BARI

I hadn’t been to Italy in a while. My feet were itching to travel. We found a very cheap tickets from Turkish Airlines’ “so-cheap-that-they-beat-up-whoever-misses-it” sales campaign and planned our trip in 1 week to visit the small Italian town of Bari, which was unknown to us. We first learned that the name Bari is pronounced the same way we’d say “gidelim bari” in Turkish, which is with a prolonged letter “A”, in addition to our knowledge that the small town is located in the south, at the heel of the boot that is Italy. Even though it sounds odd to use in a sentence, the 3 of us said “gidelim Baari”, which translates to “we might as well go”...

Anyone who follows my blog knows that I often write about my travels to watch matches of Galatasaray. Although I say I write about my match travels, it has already turned into a food blog... Anyways…

As I often mention, many stately and serious businessmen and self-proclaimed macho guys return to their adolescent selves from their high school years during the matches, or sometimes even during the trip. As someone who always carries herself seriously (!), I always found this phenomenon very strange and sought to find it's reasons. I believe I found some of the reasons during my trip to Bari.

The passion to support a team or going to see their matches usually starts during elementary school years. When people go to watch a match, especially when they do so with a group of childhood friends, they feel as if they are back to those years of childhood or adolescence. The problem with the men in my country is that they have likely spent those years chasing after girls and being rejected, brawling in their neighborhoods, and just yelling and swearing. Therefore during matches, home or away, and trips to watch those matches,, they let themselves be taken over by these primeval instincts and turn into their 13-year-old adolescent selves, which sometimes makes us laugh and sometimes just enrages us. To connect this concept with Bari, I went there with my friends from elementary school and I completely turned into my self from those years, which resulted in one of the most enjoyable travels I ever had. Adolescence forever! Of course the fact that my friends also happen to be supporters of Galatasaray is a complete coincidence. :)

Despite shortening our first day in Bari, our bargain-priced mid day flight resulted in a comfortable 1.5-hour trip and an energetic arrival to the small Italian town. The trip from the airport to downtown Bari cost 23 Euros and took 20 minutes. Sharing it with 3 or 4 other people made for a reasonably priced taxi ride. For a trip as short as ours, time is indeed money, and we thought it was worth to sacrifice of 23/3 Euros, right?

The town of Bari turned out to be bigger and more beautiful than we anticipated. Our accommodation, Boston Hotel (http://www.bostonhotelbari.com/ ) was located in downtown and was about 10 minutes walking distance to everywhere. The area of the Old City (Centro Historico) that had narrow streets and old stone houses was our favorite part of Bari, without a doubt.

The Old City offered a portrait of laundry was hanging from old houses and window to window conversations that is very familiar to us Turks…

The streets had such a clean and wonderful smell that the girls kept searching for the same laundry detergent at local supermarkets. :)

In Bari, there is a surprise at every corner. Like this house with its beautifully lighted courtyard. I have to say one thing; of course there are places recommended for sightseeing in Bari, but don't get restricted by any suggestions. Just wander around on the streets of the Old City and go to the places you like and eat wherever you please. We only had 1 recommendation for a restaurant, which I will review shortly, and we never regretted anything we ate. Those who don’t have much travel experience can of course take my recommendations here into consideration, but I’d say let loose in Bari. Just relax and enjoy it.

Bari resembles the Turkish city of Izmir with its long and clean coastline and its city planning. Therefore it is recommended to visit Bari in summer. But I’d say that our trip was in one of the best seasons to see Bari. It was very enjoyable to leave the cold Istanbul weather to arrive to 15 degrees centigrade and wander the streets devoid of tourists as if we are locals. There were decorative lights everywhere as it was Christmas season. Street musicians busking at every corner and vibrant streets were an ideal environment for me, as dancing is in my genes.

If I get a “BRAVO!!”, Italians also get one for being able to adapt their pleasures into their holidays and beliefs and for espousing their national values... Take a look at this convoy hundreds of  Santas riding motorcycles!

Having mentioned Santa Clause, who would enter through the door instead of the chimney if he was half way decent and who no one is sure to claim as their own, is housed by the Basilica di San Nicola. Even though he lived in Demre region. Antalya, Turkey in the 4^th century, Saint Nicola’s bones have been brought to Bari in 1087 which became a religious hot spot for Orthodox and Catholic believers.

