three young women sitting on a park bench, one of them glared at me, then looked us up and down before bursting into laughter with her index finger thrust toward our faces. It was perplexing to say the least, and perhaps I would have forgotten it, but later while looking for a room to spend the night in, a receptionist at a hotel gave us a glance and claimed that there were no rooms available.

We then headed to another hotel, but this time Pedro stayed in the car while I went in alone. The receptionist assured me there were plenty of rooms, but when I mentioned that there would be two of us, his spine stiffened. He asked me if I would be staying with a man, and when I said that I would, he grew a little flustered, and politely announced that the price would be doubled. As he explained it, a "man-woman" stay is "harmful" to the people of Erzurum. This was the first time in our entire trip that we ran into trouble staying in a room together. No one here seemed to believe we were married, and I'm not sure why. Was it because we are foreigners? It took us a while, but eventually we found a nice place where we were welcome.

I really don't know what to think about Erzurum. There are some beautiful examples of Seljuk architecture and some very nice hills, but the odd interactions we had with some people and the blatant anti-Armenian propaganda in the city's archaeological museum, made me feel uncomfortable. I know I can't judge a place on a few hours of experience, even though I felt judged on sight. Still, I did love the architectural attractions, and the Yakutiye Medresi had a wonderful exhibit of the nation's postage stamp designs and women's clothing from the Ottoman era.

And then there's this:



I do appreciate a good sense of humour!

erzurum

the road to erzurum

Just as the forests seem to creep up out nowhere, they disappeared, and barren rock formations rippled across the landscape. Some of the striations twisted like rope and folded like fabric, incredible that such a hard, immovable substance could become plastic.



Just as we were marvelling at the scenery and discussing the ease of driving in this region, we hit a massive construction project, and the road was swallowed by dust.

roadside corn

As is so very often the case, you can find food in the unlikeliest of places in Turkey. People are quite entrepreneurial here, and on the side of a lonely stretch of road near some dam, a cheery moustachioed man was boiling up corn on the cob on a stove that looked homemade. His make-shift café clung precariously to the side of the cliff, and he had somehow diverted a small stream into a kitchen tap with an actual sink. We squeezed our car against the guardrail, climbed over it, and sat down at a tiny table for some corn and mountain stream çay.