Çanakkale 2.0

I'm posting this in chronological order, even though I wrote the next post (Troy and Ayvalık) before this one, so you'll have to forgive any changes of tense/confusing deictic references! 

Happy bus! For some company, spotted
on the road down to Çanakkale

Before we left Bursa, Marcos and I wanted to find the real İskender kebab place, and I wanted to get some more modest clothing. We first got gas, and while Marcos was paying one of the gas station attendants gave me a bag full of packaged sweet bread, for no apparent reason. A wee bit dry, but tasty regardless, and definitely nice to have on hand!

Road trip to Çanakkale: Looks a little like southern Oregon in places

We then stopped by a shopping center that supposedly had a Collezione, but after thoroughly searching the building (though not asking anyone for directions––but in just a day, I've gotten better about using the language!) to no avail, I ended up going to C&A, where I managed to find a whole 3 items in size 4 and nothing any smaller. I eventually purchased a size 6 skirt that hits the ground (and is, of course, too large) for wear in mosques, and passed on a couple of very cute dresses for just being too big. Still on the hunt for a nice dress or two for Berlin!

Horse, on the same road

We fared similarly when searching for the kebab place; couldn't find it where the GPS said it should be, so we went to another that was inside a different shopping center. We were served free tea while we waited, and Marcos was let into the kitchen to take footage of the cooks while they were slicing the kebab (though he fears it's not actually all that useful). We ate it later in the day, as we weren't hungry at the time, and I think I'm just meh when it comes to İskender kebaplar: it was fine, but not awe-inspiring. 

Wind turbines!

Then we did the drive down to Çanakkale, some 4+ hours through rolling hills of grass, trees, and so many sunflowers! I took about a bajillion pictures, most of which were through the window of a moving car, so they're nothing to write home about (or write a blog about), but we did stop at a gas station to go to the bathroom and take some pictures of sunflowers (ayçiçeği in Turkish, literally "moon-flower"). 

While we were filming/photographing, one of the gas station workers (because Turkey, like Oregon, has people to pump your gas for you!) came over and asked if we wanted tea or coffee, and I agreed to tea––Turkish tea is great, you guys. It's strong but not bitter and it's drunk with sugar but without milk, which is ideal for my lactose-intolerant self! It was also free, because the Turks are, as advertised, very generous, but we both bought things at the market anyways. I got a chocolate-pistachio bar which was very delicious (I held it up and asked "iyi?" ["good?"] and the cashiers nodded vigorously), though it ended up sitting in the sun and melting somewhat. Sigh.

Bar, pre-melting

Once we got to Çanakkale and put our stuff in our room, we wandered down to the waterfront and walked along there. Because of Ramazan, there was a huge group of people at tables outside watching some people give speeches (in Turkish, so I have no idea what they were about), and some workers went around giving people food, but no one ate until the signal was given.

This is maybe a third of the crowd

We'd thought they would start eating as soon as the sun crossed under the horizon, but it was a good 20 minutes before any food was consumed, and I'm still not sure why! I was very impatient to see everyone eat, and I'm sure those waiting were even more so.

When is the eating going to start?!

Brad Pitt (or possibly the entire cast of the movie Troy) donated the wooden horse used in the film to the town of Çanakkale, and it now features prominently in the middle of the boardwalk. It's a really cool design and looks like it was made out of boards from a ship (Marcos's observation, to give credit where credit is due!).

OMG I'm in front of a horse! 

Marcos the Conqueror

We wandered around for awhile looking for someplace to eat, and ultimately ended up back at the waterfront and had kebab (me) and dürün (wrap, Marcos), as well as the usual bread basket and salad.

With our respective foods

There was also some tomato-y concoction, though I'm still not sure whether it was meant for the bread, the kebab, or as another salad.

Are you salsa?

I dipped my bread in it and had it with some of my kebab, and it was quite tasty. I also opted to try ayran, a traditional yogurt drink. Here is how I felt about it:

Initially psychotically excited

Ultimately non-plussed.

We finished off with peynir helvası, Çanakkale's signature dessert, a melty cheesy mixture topped with caramelized sugar and flour.

peynir helvası

Superior to Bursa's kastane şekeri, in our opinion!

Sunset over the harbor

Çanakkale was much more touristy than Bursa, and there were correspondingly more shorts and sleeveless dresses. I felt perfectly at ease in my cotton dress, so it seems that in areas more frequented by tourists, even when the towns themselves are small, you can get away with less conservative clothing. Good to know!