On Sunday, we went with friends to Kayaköy for a traditional village breakfast at Yalçın Restaurant. The weather was perfect and, as there were so many of us (around 10 people), the breakfast table was looking particularly spectacular. If we go again soon, I must get a photo. We were too busy taking photos of our friends’ baby! Well, he’s just very cute.
Once the food was demolished and the seemingly never ending supply of çay (Turkish tea) finally ended, it was suggested we go for a stroll to walk off our breakfast.
We were told on Sunday that it’s a Turkish custom (I suppose Brits would call it an ‘old wives’ tale’ and I can’t really think of a Turkish equivalent) that after food you should either take a sleep or walk forty steps. Two opted for the sleep – kind of.
They stayed behind to play tavla (backgammon) while we went off for quite a few more than forty steps.
As soon as we set off, I was way behind everyone, snapping away with my camera. This time of the year in Kayaköy is just fabulous. Sunday was pleasantly sunny and warm, we’d just whiled away a good couple of hours over breakfast and now we were ambling through country lanes, surrounded by farms and mountains. Just perfect.
Kayaköy valley is full of old village houses. Two of our friends have family in the village so the stroll was very gentle as one of them darted in and out of a couple of homes to say hello to people she knew.
I wrote about pomegranates a while back. The ones on this tree were particularly sour – but sweet ones were pulled from trees (I believe we call that scrumping in England!) and we pulled them apart and shared them between us as we walked round. Crispy, fresh, juicy, sweet – well, just the taste of fruit straight from the tree.
As we came full circle and were about to return to Yalçın to pay our bill, we walked past this busy field.
No lazy Sunday here. Harvesting to be done. And this harvest is one of our favourites – the barbunya; the bean which is used to make the Turkish classic dish Barbunya Pilaki. We are right at the end of barbunya season now so this must be one of the last crops of the year.
Hmm, might just have to buy some from the market next time we go – I can feel a big Autumnal plate of barbunya and sucuk coming on…
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