We went downstairs in the Basilica where the bones are exhibited, but upon hearing the wedding ceremony that was about the begin, we quickly went upstairs and failed to take any photos of the famous bones.

We wanted to wait until the end, but because the ceremony took too long we ended up leaving the church before it ended. As it got dark and we got hungry, it was time to have dinner. We went to La Locanda di Federico (www.lalocandadifederico.com) right next to the Column of Justice (Colonna della Giustizia). Every region in Italy has their own pasta, cheese and pizza that is unique to that region. The specialty pasta of this region is called Orecchiette, which is thick shaped like an oyster shell. When undercooked, it can be unsuitable for the Turkish palate. But when cooked well and garnished with see food, it becomes finger-licking good as we say in Turkish. As I always say; if your palate is a strictly Turkish one, you will want you pastas to be well cooked in Italy.

Because we were looking to sample a variety of dishes, we ordered one of everything and shared. This way we tried out more dishes.

Bari was the cheapest Italian city we’ve ever been to. We paid about a hundred Euros for a long dinner with wine for 3 people, and you can even save more by choosing a more affordable place to eat. You can see how affordable Bari is from the prices of beer and cocktails in the photo below.

Even though we weren’t very tired on our first night, we went right back to our hotel to sleep after dinner to have more energy for the next day.

The next day we were ready and excited for our trip to Alberobello, which is 1.5 hours away with train. Although we were advised to rent a car and drive to Alberobello, which would last 45mins to 1 hour, we very much enjoyed the scenic train ride.

Alberobello is known for it’s unusual architecture. The characteristic houses with domes are called “trullo”. If any of you have been to Urfa - Harran, they’re very similar to the houses there. The only difference is the ones in Urfa - Harran are made from adobes, and the ones in Alberobello are made of stone. I always say; the fact that almost nobody knows about a city of prophets like Urfa’s Harran, but thousands of tourists visiting even a tiny place like Alberobello in Italy is because of the difference in preserving and promoting…

I have been to Harran years ago, but I wasn’t able to find a photo I took of the houses. Instead, let me share this photo of colorful and warm people; maybe it’ll be reminder to those who forget that such people live there as well.

Alberobello is a place you simply must see when you visit the Puglia region. Even though it was very cloudy when we visited, the clouds weren’t able to overshadow its fairytale beauty. Speaking of fairytale beauty… ;)

The small trullo houses were often converted into small souvenir shops,

Or small art galleries. We went in, but we only took photos from the outside to not offend the owners. I believe it’s important to pay attention to such things. 

Although we were late for lunchtime and starving, we went into the first restaurant we saw and it was right on the money! Turns out we found the best restaurant we could have chosen. L’aratro (www.ristorantearatro.it/en/ ) was beautiful choice that was delightfully suited to the romantic atmosphere of Alberobello.

The fireplace, which we thought was a wood burning fireplace, turned out to be a natural gas one, but everything else was completely inartificial and charming.

 

For some reason one of the waiters thought that I’m a celebrity and wanted to take a photo with me. Unable to convince him that I’m not famous, I unwillingly (!) posed with him for a photo.

At least I was able to ditch the paparazzi celebrity-style and live up to my fame in Italy.

When we returned to Bari, we ate our dinner at a restaurant named La Muraya (www.ristorantelamuraya.it ), which we found while wandering around in the streets. Because of my rusty Italian, ended up saying “four times” instead of just “four” in our order and ended up with 12 shrimps. They took back the extras without making an issue of it at all. I wish we could have them right now… :P

Don’t let its appearance fool you; this risotto was delicious.

Because they are by the sea, they make almost all dishes with seafood, like this spaghetti below, and it’s so great that they’re doing that.

We tasted all of their desert dishes, but none of them were as sweet as we were… :))

We wanted to continue our delightful conversation, but the weather, which resembled summertime when we arrived at the restaurant, was freezing cold and raining cats and dogs by the time we left. We weren’t even able to cross the street, let alone walk to the bar at the end of the street. So we ran to our hotel, ending up wet from head to toe. :( We weren’t able to stay out, but we had such a great time that we were still happy, despite cutting our evening short.

The next day, which was the day we’d travel back, we went sightseeing around Bari a bit more. We witnessed how valued children are in this city and felt very happy for Italian children, while feeling sad about the children of our own nation.

They have put up a display of children’s Christmas cards. Oh children; how colorful, how beautiful, how full of joy they always are, everywhere...

