Isparta: A Weekend in the Village
I will never forget the first time we visited the province of Isparta. A friend of ours’ mother lives in a village there, and she invited us to come spend a couple of days with their family. Though Leslie was on crutches, (another story for another day), we hesitantly agreed.
To say the village was small would be an understatement. A school, a few houses, and a mosque were all that made up this little community. From the time we entered the outskirts to the time we pulled up to our friend’s home about 20 seconds passed! One look at the courtyard and the stairs leading up to the front door and we knew that this would be a memorable stay.
Leslie deserves a medal for her patience in crutching up and down those stairs. We were immediately given a tour of the house and its surroundings. The house was over a hundred years old, we were told, and the bottom story had been used as a barn in the past. The toilet was outside, away from the house, and there was no getting around the fact that for Leslie, on one foot, it was going to be another challenge.
After dropping off our things inside and changing into local village wear (baggy pants called shalvar and embroidered scarfs around our heads), we were taken around the community.
Our friend introduced us to all of the neighbors, and showed us around the local mosque, of whose antiquity the residents are especially proud. It was in the process of being restored, and its construction was different from other mosques we have seen. Its roof was not a dome, but flat. It was a plain rectangular building with a wood-beamed interior.
We then loaded back up in the car and drove towards the main city of Isparta. On the way there we wound around the edges of a lake called Eğirdir. Our friend had told us previously that the water of Eğirdir is described by locals as containing every color imaginable. And truly, as we looked at it, the water seemed to change before our eyes from blue, to green, to brown, to gray, to purple, and every shade in between you can imagine. To this day it’s my favorite lake in Turkey.
Isparta is known for its roses, and in the city’s downtown area there are shops with everything rose-flavored, rose-colored, rose-scented, and all of the above combined. Downtown boasts a huge metal arch of roses for people to pose with their selfie-sticks. After pushing Leslie in her wheelchair around for a couple of hours we felt sufficiently worn out and headed back to the house.
It was during the Muslim month of Ramadan, and we barely made it back before the call announcing the fast was over. Running upstairs we found the family sitting around a huge pan of fish, homemade savory pastries, and salads, already diving in. The night ended with laying out on the porch under several layers of blankets looking at the stars—made brighter by the total lack of any competing lights from below.
Though navigating the village, the lakeside, and the city with crutches and a wheelchair was tough, I wouldn’t trade that visit for the world. Our friends graciously welcomed us into their home, gave us a taste of their lives, and the experiences we had will stay with us forever.
To our friends in the West, keep looking East!
Ginny Lou Henley
Ginny Lou is a co-founder of West2East. Originally from Alabama, Ginny Lou has called Turkey home for the past nine years. To read more about her, click here.