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TÜRKÇE
Turkey | Zehra Arslan | 24 May 2009 |
First of all I want to thank to our friends whom lives in Maraş they made a convoy with us in Maraş. When you go to the Anatolian cities you become happy to see there is unchanged people and happy to see human
emotions of people is not lost. During our visit to Antep we decided to go Maraş, which is only 80 km from Antep. These cities connected between with very smooth asphalt. But there is an optional way, this way a little haughty a mountain road with bends. You can use both ways they don’t take very long.
When you come to Maraş I believe first think will be discover the market. This is another world, almost magical. When I say shop you think many shops side by side but these shops are not ordinary each of them keeps an artist in it. Even some of men are 80 – 85 years old but they still work. Mostly they are master copper smith. A master proud to say that his big boilers exporting to other countries. He said that these are using to make vodka in it or sometimes for decoration. While you take their photos you can spend hours here, because they don’t let you go if you don’t drink their tea and chat with them.
From the market when you go to old houses side you will get smell of history from the houses. At the entrance of Divanli area you will see a mill between the houses which is still works. Then you will meet with the children they play in front of old houses with their colorful clothes. Houses were usually built large here, a small house would start from 130 square meters. We learned that Maraş People like big houses. The small 130 square meters houses are in market place and generally they are cheap. At the end of the day we were guests in the house it was 240 square meters big house. I was just asking why this much big houses, suddenly when the bell ringed, a relative group of about 10 people came. Relatives continue the relationship was intense, and sometimes large families were living together. In this case square meter of the houses goes up to 500. Rent is between 240 usd and 400 usd around.
Some shops windows will get your attention it is written tarhana and firik on them. Firik is making mix of yoghurt and wheat. They sear this mix under the sun and send to shop daily to eat together, almond, nut or with pistachio. If they can’t sell it at the same day, they keep dry a bit longer than they make soup from this mix. Local Maraş people eat this firik usually in summer. If you’d like to see how to make a firik you can go to watch a factory, they let you in.
Just outside the city in a neighborhood they were chalet houses built. We couldn’t visit them because of our limited time. But we learned that there are nice old houses to see. Another place worth to seeing Menzelet Barrage and at the same region Ali Kayasi.
If you don’t like to eat sheep meat there is a restaurant named as Kucuk Ev offers you beef meat kebab. After lunch you should go to eat famous Maras ice cream at famous place MADO. This pastry named in Maras as Yasar Pastry. You can have ice cream with baklava (Baklava is a Turkish dessert) and you can only eat ice cream if you cut with knife.