by Dennis | October 11, 2016 | Bursa's Delightful People, Thoughts and Musings
Guest contribution by Ann Marie Mershon Ann Marie Mershon is a retired English teacher living on a lake in the north woods of Minnesota. She treasures her many years teaching in Istanbul and recorded many of her experiences (as well as her deep love for Turkey) in her...
by Dennis | June 1, 2016 | Bursa's Delightful People, Culture and History
Tucked away in his Karagöz Antiques souvenir shop in Bursa’s Eski Aynalı Çarşı, Mr. Şinasi Çelikkol labors away at his two loves: purveying Turkish antiques and promoting traditional Ottoman shadow puppetry. Şinasi Bey’s antique shop is an overstuffed little room in...
by Dennis | April 8, 2016 | Bursa's Delightful People
“In a typical year, I make three or four violins,” Can explained to me as we sat together in his workshop in Bursa’s Konak neighborhood. Hand tools littered his workbench, maple and spruce planks were neatly stacked on a floor rack, a picture of his mentor sat on a...
by Dennis | January 3, 2016 | Bursa's Delightful People
“I love art. In fact, I would say I’m married to my art, and I’ll be doing this work until the day I die!” Serpil Kalkan exclaimed as we sat together at her street studio sipping tea and chatting. It was a chilly winter day in downtown Bursa, but Serpil’s charm was...
by Dennis | May 22, 2015 | Bursa's Delightful People, Eat, Shop, and Stay
Walking down the street in front of Bursa’s historic Yeşil Cami’i (Green Mosque) one sunny Friday afternoon, my wife and I spotted our friend, Yunus Vurmaz, standing on the corner gazing at the old Turkish bath house next to his gift shop. “Yunus, my...
by Dennis | January 12, 2015 | Bursa's Delightful People, Eat, Shop, and Stay, Yildirim
“Gel, gel, gel,” Sadet said to my wife, Amy, with an inviting hand motion. “Gel” is the command form of the verb “to come,” and in Turkish culture it’s wise to obey such a command given by an elder. Amy, not sure what she was...
by Dennis | December 9, 2014 | Bursa's Delightful People, Gemlik
“You can taste it if you want, but I don’t recommend it,” my friend Arif warned me in Turkish as we walked through one of his olive groves. Or at least that’s what I thought he said. I had just pulled a green olive off one of his trees and was closely examining it,...
