KIRAZDERE BARAJI

This past weekend we went to visit Cheryl in Izmit where she teaches at English Time.  We had a special delivery from the U.S. and we wanted to see where she called home. It was also the first sunny day we had in about 3 weeks.  Izmit is north of Bursa and east of Istanbul.  We met her after her classes and headed to her little village of Yuvacik to see her digs and then just down the road to Kirazdere Baraji (dam/lake) to a trout restaurant.  Because of all the torrential rains of the previous week, there were mud/rock slides that were being cleared, washed away roadsides, and raging waters into the lake.  We weren't sure if the restaurant would be open, if we could get there; but we did get there and it was open.  Lucky us, fresh trout, cooked in a wood fire oven, fresh mushrooms covered in cheese and baked in that oven, a winter shepherd's salad (shredded lettuce, purple cabbage, carrot, finely sliced onion with olive oil and fresh lemon) and plenty of fresh bread, beautiful view.  Couldn't have been better.

 View across the lake and to the mountains.

 One of several waterfalls.

 Geoff & Cheryl on the deck of one of the many "outdoor rooms" of the restaurant.  We ate inside beside a wood burning stove as it was a colder day.

 The raging waters.  The broken wood in the foreground is part of a bridge that crossed the water to another outdoor room.  Guess that won't be used for a while.

 Nice place to rest on a warmer day

 A Mescid - a small prayer room, the ablutions fountain below.

 View down the many outdoor dining areas.  Definitely be back in warm weather too.

 That's our mushrooms and fishes cooking

 Then they were served to us sitting on these wooden planks

 The meal.

 Just to make sure he's dead...I really don't like having the whole fish on my plate!

Cheryl and a friend, Muhsin.