About ten days before our departure, Françoise and Ali contacted us to say they were having a goodbye dinner for Alpako, who was flying to Chile for a few months, and they’d like us to join them. We met at Alpako’s favorite restaurant and chatted about his plans—or lack of them. He had joined Servas, and had contacted Joel, a Servas host we met in Santiago. We waved him goodbye, and were pleased a couple of days later when Françoise texted that the two of them were having lunch. Always good when friends meet friends.
We got a text soon after from Zehra, the other Servas host we had contacted in Antalya. She had returned from a winter in her home in the mountains, and wanted us to come for an early dinner. She not only met our bus and walked us to her apartment, but had made a delicious dinner of bulgur salad, beets, pickles, bread, and tea, packed it in bags and took us to the park across the street where we settled on a picnic table by the sea. Afterwards, she packed up the leftovers for us and walked us to the bus stop to make sure we’d catch the right bus home.
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| Picnic with Zerah by the sea |
Two days later, we met Zehra again and she took me to a hammam for a real scrubdown. It wasn’t one of those fancy touristy ones, but, as Ted put it, up a dark alley—a place where no one spoke English. For about $10, I sat in a heated room and poured fresh water over myself, then lay on a marble slab while a woman soaped me up and scrubbed me with a loofah for almost an hour. I had no idea I had that much dead skin! Feeling like a pink new baby, I wrapped in a towel and sat in the lobby room with a glass of tea till we were ready to meet Ted, who was sipping a beer in a seaside café.
We had asked Zehra for her help in finding some of the gifts we were looking to take home. She took us to a “Real shop. Good shop. Not touristy!” where I found the quality I was looking for at a reasonable price—and I didn’t have to haggle. Afterwards we stopped at an outdoor restaurant where we got an excellent fish sandwich and salad for about $3 each. Sadly, for Zehra, the price was high, although we were more than happy to buy her dinner.
Last Sunday was our forty-fifth wedding anniversary, and we asked our Airbnb host, Ismail, where we could go for a special dinner. He ran his fingers through his hair, suggested his favorite restaurant, then said, “My wife and I will take you out for your anniversary!”
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| Anniversary dinner with Nilgün and Ismail |
That night Ismail and his wife Nilgün picked us up and drove us to a seaside seafood restaurant nearby. On our table were rose petals and fancy red napkins. We let Ismail order, and–oh, what a feast! We had a fine Turkish wine (we’ve been discovering how tasty Turkish wines are), mezes (Turkish tapas), superb grilled sea bass, and then, to the accompaniment of Whitney Houston’s version of “I Will Always Love You,” the waiter brought a cake with sparklers and candles. Of course we had to dance for a couple of minutes, and the whole restaurant applauded. It was cheesy and wonderful and an evening we won’t forget. I don’t know too many Airbnb hosts who do that!
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| Remains of the cake! |
You remember it was our friend Ben had suggested we come to Antalya, and had also given us the name of Aysegül, a tour guide and friend of his. Since she was expecting a baby any day, she recommended Omer and Kerem, the guides we used for Perge and Ephesus. Once her son was born, and had a few weeks on him, she invited us over, so we took a cake and had coffee with her in her home on the other side of town. She has named her son Atlas, which is super cool, although he’s so tiny now, you wonder if he’ll grow into it! She tells this little mite, “You may someday hold up the world, but remember I carried you. So I’m the strong one!”
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| Aysegül and the mighty (or "mitey" Atlas) |
On our last day, we went, as usual, to our firin (bakery) for our morning breads. I don’t even know their names, but we called the lovely owner our Turkish school, because even though her English is terrific, she always let us practice our Turkish. (Ok, she won my heart when she told Ted, “She’s good!”) When I said goodbye, she hugged me and said, “I’ll see you again," and I replied “Görüsürüz,” which means the same.
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| Our wonderful bakers and Turkish teachers |
Strangely enough, we seem to have met more Turkish citizens than we met Spanish citizens in Málaga. I suppose much has to do with Servas, and with St. George’s, where we found an English-speaking community of expats. I have no quarrel with either. And, dangit, now I have another place I want to come back to.
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