Hilltowns of Abruzzo July 19, 2008

Last week we went to Abruzzo to visit grandparents of Lorenzo. I love the region a lot… inside green nature crystal rivers coming down from the beautiful high mountains…and medieval hilltowns. On the highway you can see many of them from distance. They’re very impressive.

Abruzzo holds some of Italy’s best-preserved medieval and Renaissance hill towns. The abrupt decline of Abruzzo’s agricultural economy in the early to mid-20th century saved some of the region’s most beautiful hill towns from the onslaught of modern development. Many lie entirely within regional and national parks so their preservation is all but guaranteed. Among the most well preserved are Castel del Monte (AQ) and Santo Stefano di Sessanio, which lie in the Gran Sasso National Park on the edge of the high plain of Campo Imperatore and nestled beneath the Apennines’ highest peaks; both hill towns, which were ruled by the Medicis for over a century-and-a-half, have relatively little tourism. Between the two towns sits Rocca di Calascio, the ruin of an ancient fortress popular with film makers. Also within the Gran Sasso National Park is Castelli, an ancient pottery center whose artisans produced ceramics for most of the royal houses of Europe. Although still home to many artisans, Castelli has a modest tourist trade.

Other medieval hill towns located fully within Abruzzo’s park system are Pacentro in the Parco Nazionale della Majella and Pescasseroli in the Parco Nazionale d’Abruzzo. Pacentro, which features a 14th century castle with two intact towers, has been little touched by modernization and is also known for being the origin village of the grandfathers of the entertainers Madonna and Dean Martin.

Enjoying Blue Lagoon Ölüdeniz June 18, 2008

Swimming in the crystal water of Oludeniz was amazing. It was like swimming in an aquarium. The beach…lt’s the most beautiful beach l’ve ever seen

Lycia Trip Starts June 17, 2008

What’s LYCIA?

The ancient coastal region of southwest Turkey known as Lycia was bordered on all sides by massive mountain ranges, making it a uniquely independent state for much of its early history. The earliest inhabitants may have been native Anatolians mixed in with limited migrations from Crete.

Its proximity to Greece made it a desirable location for early colonists, but the Lycians resisted such attempts. In centuries of Greek domination of Asia Minor only one important colony, Phaselis, was ever established among the Lycians.

The Persians too sought to occupy the well defended territory but found Lycian independence deeply rooted in the culture. In the late 6th century BC, the Persians came to dominate Asia Minor and the surrounding vicinity but found Lycia to be a difficult conquest. When the Persians attacked the Lycian capital of Xanthos, the Lycians fought valiantly, but were eventually overcome. The survivors burnt the city, committing mass suicide, rather than submit to Persian rule.

Xanthos was later repopulated and Persian rule proved to be less dramatic than what was feared. Other than an annual tribute, the Lycians were left mainly to their own devices. Lycia was ruled essentially by a council of 23 federated cities, with certain more established cities having more clout than others.

The cities of Myra, Olympos Patara, Pinara, Tlos and Xanthos occupied the upper tier in Lycian politics. Under Persian ‘protection’ Lycia began to thrive and economic growth took hold. The Lycian alphabet also spread throughout the region in this time period.

WEDNESDAY

Lorenzo and I took a bus to go to Balıkesir from Istanbul. It took 6 hours to arrive. Lorenzo was playing with his iphone all the time so he took many ugly pics of me with it during the long boring bus travel. We planned to start our trip to Lycia next day so we had rest in the house of my parents in Balıkesir and we played with the kitten of my sister called Kekik.

THURSDAY

With my parents and my sister we started our trip at 10 am. On the road we saw very beautiful bays. I was getting more and more impatient to swim in the cold water of Egean Sea ( or Mediterranean.. lt’s just in the corner where two seas meet.) It was easy to observe the climate difference. The weather was veery hot. 7 hours later we were in our hotel in Fethiye. After dinner we strolled in the city center and we planned the next day.

Empty Tourists October 6, 2007

Usually I don’t spend time in very touristical areas of Istanbul, I stroll around the historical districts which tours dont take tourists much. Nowadays I walk in the back streets of Uskudar a lot because of the project I am working on. I’m designing a little library next to a building which was an ottoman primary school some hundreds of years ago.

