Bayramiç Yeniköy

Bayramiç Yeniköy

I wanted to pluck up my courage and start writing for a long time. I couldn’t start anyway both because of my lack of experience in writing and because of my willing to write about more technical information we gain about natural life rather than telling memories and stories. But for me, the most important point of our travel that I want to tell is this precious knowledge. I hope, I get the show on the road at last. Yet, there are many things I want to tell and I collected. I want to start from our first experience in a farm: Bayramiç Yeniköy. Sezgin has written about the life here before (Off The Road). So, I will just mention some subject that attracted me. In Yeniköy, production is made by ecologic methods, without using artificial fertilizer and pesticides. Many kinds of wheat are planted, especially those under the risk of extinction, and sent to the mill to make wonderful bread. The most important thing here was its principle of not consuming anything that is not produced or gathered in local. When we were in there, there were just beans, peas, onions and different kinds of herbs in the garden. In our first days, we were thinking about what to cook as we didn’t get used to it. But after a while, trying to be contended with what we have made us more creative. Yes, we were eating beans everyday, but in many different ways. We were creating different tastes that we had never tasted before (farci with Mizuna). And of course everyting was so natural and delicious. In...
Goodbye Ida Mountains

Goodbye Ida Mountains

We left Ida mountains and  hit the road towards Marmariç after staying with Iraz and Eren in Çavuşlu and with İlknur and Tom in Aşağı Çavuş . After Kalkım, before arriving Edremit we had to stop at the middle of the day, at the top of the mountain, when the temperature reached 100 degrees. But we used to know something.                 Do not stop the engine if it is overheated. Let it work in idle. If the temperature doesn’t decrease, turn the air conditioner on. But if you have a car whose air conditioner doesn’t operate, there is nothing to do. And we wait. The temperature doesn’t fall; steam is coming out of the engine. We take risk, incurably we stop the car. We check the motor to see what’s happening.  But it is hard to open the motor in our caravan. First we should fold the sheet. Then we take the bed out. We lift the isolation cover. And finally the cover of the engine…  We add some cold water to cool the engine but it can’t pass to the part where the water is boiling. Why? Because if you heat the water it dilates. It will go away after evaporation but the pressure pushes cold water. I open the hot cover, as there is nothing else to do. With a cloth in my hand and taking cover for my head…  Steam goes out. There, we apply cold water. If we stuck in there, we cannot call for help. Our mobile phones do not operate.                 After a while, we start driving. We climb the hill 20 km/h....
Hit the Road: The End of Trilogy

Hit the Road: The End of Trilogy

                We are travellers invited by the road. We are guests of it for a while. And we learned again; travellers can’t be choosers.                 We wanted to make camp in somewhere at the shores of Bayramiç Dam after leaving Yeniköy. We hit the road towards a woody place close to Kurşunlu Village.                 Just at the beginning of the road, we were warned by extra ordinary sounds of left front wheel and the rattle of the brake. After arriving Bayramiç at a snail’s pace, we started looking for a repairman. In this place that we don’t know we found a man of this job by asking. It was about 6 when we find the mechanic who solves this little problem that could cause an important damage. We are aliens to Murtaza as we cannot do such an easy thing: fixing a screw of brake disc by ourselves. Yes, Murtaza is the name of our caravan. We don’t know why such a delicate lady caravan called like this, and we didn’t want to change it like a horse. We learned its name so long after by the way.                 Saying that we weren’t stranded, we continue travelling quickly but not in a hurry with the comfort of long summer days. We reached Kurşunlu Village while trying to find the road to the place we wanted to go. We followed the road described by the villager trusting our vehicle whose bottom is high from the ground enough, maybe not as much as a jeep. We hoped the road, just a bit better than a...
Off the Road

Off the Road

In the beauty of Ida Mountains, among trees, a dirt road with curves welcomes us with all its hospitality. We accept the invitation and start following it.                 We reach Muratlar after passing two beautiful villages. We move to the way shown by a small wooden sign placed on a pole among country houses with stone walls: Yeniköy.                 We are fascinated by the view of the valley lying before us while pebbles rolling under the wheels. We run into a couple of old houses near the road. When we see the garden full of labor and love, we leave the vehicle.                 There are sorrels, basils, lettuces, sages, mints in the garden surrounded by stone houses. On one side of the fertile garden a wooden table stands under the sunshade. We are invited to the lunch. A pizza prepared by the people living here with the plants gathered from the earth of this place is served and we start talking. Yeniköy Farm is founded on a land by a couple of people collectively. At present, Mustafa is taking care of this place as a permanent resident. His nickname is Balıkçı (The Fisher).  He tells us about the fish he caught in the village where he lived when he was a child. He was going to fishing in the morning and going back home in the evening. That’s how he was feeding the whole family. Then he went to the city to become a civil engineer, but his longing for nature is kept in his heart. Finally he came here and settled. He answers all of our questions deeply....