More Christmas in TURKEY 2009: Americans in Turkey – Day 9

December 25 evening and misc.

Forgot to mention that we stumbled upon a local women’s co-op in Goreme.. a hole-in-the-wall shop making wonderfully embroidered necklaces and bracelets. The woman in the shop – Muslim with head scarf – was quite friendly and we chatted (although language was a challenge)  in short sentences with small words..  Seems as if she and her sister were making these items and selling at a local market. They did well, with people liking the stuff – especially tourists, I presume – and so they taught some other women to make the items and some other items as well.. and about 3 years ago the 10 women opened the shop. They could use a bit of marketing help, and I have to admit that with each of these trips I consider the possibility of spending some time in several of these developing countries – especially in smaller villages — to provide some kind of help, but then I always fear the inevitable — some kind of commercialization and change in the product??

Anyway, tonight we headed out to dinner in Urgup to a restaurant we had read about called Ahra — supposedly they serve the best “manti”.. which we learned are very very tiny gnochi-like pasta with lamb stuffed inside, served warm on a bed of roasted tomatoes, with a tangy Greek-style yogurt on top, and a tiny splash of chili oil.

We had the address, and Urgup is quite small as you might imagine (population 17,000 — about the size of Albany, CA). It has one main street that sort of meanders and as everywhere in this region, it has lots of levels and steps going up and down streets. (Accessibility is clearly not a high priority anywhere here.)

We drove into town (having already walked back and forth from the hotel to the center a few times) and thought we knew where the place was. Well after a few failed attempts, we asked some people. First a man on the street who told us to park our car and just walk 50 meters.. well that was definitely wrong. Then we asked another guy.. standing with a group of men.. They talked about it.. and discussed it and I could see that if they did know the restaurant, they could not describe to us how to get there.. Finally, one guy said to wait (while he got his take-out “pide” — a Turkish pizza) and then he and his friend would show us the way. OK.. a plan. They had a motor bike.

We waited.. they got their pizza (to go) and we followed the motor bike (a bit reminiscent of following the cops in Urfa, but no lights flashing).

As he slowed down and pointed to a restaurant… we looked up and it was not Ahra. He left (to eat his pizza I assume) and he took us to a different restaurant probably owned by a relative.

Now we were determined to find Ahra. So we went back to our cave hotel and asked there. Again, lots of discussion. Four men at the hotel (all various workers) argued back and forth with lots of hand motions.. about what directions to give. Now I thought the restaurant must be out of town or something.. Anyway, one of them decided to draw a map (no one – not even the hotel – seems to have a map of the town).. with lots of landmarks.. Two of the guys spoke no English; the third’s English was sort of like my Spanish.. lots of words but very little in the way of verbs and grammar.  However we finally got the map to make sense with landmarks like the clock tower, a bank, the hamam, etc… And off we went — only to wind up at that same restaurant that the motorbike took us to… We rolled down the window and asked where Ahra was .. and learned that the restaurant had changed its name.. same “chief” they told us, just new name.

OK.. mission accomplished: manti was wonderful and we also shared a pistachio stuffed steak.

Take care –
More tomorrow when we explore the Ilyhara Valley and attempt to find a pottery workshop in Avanos.
Fern