Post from Michelle:
School children, shop owners, bakers, and young men called out Japanese greetings to me as we strolled through the narrow cobblestone streets of Sanfranbolu. I found the attention a bit unnerving since I don't speak a word of Japanese. I know the town gets very few foreign tourists but from the attention I was receiving I concluded the Asian tourists that do visit must be Japanese. My parents met in Japan, I have black hair, and I crave sushi often, but these are the extent of my Japanese ways.
Sanfranbolu is a town situated in northern Turkey near the Black Sea. Its old Ottoman wooden houses make it an Unesco World Heritage Site and the lure of fine architecture drew us off Turkey's main tourist trail for a visit. The houses sit on steep hills, looking down on the main square, a mosque, a two-domed bathhouse, and a 350 year-old caravanserai (a way-station for traveling caravans).
On our first full day in Sanfranbolu we spent the day walking through the streets observing the architecture, stopping often to look up. The houses are large 3-storey structures made of wood and plaster. The old plaster walls, overhanging bay windows, decorative iron handles on gates, and textured wooden doors made it a feast for the eyes. The roofs are made of rugged terra-cotta tiles, adding orange warmth to the already rich environment.
Most of the places we have visited in Turkey are popular tourist destinations and the locals have picked up enough English to communicate effectively with visitors. But in Sanfranbolu we found few that spoke English and for the first time we relied heavily on our Turkish guidebook's language section and found ourselves gesturing to communicate. Ordering food, checking into a hotel, catching a bus, and buying souvenirs became more like a game of charades than a business transaction. When gestures failed, we would draw pictures. Sometimes the business owners would bring out their English-Turkish dictionaries and we would teach each other words. The interactions made us laugh and we met many wonderfully patient Turkish people as we struggled to communicate.
Sanfranbolu is a town situated in northern Turkey near the Black Sea. Its old Ottoman wooden houses make it an Unesco World Heritage Site and the lure of fine architecture drew us off Turkey's main tourist trail for a visit. The houses sit on steep hills, looking down on the main square, a mosque, a two-domed bathhouse, and a 350 year-old caravanserai (a way-station for traveling caravans).
On our first full day in Sanfranbolu we spent the day walking through the streets observing the architecture, stopping often to look up. The houses are large 3-storey structures made of wood and plaster. The old plaster walls, overhanging bay windows, decorative iron handles on gates, and textured wooden doors made it a feast for the eyes. The roofs are made of rugged terra-cotta tiles, adding orange warmth to the already rich environment.
Most of the places we have visited in Turkey are popular tourist destinations and the locals have picked up enough English to communicate effectively with visitors. But in Sanfranbolu we found few that spoke English and for the first time we relied heavily on our Turkish guidebook's language section and found ourselves gesturing to communicate. Ordering food, checking into a hotel, catching a bus, and buying souvenirs became more like a game of charades than a business transaction. When gestures failed, we would draw pictures. Sometimes the business owners would bring out their English-Turkish dictionaries and we would teach each other words. The interactions made us laugh and we met many wonderfully patient Turkish people as we struggled to communicate.
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