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Thursday, June 05, 2008

the streets of Bartin

Are you tired of trip pictures? Or culture? If you are you might just want to skip over this video. I have lots more pictures and cultural anecdotes to share, but I'll try to spread them out a little more.


This is the town of Bartin. It is located a little inland from the Black Sea. I wanted to point out a few things you will see in this video. First of all you will notice the call to prayer in the background. I didn't take this video during the call to prayer on purpose. It just happened to be at the same time. I do try to explain things, but I am standing right next to the mosque the call is being broadcast from so it is a little hard to hear me.

We were in Bartin on a Tuesday. I was surprised to see the streets so crowded at 11am on a Tuesday. There were signs advertising a Culture, Art and Strawberry Festival, but that didn't start until Friday. Brian says that every time he is in Bartin it is a happening place.

About 40 seconds into the video you see a man with a tray of tea glasses. These are traditional Turkish tea glasses. This man delivers tea to different stores along the street. Later he comes back and picks up the glasses.

At 1:21 a lady walks by with a basket on her back. She was also wearing big baggy pants called salvar cepken. In villages you see both men and women wearing these pants. There were quite a few of these women in town. They were doing their shopping, and they used the basket to carry their purchases. We passed this same lady on the other side of town as we were pulling out. I remembered seeing her blue bucket in her basket while in town. More than likely she was from a nearby village.

At the end of the video you see some girls with plaid skirts and green sweater vests. This is a school uniform. All of the schools here have uniforms.

Ok. That is all for tonight. It is late, and I have neglected my bed way too much as of late! Night.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice!

I wish I had someone to deliver tea to me and then pick up the dirty glass... wait, I do... my wife!

Thanks for sharing more of your trip!

I always enjoy video!

The Over-Thinker said...

I love the idea of the man delivering the tea glasses...and then picking them up later. Starbucks be damned :)

Anonymous said...

Speaking for myself - more pictures, please!

I can relate to the baskets. I live in a tiny town where you can pretty much walk everywhere so I use a basket when I run my errands. I think a basket I could carry on my back would be pretty handy. Except maybe when I have about 20 pounds of packages to mail.

Natalie said...

charlie girl- i know...i love the tea here! i have been in shops buying stuff and the owners have flagged down the tea deliverers for us to have a glass of tea. it is a great service!

over-thinker - they do have starbucks here...i wonder if they've thought of delivering it like they deliver the tea? great idea!

1smileygirl - hi! long time no see...there will be more pictures...i'm sure of it. and those backpack baskets do seem handy. but do i have to wear the pants that go with them?

Mike S said...

More photos/videos for me too. I lived in some countries so long I stopped noticing the prayer calls. The mind is a funny thing when you think about it:)

Natalie said...

mike - i don't notice the call to prayer normally. only when i am standing right outside the mosque when it goes off!