View over the town of Sivrihisar.
Ciao, Hive family! ✌️
The first chapter served as a brief introduction to my journey across Turkey (here). In this new article I'll take you to a small village, Sivrihisar, where I spent most of my time.
Upon disembarking from the bus, I strolled through the town center, immersing myself deeply in its streets, as well as its life and history.
This statue represents Nasreddin Khoja riding his donkey. He was a philosopher and is now remembered as a typical folkloric character in the entire Muslim world, from China to Morocco, mostly associated with amusing tales carrying meaningful morals. He is particularly popular here as he's believed to have been born in this town.
I also visited Kent Ormanı, a tranquil park. When I arrived there it was deserted, and I spent some time sitting on a swing, contemplating and enjoying the shade of the trees—bearing in mind that the temperature was a scorching 43°C.
Now it's time to explain the reason of my travel.
I came here following a cultural exchange with Turkish, Spanish, Portuguese and other Italian guys, so I got the chance to immerse myself in the local culture, especially because my Turkish mates could translate everything for me (villagers didn't speak English). So, even in my first hours, I've been able to live wonderful experiences that would have been closed to me if I had been alone.
Let me give you an example!
At first, I couldn't understand what this nice man was yelling from his balcony. I didn't even know what to do with him. Then, a Turkish guy arrived and translated for me: "He's inviting you to drink çay inside his house". Çay is the typical Turkish tea. We drank tea all together and after that, the old man decided to show us his car, telling us his story: he drove this car in a famous Turkish TV show, and the production gave him an official sticker that he proudly affixed to the glass of his car. He was super proud about it. We also took a picture all together.
In the following minutes, this scene has been repeated many times: little conversations, tea, coffee and new tales colored my afternoon showing me the huge heart of the people I had in front of me.
It was time to return to the accommodation where we were staying...
...and where I risked to get arrested a couple of hours lat... ehm, sorry, had a pleasant meeting with Turkish police 🙄
In the next chapter, I'll finally take you on a discovery of some very unique places in Sivrihisar. The journey is just beginning! Thank you so much for accompanying me. It's so sweet for me to reminisce about those days.
Thank you also for your support and for your time. For every question or detail, you can find me in the comments!
See you on the road,
Alessandro