Little journey :) p. 1.

My last post was about tulips, so now something about plants, but edible. I think you like a lot of them and, who knows, maybe this post will be the reason why you will visit Turkey. Everyone knows that "the way to a man's heart is through his stomach", and therefore I think that you will fall in love with Turkey because of its flavors. Let's start our journey to the Turkish flavors and beautiful Turkish cities.     

1. MALATYA

 The closest to my heart is Malatya (formerly Melitene), so here begins our trail. It is a city in the region of Eastern Anatolia in Turkey and the capital of its eponymous province. 

 

Malatya is a city of apricot. Number of hybrids is about 400,000. Apricots grow everywhere here, even in the coat of arms of the city. For many years, Malatya is the largest exporter of apricots in the world. Not surprisingly, the yellow fruit, ripening in the sun, are the best there. People just love their fruit, that since 1978 has been organized Apricot Festival in Malatya. The most delicious for me are dry apricots.

Last month Turkish Airlines give them for every passenger. I have to admit I didn't like dry apricots before because in Poland they are not so quality but after tasting dry apricots in Turkey they are my favourite snack. :)

2.  ANTALYA

Another point on our map is Antalya. This is where, every year, most foreign tourists arrive. Beautiful blue sea, sunny weather (summer temperatures exceed 40 degrees!) and historical places make Antalya a perfect place for a holiday. Population of the city is about 600,000 (in summer 2 milions).

Such a warm climate favors the ripening of the best oranges and mandarins in Turkey. Fruit trees grow along the roads, and their branches bend to the ground under the weight of the fruit. In the evening wind carries the smell of ripened citrus.

 

Every year since 1963, the last week of September, is the film festival called International Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival. Name refers to oranges growing in the region of course. Here i put some photos of promotional posters of festival, which an orange is an integral part.

 3. DIYARBAKIR

So now maybe something about my favorite fruit. Diyarbakir (formerly Amida). Place where the biggest watermelons grow. The city's population is about 850,000. The city is located in the south-east Turkey, on the banks of the river Tigris. Diyarbakir has a semi-arid climate with hot and dry summers and cold and wet winters. 

As in Malatya and Antalya, Diyarbakir watermelons festival is held, in which the whole families take part in.

Watermelons in Diyarbakir have different tastes and shapes so you can find many varietes of them. Some of them are: Yeni Dünya, Alacalı, Kara, Gülle, Washington and Diyarbakır. As I wrote, every variety is different so I recommend to try all! :) 
 

 

My favourite flower is... LALE!

This time I must say something about my favourite flowers. Few days ago I learnt the tulip was the symbol of Ottoman. Interesting. After that I started searching more info about that fact and I realize how important this flower is. My motivation for that post was TV news about 8th Istanbul Tulip Festival/İstanbul Lale Festivali 01.04.-30.04.2013.

I don't know why but I don't like roses. Maybe because they are too proud for me. They are beautiful and strong like queens and I've never wanted to be a queen. I'm sure my wedding flowers will be tulips. :)

It's not difficult to count. 1st Istanbul Tulip Festival was in 2005 and from this date, every April Istanbul blooms of millions of the most beautiful flowers (in my opinion) which communicate that spring came!

http://www.istapin.com/istanbul-lale-festivali-galeri/

Istanbul is a good place for that kind of event because of many reasons but the most important are two of them:

1. only in Istanbul we can trust weather; it's sure tulips will bloom - without doubts;

2. tulips come from Turkey! yes, Turkey (!) not Netherlands.

In 1554 Sultan sent bulbs of tulips as a gift to Vienna. Flowers from East were different than any flowers in Europe and because of that they became popular so fast. From Vienna there were distributed to Amsterdam and different European cities. Now, people think the country of the tulips is Holland but it's a big mistake.Time when tulips were cultivated in Ottoman Empire is called Tulip Period. During festival tulips are everywhere there is free space for them. City will host many activities during the 8th International Istanbul Tulip Festival like live music concerts or painting, sculpture and photo exhibitions. It's possible to buy various tulips species there!

This year the most spectacular thing is "Tulip Museum" in Emirgan Park where we can see rare species of tulips with original paintings of Ottoman gardens. In 2013 Turkish government spent 13 000 000 TL for 20 000 000 kinds of tulips.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyI1akVOdJA&feature=player_embedded

I told tulips were the symbol in past but now they are too. They mean romance, perfect and true love full of passion. Every colour has different meaning too: red - true love, yellow - hopeless love, orange - warmth or fascination, pink - confidence, purple - royalty. More here: http://tulipflower.net/tulip-flower-meaning. 

                                                                                                                                                                                 
More beautiful photos here: http://www.istapin.com/istanbul-lale-festivali-galeri/

DO YOU LIKE TULIPS?

"Aşk Tesadüfleri Sever" (2011)

Next beautiful Turkish story about love and suffering. About the role of the fate which is our friend or enemy sometimes. After this movie everyone will understand that "Love cannot save you from your own fate". 

Directed by: Ömer Faruk Sorak
Story by: Ipek Sorak
Starring: Belçim Bilgin Erdoğan, Mehmet Günsür
Music by: Ozan Çolakoğlu

PLOT

This remarkable story begins in September 1977 in Ankara. One day a young couple comes to the hospital. Woman is pregnant and this is a day when her baby will be born. Her husband is very stressed out and he causes an accident. He crashes into another couple's car. Because of the accident woman from that car gives birth prematurely. As a result both babies are born on the same day, in the same place. This is the first (but not last) meeting of Özgür and Deniz. During many years they live in the same city at a location nearby. They don't know each other but the fate does not let them to separate. Ankara is a place of their childhood and teenage years. 

After 25 years they meet again but this time in Istanbul. Özgür is a photoghapher and Deniz is a theater actress engaged to a rich businessman. One evening she goes to a photo exhibition and sees her own photo, which has been taken when she was a little girl. The author of the photo is Özgür's father who died some years before. This evening will be the most important moment for Özgür and Deniz.

It seems to be such an easy and romantic story but nothing could be more wrong. The new circumstances and problems will block the chances for a happy future. But to know what will happen, you should watch this movie as fast as possible.

                                                             ABOUT THE MOVIE

I found that movie on YouTube some months ago and without reading of description I decided to watch. And it was a good decision. This movie isn't awesome only becaus of plot. The best elements of that are the smart dialogues, beautiful pictures, music and director's idea of showing love story.

The basic idea was to show images from the past and present of two people in a certain sequence. The moments from childhood pierce the present reality what makes the movie more attractive and original. Also the actors are perfect in their roles. Their playing is emotional and catches the hardest hearts (it was the first movie which made me cry ;)).


I mentioned the music and I want to reccomend three songs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrPhrv-RL-k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RC8J8cDLzCQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaEaZfoO_EQ

                                                            

                                                           THE BEST QUOTES

Have you ever heard someone who went to Istanbul to live and returned to Ankara?

For someone from Ankara, Istanbul is like somebody else's baby. You like it when it smiles and you want to run away when it cries.

Remember what I said to you? I said that your boundaries were set, that you couldn’t step beyond them. But I was missing the point, son. The point isn’t those set boundaries. The point is how you fill the space within those boundaries. Whatever things, whichever people give meaning to your life.. don’t ever abandon them. 

ENJOY LIFE, LOVE AND WATCHING!