It was a smooth 3-hour freeway ride to Safranbolu but as usual the Otogar—Bus Station—was about a mile from town. I walked into town, and as I was trying to locate some of the hotels mentioned in the Lonely Planet (LP), I was baffled. I stopped in a cafe and with luck, the owner spoke English and hooked me up to his phone hotspot wifi so I could activate map.me.
While there, I ordered a pastry and a lemonade. He did not have any so he served me up a local drink—watered-down yogurt called Aryan.
Even with the map.me I still could not find where the LP was listed. Part of the problem was that there were few street signs. I went to the Tourist Office, but no one spoke English, but he did direct me to a minibus that would take me down into the old town of Carsi. It cost just 3.5 TL for the downhill bumpy ride into this 1994 UNESCO World Heritage site.
Carsi was the site where saffron traders from India and Iran came to sell and trade their goods, primarily saffron, during the 17th-century Ottoman era. Most of the timber-framed buildings along these narrow, windy, and cobbled streets were built during that time and continue to be restored drawing tourists from all around.
I ended up staying at the Ebrulu KonaK hotel on the left across from the LP Bastoncu Pansiyon since it was closed and was being restored. COVID 19 has severely affected the tourist trade here. The innkeeper charged me 100 TL per night and including breakfast. Normally the charge would have been 200 TL per night plus 50 TL for breakfast.
Here is the view of the town from my hotel room during the day and later at night along with a view of the interior of the room.
Here is the Hammam—Turkish Baths—with a section for men and another for women and to the right is a mosque with its minaret.
The Tasev Restaurant was just across the street, and I enjoyed a sunset meal of saffron sauce over two steak medallions along with some veggies. I topped off my meal with a serving of Raki--a Turkish specialty—which has an anise flavor and was served with a bit of water which turned it cloudy and then put in a cup holder encased in ice.
It seems like breakfasts are served a bit later here than I am used to like about 9 am. My breakfast at the hotel centered around a soft-boiled egg and a range of vegetables, cheeses, and jams.
In the morning, I walked about town, checking out the mosques and shopping streets. There were few tourists here so I was a good target for the sales folks who loaded me up with Turkish Delight treats and perfumed hand spray along with other offers I did not understand.
I was surprised to see that none of the merchants sold postcards and it wasn’t until I went to get stamps at the post office that I could some pretty dated postcards for sale. I tried to buy a bunch of stamps, but this post office only metered the mail so I sent off two postcards to my grandson while I was there.
After some more wandering about the steep, narrow cobbled streets and stopping for cay—pronounced chai and is tea—I went for a Hamam—sauna, exfoliating rub down with rough gloves, sudsing, followed by a rigorous massage and then a rinse-off followed by a shower. The guy’s name was Typhoon and I felt like I was in one when he was exfoliating me. The cost for this total treatment was 95 TL —$13 USD—plus another $3 tip for Typhoon.
This town Hamam has been here since the 1700s during the Ottoman period. There are two parts, one for men and one for women.
On Monday night I was planning to revisit the Tasve Restaurant, but it was closed Monday. Instead, I settled for a bubbling casserole of Kofte—meatballs at a cafe at the bottom of our street. Some of these restaurants think they are doing you a favor by putting perfume in their hand sanitizer stations at their entrance. At this place, I got a whiff of the perfumed sanitizer every time I took a bite.
After dinner, I followed the sounds of music and enjoyed some more musicians along with a mango smoothie and lemon cheesecake.
The following morning, the hotel staff had breakfast ready for me at 8am before I headed to my next destination— Amasra on the Black Sea. I had to cobble together three separate bus rides: Carsi to Safranbolu, Safranbolu to Bartin, and Bartin to Amasra. All connections were tight and it took me just 2 1/2 hours to get there for a cost of 40 TL.
Fascinating survey. Linda and I hope to travel Turkey one day.
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