So I dont see many tourists. Only one or two very curious and courageous ones who are able to get a map and stroll alone. Today while I was going down the hill, I saw one climbing the hill with an Istanbul map in the hand and a stupid fes on the head. I couldn’t stop laughing… It wasn’t the only one with fes I have seen so far.Why do tourists wear those weird fes?? Don’t they feel stupid with it? Don’t they look around themselves and notice that noone in Turkey would wear it?

Sometimes the ignorance of the tourists amazes me. They have no idea about Ottoman Empire, Turkish republic , turkish culture, Istanbul, other cities of Turkey…So why are they in Istanbul? They usually go to Italy because it’s a kind of fashion, it seems even Istanbul becomes something like that. I hate this empty tourism. Like the shopkeeper who sells miniatures has told me once : ” Tourists don’t come to my shop to buy miniatures. I have only very special foreigner customers who understand miniature art. Usual tourists who come here aren’t different than gypsies towards art”

Like french, italian, english in Istanbul, like hundreds of americans I see in Florence whole summer or thousands of russians in Antalya…like milions of tourists who destroy , pollute and rape Venice each year more just for commercial reasons far from art, architecture and understanding.

Shame on Greece (Part2) October 2, 2007

Today  greek ships had another attempt to leave their immigrants in turkish waters . This time the boat of the immigrants just remained in the international waters. A turkish private yatch saw the boat of the immigrants have overturned and there were 26 immigrants fluttering in the water, there were dead bodies swimming…So they went there to pick the alive immigants. They managed to save 11 immigrants but at the same moment, a greek coast guard boat was harrassing the turkish yatch…it was recorded minute by minute.

Shame on Greece September 29, 2007

On 27th September, at 6.20 am 3 Greek military ships were detected in Turkish waters. They were there illegally to leave around 20 immigrants inside 3 boats in turkish waters and they wanted to escape just after leaving those people in the middle of the sea. However because of the stream, those 3 boats entered back to Greek waters.

In the same day the same ships were detected in another coast of Turkey at 9.30. They were insistent of leaving their own illagal immigrants to turkish waters. But they were warned by turkish coast guards because of border violation so they had to leave without leaving the immigrants where they wanted to.

My Complaints About Turkish September 10, 2007

P.S : I am a Turkish girl and I live in Istanbul. I wrote the details which disturb me personally about turkish people. It doesnt mean that every turkish is like I wrote, of course there’re always exceptions. This is just generalised criticism about turkish society. Maybe a tourist can’t notice these details.

Some of my Complaints ;

• Although their houses are very very clean (even a little dust has to be removed immediately) they don’t give enough attention to keep the streets and nature clean. They prefer having cat at home than a dog because of this cleaning obsession at home.
• Everyone smokes everywhere. It’s disgusting
• They misunderstand their religion like most of muslim people. They are materialistic about it and they care the shape more than the virtue of the religion.
• They are not interested in art.They don’t like sculpture at all. It’s difficult to find books about contemporary art and architecture even in a giant city like Istanbul. It’s a very rich city about history and islamic arts. But turkish people dont know how precious it is.
• They dont have enough respect for any job. Especially artisctic jobs.They have no idea about what architects do. Most of people dont think architects are needed.
  
• Some people behave really rude to women. I expect a lot more respect
• There aren’t enough green areas in the cities, people live between huge gray apartments
• Cars.. cars.. everywhere… there’s no space for walking people.. All the pavements are invaded by cars… The drivers are unrespectful , they drive too fast and they use horn too much…
  
• Youth isn’t interested in politics. In Italy when some young people get together, they usually talk about politics ; in Turkey it’s something boring and stupid.So the counry is going worse and worse,everyone accepts everything…

Sexuality-fobia September 5, 2007

A sculptor made a very nice statue for expressing love. And the city administration put it in the city center of Antalya in Turkey. But some sick closed-minded people threat the administration to remove this statue because they find it ” Too explicit, against morality”…..What kind of a mentality is it? If you are able to get aroused because of this statue, it means there’s something wrong with you not the statue…..sexuality-fobia…

Qouran Doesn’t Mention Headscarf September 3, 2007

TRADITIONS MADE INTO RELIGIOUS PRESCRIPTIONS

What was not stated in the Qouran was introduced into religious practice, and customs related to a man’s attire were considered to be part of his devotional lifestyle. For instance, the turban had been worn by nearly everybody at a given period of history to keep the head warm. There was nothing wrong in this. What was unwarranted, however, was attributing a religious character to it. We must go over the verses in the Quran to see what has been ordained as far as man’s attire is concerned.

