Urfa, land of Abraham
URFA— We are in Urfa, capital city of Urfa province in southeastern Turkey. The province is bound by Adiyamana to the north; Syria to the south; Mardin and Diyarbair to the east, and Gaziantep to the west. The city (population:1 million) is one-and-a-half hour by plane from Istanbul. From the airport, a van takes us to the city, past vast lands that are brick-brown, the harvest of wheat having been done recently; past dams carrying dazzling blue-green water that irrigate the wheat fields and dark-green clumps of pistachio and olive trees; past hills and mountains of stone and coarse sand, past high- rise condominiums for the wealthy and drab-looking quarters for the not-so privileged, and from a long distance, we snatch images of camps for refugees that have streamed into Urfa from Syria for survival.
Our group of business editors and columnists brought to this city by guides hired by the Turkish Flour Yeast and Ingredients Promotion Group, has a taste of rural Turkey. People — high-bridged noses, mostly dark-brown hair, in western clothes and traditional long skirts for men, some women in black attire. Their looks are like the pictures we see of people in Jesus’ time.
The bazaars along narrow winding cobbled streets offer cheaper goods than those in Istanbul. (Istanbul, though, has shops for expensive branded items from Europe.) Our group buys leather belts out of cow skin, and copper and brass table items and goes wild over rose and lemon water, and shirts made in China. Two hours are spent in purchasing spices (a sack bears the label “hot chili for mother-in-law,” nuts and cherries, and the sinful (because very sweet and good) baklava and Turkish Delight. More on food below.
Urfa’s ancient ruins, testimonies to the veracity of biblical accounts, are musts for tourists as are the mosques and obelisks. We are taken to Harran, about 45 kilometers south of Urfa. Harran, located in the Upper Mesopotamia, was built back in the Early Bronze Age in the 3rd millennium BC, as a merchant outpost along a trade route between the Mediterranean and the Tigris river plains.
What we see in Harran are vestiges — rocks and potsherd crunching underfoot — of the structures that were part of the site of the Temple of Sin, also known as the first university in Turkey. I’m surprised that this historical site has practically been neglected, with the emphasis on development concentrated in Urfa. It was in Harran that Rebecca drew water for Jacob, where Abraham was born before he decided to move to Canaan. Wikipedia reports that it was in this city where the Roman Emperor was defeated by the Parthians, and where the Emperor Julian the Apostate worshipped the moon on the way to his fateful encounter with Shapur I farther east. It was the last hold of the Sabians, pagans who managed to survive through to the 11th century.
Below the ruins of the ancient citadel are interconnected beehive-like dwellings made of straw, mud and clay. People lived and slept and cooked on the ground floor, the smoke going up a chimney. The brick walls provided coolness from the searing sun, and warmth during the winter months.
A large makeshift tent has a display of shawls for men and women, woven by the men and sold at prices lower than found in the marketplace.
Going back to food, in the early evening, we have dinner at the Cevahir Guesthouse and Restaurant, owned we are told, by one of the first women allowed to run a food establishment. (This is in contrast to what we ‘ve read about Turkish women having equal opportunities in this land.) We sit in an L-shaped, low dining table and listen to a band of five men playing Ottoman instruments—huge bands, a flute, an electric mandolin and horn. A huge platter is brought before each of us – consisting of lamb sausages and fresh vegetables.
Used that we are to eating rice and our own dishes, we have a surfeit of lamb for lunch and dinner wherever we go, except in the 5-star hotels we’re billeted, like at the Tarabya Hotel in Istanbul which has a splendid view of the Bhosporous sea where yachts of the rich are moored and which offers continental menus (we do ask for bowls of rice), and which has Filipino-Turkish waiters).
The lamb comes in different forms, chiefly in kebabs without skewers. In Dedecan the skewered lamb is served with roasted tomatoes eggplants, peppers and leaves of basil, mint and tarragon. Morsels of chicken, beef and liver sausages are also served.
At the Lacivert Restaurant, Rina David of Inquirer chooses the “stuffed melon,” containing minced meat, raisin and spice. I order sea bass that is about 8 inches long from head to tail, and wished it came in delicious slices served at Sofitel Hotel in Manila.
Still at Urfa, we cross the Bosphorous in a motor boat and climb up a floating restaurant and again have a dinner of lamb, this time in the form of meatballs, fresh vegetables and wine. At another section of the restaurant complex is a party, attended by well-dressed, tanned women (the younger ones displaying worked-out figures), the men in black.
Back in Istanbul, on the last day, the group visits a bread factory where millions of bread and other pastries are baked everyday, goes on another tour of mosques and ruins, and has lunch in a cruise where the pre-ordered menu consists of many kinds of fish as ordered by the Pinoy guests. The yacht moves slowly past fabulous homes for the rich on the slopes of hills.
It’s been an enjoyable cultural and culinary trip to the land that is Number One in wheat production, but imports wheat from other countries, processes it to flour, and exports it to the Philippines where local bakers bake bread for Pinoys. Once we are in Manila, Rina tells me she will have rice and tuyo for her first meal; I imagine Marianne Go, associate business editor of The Philippine STAR, adobo, and I, sinangag and fried fish from General Santos.
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Congratulations to the newly-inducted members of the board of officers of the Rotary Club of Manila for Rotary Year 2014-2015 led by the well-liked President Frank Evaristo.
Together with The Rotary Japan (under Governor Kai), Rotary Philippines through the Rotary Club of Manila has turned over 100 fiberglass fishing boats to Ormoc through Representative Lucy Torres-Gomez, and 200 solar-powered lanterns to Capiz Province for the barangays of San Antonio, Dumalag, Dumarao and Sigma. Another 600 solar-powered lanterns are scheduled for delivery to Capiz Province, to barangays Olatayan and Tapaz and the municipality of Panay.
The new Rotary Club of Manila board and members will pursue to compete its Yolanda rehabilitation project in service with The Rotary Japan by providing livelihood and housing to the typhoon Yolanda victims. The club also pursues several projects: the rehabilitation of the Rotary wheel at Remedios Circle in Manila, the eye medical mission/sight conservation at the Rotary Eye Center within the Hospital of the Infant Jesus, medico surgical missions, a special children project, care for marginalized youth, medical equipment training, and Tourism, Journalism, Tower and SIDI awards, and seamanship training.
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