And finally we had the last meal of our trip at Dall’Oste De Convivium (www.foodconvivium.it ), which once again we  found while walking around. I guess I don’t have to say it again, we ended up eating amazing food. But this time we weren’t able to take photos because we had very limited time.

Here’s our curious and anxious faces on our way there,

Which then became happy, full and smiling.

After I returned, it was a delight to consume all the formaggi, bresaola and wine I brought back. Especially the love affair I had with a cheese named “Burrato” in every meal during our trip to Bari, will forever live in my heart. 

Bursa

Bursa is one of the deplacements I rarely go. Although Bursaspor has just once become a champion in Super League to the date, it is a team that always play for the top ranks and is the nightmare for the other teams particularly due to its votary fans.  Of course for us as well….

Since we have not won against them nearly for 6 years, it is true that they are successful against us for whatever reason.

When talking about Bursa, I remembered a memory of many years ago and it does not allow me to go to Bursa. I was studying in high school and I was always wearing a yellow-red scarf since I was a fan of Galatasaray as I am now. It was a gift from one of elder buddies from my neigborhood; and it was my first yellow-red scarf, therefore very valuable as it is now. I such doted on my scarf, thus Galatasaray that I got on TV with my scarf when I was selected to make a speech on TV during my years in Beşiktaş Girls High School.

I was accidentally in Bursa one day when there was a match between Bursaspor and Galatasaray. I could not go to view the match but I was aware of the match and wondered the result. Please do no suggest me to view the match through TV, internet, facebook or twitter. Mobile phone was a fantastic dream for us during those years. We were very close to the stadium in a bus. I discovered from the fans of Bursaspor who were rushing into the street and letting out victory yells that we were defeated ‘again’. Meanwhile, one of the fans of Bursaspor saw my scarf and told me to take off it. Aha! To me! Within one instance hundreds of fans surrounded the bus after I was addressed by the first fan and they started to kick the bus. They were shouting, swearing, weaving the bus and pounding the windows.  Everyone in the bus asked me to take off the scarf but I didn’t even if I was very scared. Eventually an uncle took me to the back part of the bus, and hid me to save me from those brutals, who were unable to slow down even if they had got a victory. I was exposed to football terrorism for the first time when I was still a child. 

Here is that famous scarf of mine: 

I went to Bursa through seabus, which was newly started sailings from Kabataş, Istanbul.  It takes exactly 2 hours to arrive at Mudanya, Bursa. Although it shook a bit, I slept during my trip, which was very comfortable. Since I landed on my feet as always, I met one of my friends and one of her friend took us to Bursa. If not, the municipality busses tak you to every corner of Bursa. Anyway, you can go to Bursa from Mudanya within less than half an hour. The transportation is easy to Bursa but I am not sure if it would be safe if I went there through municipality busses.

As soon as we arrive at Bursa Atatürk Stadium, we had our photos taken while our scarves on us, because there would not be a chance to do it in the evening.

After taking photos, it was the time to eat something. With redirection of some of my twitter followers, I went  to the Uludağ Kebapcisi and it was wonderful.

http://www.uludagkebapcisi.biz/bursaeskigaraj.asp

This time we went to Kebabci Iskender, which dated back to 1864, since we have a friend living in Bursa. http://www.iskender.com.tr/bursa-merkez.html 

We lined up at the door before entering the restaurant. The wording ‘how much you want say now, you will not take once again” was true, which were thinking that it was just a joke. When we said, “ah, we are coming from Istanbul, we would like to drink coffe and tea”, the waiter firmly told me that “no coffe and tea here, you should go there if you would like to drink tea” referring us to the tea house at outside.  Let me mention this with twitter language: we were in a mood of a frustrated student who is late and sent to the management by the teacher to receive permission slip.

The Iskender kebap was wonderful but we should not let them to pour the sausage with butter on it. It reminds me itself by dancing in my stomach.

We became sure that we made good choice when we saw a team of Lig TV was shooting there.

Since we had problems to find ticket, some of us viewed the match among the fans of Bursaspor in VIP tribune. When I was entering the stadium, the security guard saw the scarf in my bag and call the authorized manager, and he told me that he had to withhold it. I took the risk of being lynched, would I give them it? Nobody can take this from me, I told. “You can’t enter in, if you do not give it to me” he said. I told him that I would enter and would not leave behind my scarf. He saw a person who is more decisive than him, he accepted me to enter in, but he advised me not to wear it. I would like to say that I would wear it but I am not crazy, I am just passionate.

