April 2019
Continued from Part 1
By a charming twist of fate I came across the address of Ahmed.
Last time that I visited Buldan, something struck me about the building and its surroundings (see the image below), so I photographed it and put it on my @treatyou.ch Instagram story. Then Ahmed’s boss, Hüseyin, contacted me after seeing it. Hüseyin then suggested that I visit his employee Ahmed, who has his studio in that exact building that I photographed.
However, at this time I was already back in Switzerland but I decided to meet him on my next visit to the area.
Fate being what it is, upon meeting Ahmed he tells me that he actually remembers seeing me in front of his studio taking pictures.
The building is a protected historic building and therefore not many changes to its appearance are permitted by law.
Sein Atelier ist klein, charakteristisch und sehr originell. Er hat zwei halbautomatische Webstühle, die sogenannten „kara tezgah“ und eine kleine Maschine um den Faden auf die Spindel aufzuspulen. Wenn er eine grosse Bestellung erhält, mietet er weitere Webstühle und stellt zusätzliche Weber ein.
In the second image below one can see the “punch-card” template that sets the pattern for the pestemal.
A bit of Culture and something for Animal Lovers
Die Region Denizli ist sehr reich an kulturellen Sehenswürdigkeiten. Es hat viele interessante Ausgrabungen und uralte Städte, eine davon ist Tripolis, die im Blogeintrag „Tripolis a hidden Treasure“ beschrieben wird.
Another ancient city is Hierapolis located near the famous limestone terraces of Pamukkale. Both are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. When you first see Pamukkale you think you are looking at a mountain of snow that stands out from the rest of the surrounding landscape. With the cold temperatures that are currently prevalent, you could believe that this was a snowy mountain indeed.
The travertine terraces have been formed over thousands of years due to the deposits from the thermal springs. Varying mineral rich thermal springs populate the Denizli region and attract many visitors who come to bathe and enjoy the healing waters.
Shoes must be taken off to avoid polluting the white limestone colour of the hill. Our pilgrimage on the mountain is a barefoot journey over the white terraces to visit Hierapolis, but we will not get to see it as planned...
Fortunately, once you reach the top, you can warm up your frozen, almost numb feet in the warm thermal water. Feet warmed, we fortify ourselves at the snack bar where I am suddenly very popular with the local animal community, as you can see.
Their days are spent with the tourists hoping for some tasty treats.
Suddenly a storm hits, we must cut short our tour of Hierapolis and seek shelter and wait out the heavy rains and gusts of wind. We then decide to make our way back down again, the weather just doesn’t want to play nice today. We are asked by a frightened Chinese girl to accompany her back down, because she is scared and can’t seem to find her friends anymore. With humor and a quickened pace we take her in tow until we arrive at the bottom where, we find her friends again.
My feet are so numb, I can't feel my toes anymore, so we venture into the nearest café and warm up with a Turkish tea and hot chocolate.
We now make our way back to our hotel to recuperate in the famous thermal baths. We will most definitely make a return visit to Hierapolis, hopefully it will be a little warmer...
I'm already looking forward to it now.