26 – O you children of Adam! We have bestowed raiment upon you to cover your private parts as well as to be an adornment to you.
7 The Purgatory, 26

The minimum covering for both men and women has been since times immemorial the covering of the private parts of a person as foreseen in Verses 26-22 of the Sura The Purgatory. There are three verses in the Quran that have reference to a woman’s attire.

THERE IS NO MENTION OF COVERING THE HEAD FOR WOMEN

31 – Say to the believing women to lower their eyes and guard their private parts, and not display their ornaments (ziynet) except what is apparent outwardly, and cover their bosom with their veils (hýmar). And not show their ornaments except to their husbands or their fathers or the fathers of their husbands or their sons or the sons of their husbands or their brothers or the sons of their brothers and the sons of their sisters or their women or their captives or male servants free of physical need or small children who have no sense of the shame of sex. They should not strike their feet in order to draw attention to their hidden ornaments. And O believers! All of you shall repent to God that you may succeed.
24 The Light, 31

The Arabic word hýmar means simply ‘cover.’ It has a wide range of meanings. It may be any cover such as the table napkin. If it is used to cover the head, it will signify the headscarf. However, if the head had been the target, the expression should have been hýmar-ur-ras meaning the covering of the head. However, in the context, one should understand the portion of the body corresponding to the bosom. Therefore it is the low-necked attire that is meant here. Even though the headscarf was the corresponding meaning, one should conclude that it was to be used to cover a woman’s bosom and not her head.

Another important expression mentioned in the verse is the word ‘ornaments,’ which, to our own interpretation should mean the bosom. This, we believe, is in harmony with the rest of the sentence in which the covering of the low neck is imperative. Moreover, striking of the feet comes next, which might attract attention to the breasts that would be wiggling as a consequence of the striking movement, considering the brassiere did not exist at that time. Then the verse makes an exception for those ornaments that are self-conspicuous. Big breasts cannot be hidden no matter what one does, as a result of physical movements of the body, or may become even more conspicuous when the dress under the effect of a strong wind sticks to the body. So the verse explains this as a natural phenomenon. We read in other verses that women nursed their children sometimes for two years. When her baby cries she may be obliged to nurse it in the presence of her next of kin like her father. This commentary provides us with the necessary elbowroom under the circumstances. One other point that corroborates our argument is the fact that this word makes no allusion to the hanging objects that adorn a woman since the verse also mentions that they can let their ornaments be seen in the presence of women. Dangling ornaments may, of course, be used to show off rather than be an object for seduction. The striking of the feet would not render conspicuous the finery or the jewelry of the woman. Moreover, there is the fact that adornments may be used everywhere. Even during prayer they may be used, so they don’t have to be hidden (see 7 The Purgatory, 31). From all of these it follows that the word ornament is used to refer to the breasts of the woman.

VEILING

The word tasattur, which means the veiling of a woman, does not exist in the Quran. It has come to be used in the way that it is today much later. The Arabic expression humur and its singular form hýmar mentioned in the verse is a cover, any cover rather than a headscarf. The dictionaries Al Mujam ul Vasýf, Al Munjid, Lisan-ý Arab, Tajul Arus may be consulted. The connotation of the hýmar in the sense of headscarf emerged much later, following the interpretation and practices of sectarian scholarship. The Quran speaks of the bosom as the part of the body that must be covered, and not the head. The words that correspond to the headscarf worn by Arabs are mýkna and nasýf and not hýmar, for which any dictionary of the Arabic language may be consulted.

http://www.quranic.org/

Pubblicità della Turchia a Milano September 2, 2007

Agostino took this photo for me in Milano. There’s the reflection of the street a bit but it’s ok. Thanks a lot Agostino!