Barnaby Does Istanbul: Gaziantep: Mosaics, Ruins and Baklava

Off to Gaziantep for the weekend - famous for its strategic location along the silk road that made it the perfect settlement throughout history, and of course, its pistachios and baklava (and Gaziantep kebab but I discriminate against meat dishes, apparently). We left Istanbul smoggy and early on Friday morning, under a dusting of...snow! This made me very happy, with Christmas one week away, and little semblance of the Holiday season here, the snow provided just the right ambiance.

view out the bus window

We got into Gaziantep mid afternoon and head to the Archaeological Museum, which contains many of the goods found at the Hellenistic/Commagene/Roman/Sassanian/Byzantine site of Zeugma which I will describe to you later. Here are some of the remains, most of which are from the Roman period:

very famous "Gypsy Girl" mosaic, found at Zeugma

I just liked this guys' style

bulla (stamp seals) made of different types of stone

coins

what a coin would buy you, back in the Roman day

gotta have tools!

nice pitchfork of some kind

sculpture of a lady

elephant jaw

elephant bones

toys!

lemon juicer?

the spear-like objects may be the traditional steaks still used to roast kebab

After the museum we went to dinner at one of the more well-known restaurants in Gaziantep, with traditional dishes. We ran into a wedding party celebrating the engagement - in Turkey the engagement is also celebrated, usually with a big, fancy dinner. We ran into such a party - Nitsa, my friend who just got engaged, swears she will not wear the sparkly dress that is popular among many enfianced. I secretly hope she wears a super sparkly dress. Anyway, back to dinner!

Ayran: a Turkish yogurt-based drink definitely is either loved or hated by those that try it. it is a light and salty yogurt drink, so it's quite different from the sweet yogurt Westerners are used to. I have learned to love combining yogurt and savory food...

Ozge having her ayran

salad mezzes and this dish at the bottom is skinned and baked eggplant, covered in yogurt and then a spiced hot oil is poured on top. delicious.

baklava - my phone camera does not do it justice! must not be embarassed to use digital camera at proper dinner tables

After dinner our first night we went for a lovely walk through the historic district, and we passed the castle. Gaziantep is located on an acropolis - the first settlements here pre-date the Neolithic period, and starting from the Hellenistic period the acropolis was used as an integral part of the urban structure.

entrance to an Ottoman marketplace

Day 2 Sites: Tilman Huyuk, Yesemek, Tasli Gecit

I almost forgot how nice it is to stay in a hotel, where they make your bed, give you fresh towels and of course, a hearty (free) breakfast...

Turkish "villagers breakfast": hard-boiled egg, cheese, tomato, cucumber, olive, fresh bread, missing they honey and creme-fraische-like cheese.

So we went off to see three sites today in our handy bus

driving through the clouds on the side of a mountain

on our way to the first site

Tilman Huyuk:

pebbles on the walkway to

As we walked onto Tilman Huyuk, we immediately noticed the beautiful rocks/pebbles under our feet.

sideways photo of pebbles arranged to say "lovers never die" in Turkish...perhaps park security should be upped

the house is flooded!

The topography of the area was very interesting ' dark soil, dark branches with luminous orange and green foliage, in December.

super cool contrast in the trees

Yesemek: the open-air park of unfinished sculptures:

The settlement that lived here in late antiquity produced unfinished sculptures, of which the remains were found dispersed along this hillside. It is now an open air "arkeo-park", meaning a place to come and see insitu, or "on site", archaeological finds - in keeping with the idea that it is best to see these items in their original placement, not in a museum. The first part of the park has been arranged in an almost yogi-style meditation park, with rows of the sculptures set up on ascending Mayan-like levels.

pretty fountain

view of the local town

unfinished relief sculpture

Up the hill above the arranged sculptures, we were able to see the natural landscape, containing other sculptures that have not been moved from the way in which they were found. I thought this was pretty cool...

I also like the moss...

view of a group of sheep being herded on the road - the two figures at the end are "kangal" dogs, or as my dad called them, Turkish shepards; huge and very loyal dogs.

relief of a man and woman

We then left the Yesemek open air park and crossed the road, to where a modern open air sculpture exhibit is located. From the little Turkish I can understand, students from different Turkish Universities came and worked on the following sculptures. They are very cool sculptures, and they were completed in under a month.

cowboy hat

bison horns

sculpture of a lady's backside

Back on the road...

