HOŞGELDİNİZ

today something about approaching city from above and how city takes you within. there were twenty people on flight ljubljana-istanbul. three couples, me and turkish men, all of them truck drivers. they drive from turkey to italy and fly back home or the opposite. the loudest of them sit behind my seat, of course. 'gel gel abi' (come here, abi, abi is a word they use to address each other) mixes with voice of a stewardess 's čim vam lahko postrežem' ('how can i help you'). we fly at night but they don't stop talking. i recognize few words, the rest is still a melody. i cannot fall asleep therefore i look through the window. i don't want to sound kitchy, but i swear, that's how it was. there was full moon shining on dense cloud carpet below us. after two hours, burek and yoghurt adria offers us, wide-spread orange light illuminates clouds from below. once we start landing undefined light turns into millions of single lights, orange and white, flashing, moving on twisted highways, sliding on bosphorus, welcoming on windows, floating on skyscrapers and disappearing on the borders far away.
'tadaam' we touch the ground and turn into one of them. havataš (transfer company) driver comes up with an idea that night buses are five liras more expensive and than the others that start driving at 7am (it's 4am). well, my dear havataš, i would pay three months ago, but i'm not here for the first time, i pay normal price and take süt sahlep (white pudding like sweet drink with cinnamon and whole nuts) on taksim instead. good morning!

danes nekaj o tem, kako se je mestu približevati skozi oblake in kako mesto leze vate. na letu iz ljubljane nas je bilo dvajset. trije pari, mojamalenkost in sami turki, vozniki tovornjakov, ki vozijo na relaciji turčija-italija in letijo nazaj. najbolj glasni so seveda sedeli za mojim sedežem. 'gel gel abi' ('pridi sem, abi', z abi se med sabo vsi nagovarjajo) se meša s stevardesinim glasom 's čim vam lahko postrežem'. letimo ponoči, ampak oni ne nehajo in ne nehajo debatirati. par besed ujamem, ostalo je še vedno melodija. ker ne morem zaspati, gledam skozi okno in nočem, da se sliši kičasto, ampak tako je bilo, zunaj sije polna luna in osvetluje gosto pokrajino oblakov pod nami. čez dve uri, bureku in jogurtu, ki nam ga v stilu postreže adria, čez te oblake začne od spodaj prosevati oranžna svetloba, ki se, ko se začnemo spuščati, definira v neskončno luči, oranžnih, belih, utripajočih, premikajočih se na pentljastih avtocestah, drsečih čez bospor, domačih na milijonih stanovanjskih blokov in hiš, lebdečih na nebotičnikih in izginjajočih na robu mesta.tadaam' se dotaknemo tal in postanemo ena izmed njih. voznik havataša (transferja do mesta) si nato gladko izmisli, da ima nočni avtobus višjo tarifo in da cenejši pelje šele ob sedmih zjutraj, ampak veš kaj, ne pelješ me prvič, tri mesece nazaj bi plačala, danes pa odštejem običajnih deset lir in si s preostankom na začetku istiklala kupim süt sahlep, gosti beli kakav s cimetom in lešniki za dobro jutro. dobro jutro!

DÜNYANIN BAŞLANGIÇI

 another journey is over. we went to the beginning of mesopotamia region or better said to the beginning of the world! cultures are like thousands of years before still confronting each other here, places we visited are less and less turkish and more and more kurdish. we flew all across turkey to southeastern part of it. we couldn't stop wondering about so many things - landscape changing so fast from green fields to deserts, incredible hospitality (thank you heja, ata, ali, bilal, cesur, abbas, emin, and everyone else we met on our way), oldest cities merged with the surroundings, about food and pistachio desserts and especially about the fact how calmly people live despite the sound of military planes crossing diyarbakır and despite the fact that terrible war is starting just behind the border.


še eno potovanje je za mano. na začetek mezopotamije oz. na začetek sveta, kjer se kulture tako kot že tisoče let še vedno prepletajo, kraji, katere smo obiskali so vedno manj turški in vedno bolj kurdski. preleteli smo namreč turčijo do jugovzhoda in se nismo mogli nehati čuditi. pokrajini, ki se tako hitro spreminja iz stepe v zelena polja in nazaj do že skoraj puščave, neverjetni gostoljubnosti, starim, pravzaprav najstarejšim mestnim jedrom ujetim v čas in zlitimi z okoliško pokrajino, božanski hrani in pistacijevim slaščicam in dejstvu, da se zdi, da ljudje popolnoma mirno in počasi živijo, čeprav diyarbakır preletavajo vojaška letala na poti v irak in čeprav nedaleč stran divja vojna v siriji. 

mardin market

cigaretes they roll are thick and without filter

on top of the world

garden

the crew

lifestyle didn't change for decades

look at me, look at me!

street is a playground

serious game

gaziantep

urfa

hasankeyf

streets of diyarbakır

dreamy house?

firinda tava, we got recipe:)

KASIM

november happened while warm sun still welcomed us in the morning and every day heavier fog laid upon the city in the evening. it was not the only contrast felt. it was also about relation ljubljana-istanbul, after two months i am not a complete stranger anymore, it was about discovering imposing past and comparing it to decay neighborhoods or projects being built, without architects approval that project is benefiting the city not only in economic way, it was about feeling of glitter istiklal caddesi fading away and increasing interest of side streets and it was about, as always, learning from differences between people; random or those loved more and more day by day. 

med še toplim jutranjim soncem in vse težjo večerno meglo se je razpel november. ni bilo to edino nasprotje. šlo je tudi za razmerje ljubljana-istanbul, po dveh mesecih nisem več tako zelo tuja, impozantno preteklostjo historičnega dela v primerjavi z razpadajočo sedanjostjo nekaterih sosesk in bodočih projektov, ki mestu v prvi vrsti koristijo iz ekonomskega vidika, vedno bolj bledim bliščem istiklala in izgubljanjem v stranskih ulicah in kot vedno učenje iz razlik med ljudmi; naključnimi ali iz dneva v dan bolj ljubimi. 

cats enjoying sun

people enjoying sun

tarlabaşı neighborhood

discussing turkish-kurdish relations

driver's children taking vip seats

flower sellers being moved due to taksim project

backstage

under the bosphorus bridge on rainy sunday afternoon