Day 9 - Milas
I was lucky today, the sun stayed behind some clouds most of the day, and I had a wicked tail wind. At one point, after crossing some mountains into a valley I cruised through the center, a 20 mile road as straight as one of the US interstates that passes through Arizona. Except I was surrounded by mountains on all sides.
While looking for the meeting point where I was supposed to meet Mylène I made a wrong turn and heard some traditional Turkish music coming from behind a house. There were two zunas and a drummer. The zuna is a type of high pitched Turkish double reed instrument (I think also commonly associated with snake charming).
There were a ton of people eating in a corridor behind the house and I just stood there gawking at the music and at the very lively scene. A man beckoned me to sit down and have something to eat. I went off quickly to get Mylène and bring her back.
It turned out to be a prelude to a wedding. Apparently there are several preludes starting with each family having a meal to themselves. What I stumbled upon was the first meal between both families. The bride and groom weren't there. The bride was getting her hair done and wouldn't arrive until later in the evening. The actual marriage takes place the following day.
The corridor between the houses where people were eating.
The father of the bride stood at the end of the corridor as a steady stream of people flowed in to congratulate him, contribute to a mountain of gifts, then take their place at a table where communal bowls were placed. The bowls contained cooked beans, rice and chick peas, macaroni and yogurt, chicken, vegetable broth with mini pasta, cucumber and tomato salad, a kind of cucumber/cabbage paste, mini meatballs (köfte) in a tomato sauce, and helva (similar to Israeli chalva). Just in case you were wondering, I wrote the preceding list from memory - I had the hunger of a 70 mile bike ride.
The zuna band playing during the meal.
We ate with a friend of the family and spoke about Milas and wedding traditions.
It was a fair amount of food and it just kept coming out on huge platters as hundreds of people sat down to eat, then immediately upon finishing made place for the next guests.
We made a remark about it which caused us to be led to the kitchen - or more like a backyard-turned-assembly line. A second backyard was required for washing the dishes.
Enormous pots and tubs were used to make the food.
People dispersed after the meal so we left to find our couchsurfer, Kemal. He is an itinerant building manager currently overseeing the construction of a new (and the first) shopping mall in Milas.
According to him, there is little going on Milas in the way of activities, so we went to Bodrum, a resort town similar to Kuşadası, but a bit bigger. All buildings are required to be painted white. We had a drink on the beach and then went to a club where they were playing Turkish pop and house music. As usual, we were the only ones who didn't understand the lyrics. The club was very different from the ones we are used to in Berlin, we were assigned a table and everyone kind of stuck around their own table and danced rather than dancing in one central location. But we still got our dance on and period watched at the same time - the girls all out in short, mini, backless cocktail dresses and high heels. The guys were kind of the opposite of dressed up, wearing mostly jeans and faded polo shirts.
We got back a little early for a night out (3am). Everyone is tired and it's just as well since I will be back on my bike in about 4 hours.
While looking for the meeting point where I was supposed to meet Mylène I made a wrong turn and heard some traditional Turkish music coming from behind a house. There were two zunas and a drummer. The zuna is a type of high pitched Turkish double reed instrument (I think also commonly associated with snake charming).
There were a ton of people eating in a corridor behind the house and I just stood there gawking at the music and at the very lively scene. A man beckoned me to sit down and have something to eat. I went off quickly to get Mylène and bring her back.
It turned out to be a prelude to a wedding. Apparently there are several preludes starting with each family having a meal to themselves. What I stumbled upon was the first meal between both families. The bride and groom weren't there. The bride was getting her hair done and wouldn't arrive until later in the evening. The actual marriage takes place the following day.
The corridor between the houses where people were eating.
The father of the bride stood at the end of the corridor as a steady stream of people flowed in to congratulate him, contribute to a mountain of gifts, then take their place at a table where communal bowls were placed. The bowls contained cooked beans, rice and chick peas, macaroni and yogurt, chicken, vegetable broth with mini pasta, cucumber and tomato salad, a kind of cucumber/cabbage paste, mini meatballs (köfte) in a tomato sauce, and helva (similar to Israeli chalva). Just in case you were wondering, I wrote the preceding list from memory - I had the hunger of a 70 mile bike ride.
The zuna band playing during the meal.
We ate with a friend of the family and spoke about Milas and wedding traditions.
It was a fair amount of food and it just kept coming out on huge platters as hundreds of people sat down to eat, then immediately upon finishing made place for the next guests.
We made a remark about it which caused us to be led to the kitchen - or more like a backyard-turned-assembly line. A second backyard was required for washing the dishes.
Enormous pots and tubs were used to make the food.
People dispersed after the meal so we left to find our couchsurfer, Kemal. He is an itinerant building manager currently overseeing the construction of a new (and the first) shopping mall in Milas.
According to him, there is little going on Milas in the way of activities, so we went to Bodrum, a resort town similar to Kuşadası, but a bit bigger. All buildings are required to be painted white. We had a drink on the beach and then went to a club where they were playing Turkish pop and house music. As usual, we were the only ones who didn't understand the lyrics. The club was very different from the ones we are used to in Berlin, we were assigned a table and everyone kind of stuck around their own table and danced rather than dancing in one central location. But we still got our dance on and period watched at the same time - the girls all out in short, mini, backless cocktail dresses and high heels. The guys were kind of the opposite of dressed up, wearing mostly jeans and faded polo shirts.
We got back a little early for a night out (3am). Everyone is tired and it's just as well since I will be back on my bike in about 4 hours.
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