Here in the Safranbolu area, pretty much every home has a solar panel on its roof... and often a satellite dish as well.
A view from my hotel window in Safranbolu.
In Yörük Köyü.
These next photos are from a cemetery just outside the village of Yörük Köyü, which we visited today. Note the Sufi headgear that tops most tombstones. I've seen above-ground burials like these in New Orleans before, and now in Turkey.
From an article entitled "Yörük Köy: A Mansion of Perfect Modesty," which appears on the following website: http://www.cornucopia.net/magazine/articles/yoruk-koy-a-mansion-of-perfect-modesty/. Cornucopia is, according to its website, "The Magazine of Connoisseurs of Turkey," so keep that in mind as you read. I have not read the entire article, but the following paragraphs seem appropriate:
"The Black Sea towns of Safranbolu and Kastamonu are on old caravan routes and were flourishing trade centres in Ottoman times. Like so many cities in modern Turkey, Safranbolu is in danger of being swamped by its industrial other half, Karabük. But out of sight of the main road, 10 kilometres east of Safranbolu, is a village called Yörük Köyü, which is magically preserved in a time warp.
"The mother town, Safranbolu, was listed as a Unesco World Heritage site in 1994, and Yörük Köyü, with its cream-plastered classical Ottoman houses, is also part of a conservation zone, though it remains charmingly under-restored. The stone walls and wooden roofs and minarets of its two small mosques were last reconstructed in the 18th century. The 16th-century hamam is in ruins, but the old communal washing hall, or çamaşırhane, where village woman meet over laundry to share gossip and sing songs, was restored in 1996. It is a popular meeting place, a club for women, just as the village’s only coffee house is still the men’s club, untouched, a place for elders to reflect on the old days, on country matters and affairs of state, or to play backgammon. Every house has running water, but a few street fountains still channel spring water from the hills – such a luxury."
I'd say this is a rather romanticized view of the village.
Above the entryway to one of the more updated homes.
Hanging gourd planter.
Background: A local woman driving her cattle.
The next series of photos in from inside the Yörük Köyü mayor's home... more on that later.
The following photos are from the hotel where we had lunch.
The next series of photos is of Kaymakamlar House, an 18th-19th century period home in Safranbolu. There were plenty of wheel-shaped carvings at this home for me to photograph.
These next two photographs show the two sides of a mechanism that allowed women to serve food from the kitchen to the men who were eating without the women being seen. Food is put in one side, then the "barrel" is rotated into the room where the meal is being served.
The next two pictures are of the outside of the baths, where most of our groups is right now. I let "American body terror" (as Barb put it) and fear of a bad reaction to the forceful scrubbing keep me from joining in.
Really enjoying the posts! Can't wait for the rest.
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