Like many people, I’ve always associated tulips with the Netherlands, and just kind of assumed they came from there. Turns out, tulips were first commercially cultivated in the Ottoman Empire, and were brought to Europe in the 16th century. So basically, they’re more Turkish than they are Dutch, which I never would have guessed. Link

[Thanks to Kıvanç Niş for the amazing photo]

If you’ve not yet heard the story of the ancient ice-age temple that has been uncovered near Şanlıurfa, it is most certainly worth reading about. This story has been developing in the press over several years, and I’m absolutely fascinated by the things they can learn from a settlement that existed 11,500 years ago. Visiting this place is definitely on my to-do list. Link

Yesterday was the 5th Annual Runtalya Marathon, and I went out to cover it for the second time (last time was 2007). To say it was a day of ups and downs would be putting it lightly, but Emirhan was running, and so of course I wanted to be there to capture that.

There are stories and pictures and all that coming, but the short version is that he finished in just over five hours, very respectable for a first-timer. I’ll get the photos up as soon as I possibly can.

Well, it took a while, but I finally finished editing and uploading the Saklıkent photos from Valentine’s Day. There ended up being only 36 in total, but I’m really proud of them as a set, and I think they give an interesting peek into an important aspect of Turkey that most foreigners don’t even know exists: winter. The ski resort and village are only about 20km (12.5 miles) from the Mediterranean coast, and together they’re one of Antalya’s best-kept secrets. The word Saklıkent means “hidden town,” which is a pretty accurate description of this beautiful little village in the mountains. Link

In December I reported the sad demise of Bey Baba, which was not only one of my favourite local restaurants, but also the automatic go-to place for feeding hungry houseguests. I expressed concern that such a tiny little mom-n-pop wouldn’t have anything as fancy as fire insurance, but it appears I was wrong— less than three months after the fire, Bey Baba is back and better than ever. I had lunch there the other day when I was in the neighbourhood, and the food is exactly how it’s always been: perfect. Glad to see them doing well, and glad to have my favourite dürüm place back in business. GMH.

Here’s something I think is interesting in theory: a group of Turkish internet users has put together a Google map, which they are using as a venue to host a virtual protest march. The idea is to take a stand against internet censorship in Turkey, which isn’t as extreme as in some other countries, but still, slippery slope. According to the instructions, you’re supposed to put a marker on the map to represent yourself as a protester; when they reach a goal of one billion protesters (the actual map bears the typo “one trillion”— good luck with that), there’s going to be a pixel-by-pixel virtual march to the nation’s capital in Ankara.

While I agree that awareness is good, and that the internet is a great way to test things like this and get an idea of what sort of support is out there, in practical terms, exercises like this are futile unless they can be translated into real-life action. It’s this sort of lazy armchair activism, where people are happy to click on a link or change their Facebook status to the latest “support our cause” catchphrase, but if you ask people to put their money or their time where their mouse is, only a fraction would care enough to get out of their chairs and actually do something. Within a couple of days, everyone has forgotten again, so what exactly is the point?

I don’t think any of the policy-making bureaucracy in Ankara care in the least about an internet protest march, and to be honest most of them probably wouldn’t even understand what you were talking about if you tried to explain it. It just doesn’t affect them. Unless protest groups are willing to take the next step and move the protests off the screen and into the streets and voting booths, where lawmakers will actually have a chance of understanding what is happening, I’m afraid this is just wasted effort that could be put to better use. Link

As of yesterday, Vogue magazine now officially has a Turkish version. Apparently it’s a limited edition that’s causing quite a stir. To be honest, I hadn’t really realised before that there wasn’t a Turkish Vogue. Perhaps it’s because we get every other international version of the magazine already, and to me this just seems like another one cluttering up the stands. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have anything in particular against fashion magazines; I just don’t really see the need to have so many multiple versions of each one. Can’t we just have an international Vogue that gets translated into each country’s local language? I suppose this is paper magazines fighting against their own inevitable death… but I think they’re diversifying in the wrong direction. Link

I’m always looking for photos that don’t sit anywhere on the axis between “tourist snaps” and “glossy pro shots.” I like photos that are off the beaten path, both in style and content. I absolutely love this set of photos from Canadian photographer Ali Bosworth. He visited Turkey last year, and captured it in a way not many photographers manage. Nostalgia is heavy in this set, and even if you’ve never been to Turkey before, you’ll feel like you’re looking at shots that remind you of trips you took long ago. Amazing work. Link

If you’re feeling ambitious after that Istanbul set, Bosworth has an entire collection of sets from his trip to Greece and Turkey, including a second Istanbul set, and some photos from other areas of Turkey, as well. Definitely worth a look. Link

I’m always having to tell people that Antalya is more than sun and sand. We have mountains and snow, too, and more rain per annum than the UK. Alison Kenny goes into detail about all the Turkish seasons, and what we locals have to do to keep our sanity in this city of extremes. Very interesting and well-written article. Link

One of my favourite bloggers, over at The Turkish Life, has posted her take on the New York Times article I posted about last week. Whereas I was glad to see an American paper even mentioning Istanbul, she has some suggestions for improvements to their reportage on the subject. Since I’m just an overwhelmed tourist myself when it comes to our largest city, it’s interesting to hear what a local has to say about it. Link