Asking for directions from a neighborly car of Turks...

Passing a tractor....

and some sheep...

Tilman Huyuk:

We found these rocks everywhere, that reminded me of moon rocks, or what I think moon rocks would look like.

Things got kind of muddy

This is what happens when you have excessive amounts of mud on your shoes and then step on little rocks - thanks for the demo, Nitsa!

the site

my friend (and colleague) Nitsa

we thought this was an alien symbol, as well, but turns out it was just some crop rotation planning...my colleague Ozge went to go check it out...

view from the site off into the mountains

modern art sculpture marking the entrance/exit from the site

beautiful, snow-covered mountains off in the distance on our drive back to Gaziantep

Day 3: Castle Panorama Museum, Gaziantep Kitchen Museum, Zeugma and Crossing the Euphrates

bronze sculpture of mother and son, sad story here

minaret with inlaid plate decorations

street in Gaziantep

"Gaziantep Kitchen Museum"

copper flask

possible cultural heritage management thesis topic?

olives, olives, olives

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typical day in the city center by the old acropolis

inside the marketplace (han), still being used

As we observed the marketplace (han), a man on a tractor decided to come in an park his vehicle in the historic marketplace. He received help from fellow friends in doing his 9 (plus) point turn.

people got involved in helping the tractor park

Nitsa on the other side of the han

silhouette of our British archaeologist friend who accompanied us on the trip

uncured olives - inedible!

sundried tomatoes hanging outside a shop

man hanging outside his shop

man and his tea shop

these dried peppers and eggplant are used to make "dolma" here, which entails their being stuffed with rice and veggies or meat and being baked. A very common diet staple.

watermelon seeds

the makings for the birds-nest-like pastry used to make delicious sweets

Baklava from Gaziantep, as I have mentioned, is quite famous. So much so that a baklava shop will consist of a little shop with two or three of these platters in the front window. The shop will be tended by one or two men, in white, doctor-like coats. Baklava is serious business here.

baklava shop

shopkeeper taking care of his produce

Gaziantep had a lot of buildings that had been destroyed or damaged by fires

fancy restaurant for lunch

yogurt-based soup with dough ball, (meat) and spinach, and of course drizzled with butter

this is the prepared version of the dried eggplant and peppers shown in a picture above

yogurt with spinach and garlic, topped with fried little dough balls

soup!

another feast of mezze

Aside from Baklava, Gaziantep is famous for its pistacios. Below is a cup of "pistachio coffee" - with no actual coffee, as far as I could tell. It was more like a creamy pistachio-flavored drink.

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Zeugma:
When we arrived at the last site of our weekend, we came across some very hungry canine friends.

So we fed them cheese and bread we had stored in our bus.

Approaching the site...

Zeugma was founded in 300 B.C. by Hellenist ruler, Seleucus I Nicator. He called it Seleucia on the Euphrates, where it occupies a prime coastal position. He also founded Apemia, its sister city, in honor of his Persian wife. Apemia is located on the Eastern side of the Euphrates (we went over the Euphrates to Apemia after visiting Zeugma, but it was too dark for good photos).

Seleucus of the Euphrates was conquered in 64 B.C. with the disintegration of the Seleucid Empire to Antiochus I of Commagene, and "Zeugma", as it was called (meaning bridge) was one of four main cities of the Commagene Empire. Zeugma became an important base for the Roman IV Legion of Scythica. Once again a Roman settlement, it became an important military, economic and cultural center. Located on the silk road, connecting Persia to Anatolia, lavish Roman villas were built, the remains of which were the subject of excavation beginning in the late 1980s - and turned into rescue excavations in 2000 as the building of the Birecik dam threatened the preservation of the site.

Today the mosaics and goods from the site can be seen in the Gaziantep museum. (see pictures at very top)

acqueduct - the Romans knew what they were doing

Zeugma has great potential to be a great site for tourism that would economically benefit the local population. Obviously there are mixed feelings about the development of this area, but it seems a shame to me the way it is so overlooked and isolated today...