iyi Byramlar

"Good Byram".  Ramazan (dan) was over as of sundown last Wednesday and it was a 3-1/2 day National Holiday here.  There was a shopping frenzy likened to just before Christmas.  Everyone was getting ready for the big feasts and parties and family get togethers.  I suppose it could be described as a cross between Thanksgiving, which is a big family get together, and Christmas, because while they don't exactly "exchange" gifts, they do give small gifts of sweets, usually, and the kids apparently go to the adults and kiss their hand and get money in exchange.  To try to understand Ramazan is confusing, because like Christmas, they are not celebrating the birth of Jesus, or Easter, the death and resurrection, but a command by a Prophet, that for 30 days they should  fast, do good to the poor, and reflect on your life.  Other than fasting, seems one should do the others anyway.  Whatever, they have it, it was over then the following 3 days are called Byram and it is a big celebration.  So on Thursday evening, the first big celebration day, we took a picnic supper and in late afternoon headed to our favorite place, Uludag, to watch the sun set.  Or almost set, because from where we were on the  mountain, and not being good scouts and not having a flashlight, we would have had some difficulty getting back to our car.  Next time we will be better prepared, as what we saw and the photo taken driving out, it was beautiful.  Following are random photos taken of the afternoon/evening of Byram.

The light on the mountain in early afternoon.   Later on the colors change dramatically.l

 

I'm King of the Mountain

Guess that makes me Queen of the Mountain?

 

Or idiot, but you can get some perspective on height

From our perch up top, we could hear water, finally seeing this stream about a mile from where we were.  There has to be a waterfall downstream.  One day, in October, we will go on one of the trails to that stream and find the waterfall.  Now, we might need a crane to haul ourselves back up .

To try and capture the depth of this gorge (1500+ feet) we were fairly close to the edge; Geoff was holding on to the waistband of my jeans, with his other hand on my lower back.  There were some  young Turkish men hiking and messing around up there and we had been talking to them and took a photo of them for them and then Geoff took one with our camera.  But when he was holding my pants so I wouldn't fall, they were laughing and saying "American", etc.  Apparently a proper Turkish man or woman would not have "touched" like that in public.  I never said  I was proper!!!

 

 

Don't know if he's being mysterious, crazy or an Aggie!!

The sun is beginning it's journey down.  This again, was a location we had not been in, so the peaks and gorges and streams were all new.  And from this vantage of Mt. Olympus, we could see a crater lake and still a little snow.  This had been a volcano in another life.

Good Night to Uludag

The next postings will be very different and come from another country, as I will be traveling to South Korea to see Megan, Rick, Natty and Gabby.  They will be mostly photos of the girls and the family for their Dad Dad to see as he will be traveling in the States on business.  So as they say in Turkey, Gule Gule or Bye Bye (literally, Bon Voyage)