Bursaspor fired Ertugrul Saglam, the four-year coach of Bursaspor, last week, and took the match under the leadership of the vice-coach Ersel Uzgur. Bursaspor had tranfered a footballer within last week. It is impossible to understand how a team can transfer a footballer without a coach.

This is valid for every team but why do they not understand that the success depends on stability for the teams such as Bursaspor and Trabzonspor, the teams that may compete the 3 strongest teams in Turkey.  Ertuğrul Saglam lead Bursa in being champion for the first time, he realized a dream; he should be allowed to do some permanent things. Again, Trabzonspor fired Senol Gunes; have they hired a better one? Whatever may come, Senol Gunes led the national team to be the third in World Cup. He gained the footballers such as Burak Yılmaz, Selçuk İnan and goalkeepers such as Tolga Zengin and Onur Kıvrak for Turkey.

Anyway, let’s turn to ourselves. Because of the cards, Fatih Terim’s choice of squad was different but Burak Yilmaz was not among the first eleven. Burak is an emotional person; he was very dispirited and reluctant while warming up. The fans of Galatasaray, who saw this, cheered on him twice calling him before the tribune. Since I was just an audience I had to be contended with viewing this scene but did not shoot. I hope Burak perceived this sincere support towards him. 

Even Sneijder could not save the match played under the influence of an unbelievable southwester and the match endud up in a draw. We had to accept 1-1, when we did not evaluate the opportunities. Even though 1 point seems to be important in such matches, we felt very sad on the other day for missing the opportunity to draw away, since the other rivals also lost points. 

There is no senseless thing such as returning from Bursa via airlines but we returned with an airplane since the scheduled trip via seabus was cancelled because of southwester. In fact, the ones who had moved immediately after the match arrived at the borders of Istanbul until we landed on.

During our return trip, I have never seen Fatih Terim such dispirited and nervous. That is not the point to win or lose but I think he was angry since the footballers did not show a strong struggle and they extenuated the match. I would say that the footballer, who is not with passion even under the leadership of Fatih Terim, deserves a beating you will be cross with me but when Ziya Pasa said “If a gentle warning is not working, try yelling and screaming. If all of the above fails, then nothing is wrong with a good beating”, you take this as a proverb…  

Anyway, as all newscasts, let’s finish the article with news on children to conclude the writing well.

Since we transferred world-star Sneijder, I was received requests for jersey, signature, and saying hello, kisses (ok, ok, I have fabricated the kisses).  The most meaningful thing in the airplane was that I had Sneijder to sign the uniforms sent by my friend who live in Netherlands and has 7-year old child. 

The moral of th story: It is good to make a child happy, do not neglect it… 

The journey of yellow & red scarf

It is the break time but no game is there.

I got bored at home.

We gathered the signed jerseys according to the year and as signed or not, and from the most important to the least important.

Scarves as memoirs and GS scarves were distributed and folded neatly. 

All the game date books were tidied and distributed according to their dates.

The game tickets were distributed according to their being foreign or domestic.

Old newspapers were tidied and the newspaper articles of the important dates and events were folded.

The books about sports and GS were distributed according to their colors and sizes.

When there were nothing 3D more to do, I started with the pictures in PC. The d.mned (!) digital technology had erased many of my pictures; however, I put the remaining ones in order. I chose the ones with flags amongst thousands of photos. Although I wasn’t ready to share some ugly photos, I shared them anyway, thinking that no one should be hidden if the god knows them well.

Be my guest please…

December 5, 2006, Champions league, Liverpool game where Ümit Karan was about to write history, and Sabri played a football which is still talked about, the famous 3-2 score game. The second picture shows me in Liverpool scarf, but what can I do? I liked the colors… you could find any colors in Liverpool store although red is the color of the team itself. It is fascinating that those people have developed in football industry, especially when you consider that your designs of orange-purple is criticized.

This photo shows us before the Sion game at UEFA 1. Stage with the excuse of the football pitch being small. Again, we lost 3-2 and this time Servet wrote history (!)

This is from Lisbon, the distinctive city of Europe. We beat Benfica by 2-0 on December 7, 2008 with an excellent game.

