Hatay-City of Toleration

 

Hatay is located at the southern part of Turkey on the Mediterranean cost. The province was annexed from the Ottoman Empire by France after World War I. In 1938, the province declared independence from France and the following 29 June, the parliament of the newly-declared republic voted to join Turkey in 1939.

I first visited Hatay in 2005 during a photography trip of AFSAD-Ankara Photographers’ Association. Then, I visited Hatay last year with my family…. I love this city a lot… And, I have very good reasons for this…

First of all, it is a city of tolerance… It is unbelievable there are a lot of people from different ethnic backgrounds… Muslims, Arabic, Armenian, and Christian are living together… Our guide was a member of AFSAD and he was Arabic origin… It is possible to hear a lot of people speaking Arabic around you in Hatay… And, the people are so friendly. For example, I and my friends were taking pictures on the streets of the city, and then we saw a lady carrying pastry from stone oven to her house. Even though she didn’t know us, she insisted us to eat from the pastry when she saw us… The pastry was very vey delicious. Actually, it is a tradition in Anatolia, sharing and offering your food to others. One interesting tradition is that people generally cook their food in stone ovens in Hatay. This tradition is not common in most of the other parts of Turkey… It is also possible to buy your meat of kebap (kagit kebabi) from butcher, and cook it in the stone oven so cheaply in Hatay. So, butcher prepares your kebap for free….Since these kinds of things are not common in Ankara, I was surprised when I first learnt… It is very good to see in some parts of Turkey old traditions are keep going…

  

Me and oranges at the garden of catholic church

( Do you know during the whole year, there is always flower on the orange tree)

The Hatay Museum deserves a particular interest, in that it houses one of the richest collections of Roman mosaics in the world. The mosaics are unbelievable there… Most of the mosaics depict characters from Roman mythology.

 

(Christianity's first church in the world)

Hatay is an important center for faith tourism, and is also one of the four great Patriarchate centers in the world. I visited the first church of Christianity there. This cave church is the place where St.Peter preached and founded the Christian community. It was declared as a holy place by Vatican in 1983.

The food is unbelievable in Hatay…. My English is not enough to convey my thoughts… I have never eaten such delicious foods in my life. I believe that the tolerance and energy of the city affects the food. When I visited there second time, I and my family went to Sultan Restaurant which is very popular restaurant… And, it was full of Syrian people who came with buses from Syria daily…

Some appetizers
 

Hatay's kunefe very traditional delicious dessert,  icli kofte (some kind of meatball)

and of course kebap:)

Moreover, there is also an Armenian village in Hatay called as 'Vakifli Village' which is the unique Armenian village in Turkey. I think Armenia Diaspora should visit this village to see how Armenian people live in peace in Turkey… The people have their church in the village, and the village is amazing. They are producing orange in that village in an organic way, so the taste of the orange was like a sugar…

Harbiye Promenade area is also amazing, it very popular of producing silk scarves, daphne soap, pomegranate sour etc…

Hatay is the city where I would like to live for the end of my life… I hope I can live in that city after I retired…

KAYAKOY ART CAMP, Fethiye/TURKEY

There are a lot of places to go and a lot of things to do in life…But for me one place is really special and worthy to go again and again. It is not easy to give information about this place because someone should live this experience and spend a holiday there to discover…

The name of the place is Kayakoy Art Camp which is located in Kayakoy (means Village of Stone in Turkish), Fethiye-TURKEY. I attended this camp in 2006, after that I have dreamed to go again but I could not manage…

First of all, I would like to give some information about the history of Kayakoy. Following the mutual agreements made with the Greek after the 1st World War to exchange people, the Greek went back to Greece and Turkish people settled in Selanik came to Turkey…But, they could not adjust themselves to the existing life-style and climate; so, they abandoned the Kayakoy. Because of this reason, there are approximately 3000-3500 abandoned stone houses in the village.

Kayakoy is a small, picturesque village in Southern Turkey. It is not a place of mass tourism and still retains its village characteristics. While it’s offering the peace and quiet of a small village, it is also close to big tourist towns like Fethiye, Oludeniz and Hisaronu.

First of all, I should warn you it is not easy to adapt yourself to the routine of everyday life after camp…Because Kayakoy Art Camp is a dream that you would like to see again…

There are restored stone house and pensioned rooms at the camp site. It is also possible to sleep in tents. There is a huge green garden for the workshops and other activities. The kitchen is located in the middle of the garden and it is open-air. So, you eat delicious meals of Mediterranean cuisine accompanied by nice view of green garden. I would like to add that all of the meals are cooked by organic vegetables grown in the garden. Moreover, because of the fresh air, sleeping in 4 or 5 hours in open air is enough to wake up vigorously.

There are many workshops at the art camp…Main ones are relief work, rhythm, photography, traditional kilim (carpet) weaving, ceramics, leather mask making…I preferred to attend relief work…The duration of the camp is a week…So, I participated in art workshop of relief work during a whole week. Workshops are held after the breakfast for 2-3 hours. I have also done yoga for the first time at the art camp… We did yoga on first day of arrival…I was feeling tired because of a long bus trip from Ankara to Fethiye. But, after doing yoga I felt very energetic and fresh. I have also met with another art which is traditional for Turkish culture…Ebru-Turkish Islamic art of marbling…Everybody attended camp had a chance to do ebru. I framed my ebru after the camp and would like to keep it forever.

What else in the camp? Everyday trips are organized to the nearby historical and natural places. So, it is possible to swim under the shining sun everyday. Only by 20 minutes walking distance there is a Gemile Beach. The scene of sundown is gorgeous from the St. Nicholas Island where you can reach by boat. During a week you have a chance to have a boat trip to the Valley of Butterflies, swim in the Oludeniz (Deadsea) which is world famous beach of Turkey.

There are other activities for nights during the camp…For example, at my first night there was a documentary film about the history of Kayakoy which was done by famous journalist Mr. Mithat Bereket. Second night we went to a wine house and drunk our Sirince fruit wines (it may be another blog subject ) accompanied by alive music. Watching photography slide shows, going local bars to dance are the other possible night attractions. Moreover, except these activities you can read book, chat with friends, sleep in the hammock during the camp.

This is a camp where everybody can find something attractive, meet with people from all over the world, have great time…So, it is not easy to tell, you should see and experience it.


To get more info and see amazing photos you can visit;

http://www.sanatkampi.com/