Safranbolu: Town with a Sweet Tooth

Safranbolu is known for its fine collection of Ottoman houses, many of which have been lovingly restored.




We stayed in the nicest pension yet! Bastoncu Pension is in a 300-year-old Ottoman house. The owner is a woodworker who did the restoration himself. He showed us his tools and he and Shane "talked shop." His wife cooked us amazing home-cooked dinners.

Our room. We slept like sultans for 3 nights.


Self-portrait.

The owners' son was a musician and we were lucky enough to be in town for one of his concerts.

Shane even got to try his hand at the bağlama.


We went to another small town near Safranbolu and met this lady. Apparently she is quite a famous town character. People come from Istanbul just to meet her. She teases all the tourists. She tried unsuccessfully to arrange a trade for our new friend Jeremy's Ray-Bans.



Old Ottoman-era aqueduct that you can walk across. Look Ma! No handrails! The experience was dizzying.



More caving in Safranbolu at Bulak Menciris Cave. This giant cave is the 4th largest in Turkey and runs 6.5 km in length. However, after only 400 m I became claustrophobic and anxious about how far I had to walk to see sunlight again.



I think it's time to mention a few more Turkish food highlights.

Gözleme: Gözleme has become a close personal friend of Shane and mine. Kind of like a quesadilla made with two thin rotis, but filled with potato, cheese or spinach. Perfect afternoon snack.

Notice the shout-out to St. Louis on the napkin holder!



Salep: We hit a few rainy days in Safranbolu where the temperature dropped. This meant we got to sample a hot drink that is usually only served in the winter. It's made with milk and crushed tapioca with lots of spice.

Not salep but a beautiful tea and coffee service.


Turkish delight and halva: My sweet tooth has been in decline for the last 6 months so Safranbolu was a great place to nurse it back to health. The town takes its name from saffron and on every corner there is a sweetshop welcoming you to sample their wares, including saffron flavoured Turkish delight. We also ate a gigantic puck of the creamiest halva I've ever had in my life.

It's been at least a entry or so since we've had an animal shot so let's end this post with one.
I like to call it, "the pup with intoxicating eyes."