This is from Benfica game. I like photos that are taken with a professional camera and are taken nearby the football pitch. Look at the beauty of the colors!... not at me, look at the colors!... ;-)) 

From our constant temple Ali Sami Yen. Do I have to explain what game it is? If details are necessary, UEFA – October 22, 2009 GS: 4 - Dinamo Bucharest: 1

As you may understand from the colors on me, we were wearing purple that season. :)

This is from the second leg on November 6, 2009. We beat them by a net score of 3-0. Don’t ask me about the cold we felt there.

Bordeux on February 18, 2009. The game ended 0-0, but a 1 point without having a goal in your goal-post is always valuable.

“What is blue man?” In my opinion it is the same: What is blue?..

Another European city as cold as ice: Hamburg. I would be wasted if the flowers did not heat me up ;)

Although we left the game on March 12, 2009 by an advantageous score like 1-1, we lost the game by 3-2 with the last-minute goals although we had been paying well with a score 2-0, and we said farewell to Europe in a melancholy. The above picture is from those happy days…

Galatasaray means love, Galatasaray means passion, but at the same time international football is another pleasure. In İstanbul on May 20, 2009, the UEFA final, we became a little proud of the game in which Lucescu won in Şükrü Saraçoğlu.

In 2005 the famous Liverpool-Milan game was played in Istanbul and I was there. However, the photos were deleted by the d.mned computer. :(

These crazy photos are from Israel, a country which I probably went for the first and last time, from the Maccabi Netanya game in UEFA. Although the game was in Tel Aviv, we went to Jerusalem and visited all the religious centers. The only place where you can make use of the Turkish Passport is most probably Al-Aqsa Mosque. They put only one condition, and guess what it was… I do not step on the scene without my scarf, man!...

Meanwhile, we won the game by 4-1, and in İstanbul 6-0, and we succeded in getting to the next stage…

I don’t know the reason why, but one of the most interesting away games among men is the Estonia game. We went to Talinn with the comfort of having beaten Estonia by 5-0, and on August 27, 2009 we had a score of 1-1 in Levadia game and hardly were able to get to the next stage.

As I recall our dear neighbor Greece. When I see Athens I want to ask how they left that country in such a terrible situation but however, politics is forbidden here. We met with Panathinaikos on September 17, 2009 at UEFA groups and beat 3-1. We won the game in İstanbul by 1-0 and proved that we were strong enough to beat this powerful team of Greece.

Atletico Madrid was a boring team in those times without Arda Turan. Therefore, we left the game by a score of 1-1 on February 19, 2010 at UEFA groups.  

Another interesting place is Lvib, Ukraine. However, this time Turkish men have right for this interest. 85% of the population of this country is formed by women and a visit to such a city can be highly regarded as public service, can’t it?

In Karpaty Lviv game on August 26, 2010, we lost our donkey, and then found it, and the lost it again! On August 19, we went to Lviv with a disadvantageous score of 2-2 in İstanbul. We kept the game as scoreless till the last minute and scored a goal at the last minute and became very happy. However, after one minute they had a goal scored against us and we lost the game and the stage, too. Like Prekazi says, “Round is the ball!” :(

Another international game; but this time, we have accompany. On May 9, 2012, our beloved Arda played with the Atletico Madrid colored uniform in UEFA final. We would not be pleased if we didn’t take our places in the stadium with our yellow-red scarves.

As we were all sure, Arda lifted the UEFA Cup in his early age, and made us very happy by giving us his jersey and medal. (I talked about sharing etc. but I was ugly in that photo; so, please make do with this one!)

We have always respected Galatasaray, so we have the right to hold the Cup sometimes… we got the Super Cup on August 12, 2012 in Erzurum and beat our ancient rival by 3-2, and this pleasure is a unique one! Moreover, the Cup was in my hands on plane!..

In this picture we are at Old Trafford. That year we met Manchester in Champions League on September 19, 2012; and although we played well, we lost that game by 1-0. We made history in the past in this same stadium. As you may remember we beat this English giant by 1-0 at our home.

The streets were colorful, and as it is common before every European game, our Galatasaray fans in Europe cheered madly.

This photo is from Braga game. Those who have read my thoughts about this game may remember my ideas. On December 5, 2012, our beloved Galatasaray performs another miracle and leaves its group by winning the last 3 games, although it got 1 point in its previous 3 games, and makes us happy again this year.

With best wishes for us to be happy and smile always and our beloved scarves to travel many more places…