Travelling Back in Time to Safranbolu, Turkey.

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Living in a 300 year old Ottoman house, an unexpected friendship with a local blacksmith and more adventures, in Safranbolu Turkey.

In the wee hours of the morning, we manoeuvre my way through the cobbled streets and ancient stonewalls of Safranbolu, a small town in the western Karadeniz region of Turkey.

I had been reluctant to leave Istanbul, probably the first big city I’ve fallen so in love with. But as we step back in time into a 300-year-old Ottoman house perched on a slope, I’m glad we came!

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Old Ottoman houses perched on the hillside of Safranbolu Turkey.

Genghis, my host, greets me with a warm smile and bits of English, and shows me to my quaint room in the part of the house now converted into a pansiyon (pension aka guest house).

Genghis inherited this house from his great grandfather, and it is one of the many wooden houses with large windows, well-preserved wooden interiors, and a slate roof. These houses are the town’s claim to being a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Hundreds of years ago, the Ottoman people, one of the greatest civilizations of the middle ages, built these beautiful houses amid the Karadeniz mountains with great precision and sense of aesthetics, interspersed with the many mosques of the town.

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Safranbolu, Turkey | A mosque in the old town.

I wander along the by-lanes of the old town, admiring the ancient architecture, and often being greeted by old women clad in headscarfs, idling by their doorstep. Occasionally, a vintage car slowly drives past, probably as old as the town itself. As I’ll later realize, such vintage cars dominate most of Turkey’s Karadeniz countryside.

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Safranbolu, Turkey | A quiet neighborhood.

I stumble into a small lane with an open fireplace of sorts, surrounded by what look like a collection of Aladdin’s magic lamps in vivid colors, ancient weapons, and the remains of a huge old manual camera. A man taps me on the shoulder and invites me into a big, dimly lit room, which seems to continue the artefacts displayed outside.

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Safranbolu, Turkey | Entrance to the blacksmith’s workshop.

He points one by one to the many newspaper clippings covering the walls, each of which carry a picture of him or this workshop, and from the only one in English, I figure that he is a renowned blacksmith in the region.

His art has been handed down orally from one generation to the next, and he’s been at it for the last 35 years! When I tell him I’m from India, he gives me a big hug and invites me to his gallery for a cup of çay (Turkish tea).

We talk, half in English, half in Turkish, mostly in sign language, and when I’m ready to leave, he draws a heart on my palm, calling one half Turkey and the other, Hindistan. I get used to such overwhelming gestures during the course of my travels along the Black Sea. I promise to send him the pictures we take in the gallery with his intricate creations.

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Safranbolu, Turkey | The blacksmith in his gallery.

Hungry with all the walking, I walk into a cosy neighbourhood café and ask a kind looking lady if she can make me anything vegetarian. She flips through her menu, and offers to make me Peruhi, but can’t recall the names of the ingredients in English.

I give in, and fifteen minutes later, I’m pigging out on a bowl of delicious homemade pasta cooked with yogurt and mint. For the first time since I’ve arrived in Turkey, I try a phrase I’ve been practicing. Bee teer deem. It was delicious.

Back on the cobbled streets, I walk along the street market of the town, and stop by a shop with rows of colourful soaps: the secret to the beauty of the Turkish people?

A man standing outside his shop gestures to my hand and sprays on it from a small bottle a scent that smells heavenly. He shows me a pile of onion-like bulbs, and points to a big bottle of saffron. In a eureka moment, I realize that what he sprayed was a saffron perfume, and better still, that this is where Safranbolu derives its name.

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Safranbolu, Turkey | The saffran man and his son, holding bottles of locally grown saffron.

I resist the temptation to walk into the town’s 17th century Hamam of the town, having already lost my Turkish bath virginity in Istanbul and a fair amount of Liras. Instead, I hike up a plateau, atop which is perched a café with stunning night views of the town below. The Ottoman houses are lit in cosy yellow light and the minaret of the old town’s biggest mosque casts a glow on the town.

I sip my hundredth cup of çay for the day, wondering how life would’ve been any different in the Ottoman times.

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Safranbolu, Turkey | Glowing at night.

Would you like to visit Safranbolu, Turkey some day?

Also read:

10 Travel Tips to Plan Your First Trip to Turkey

Dear Turkey: My Million Reasons to Visit You

An Unexpected Friendship in Ordu, Turkey

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23 Comments

  1. Shivya,

    While I have really been enjoying all your Turkey posts, I have to admit, this one came closest to my heart. I could imagine myself in Safranbolu one day, spending time as you did 🙂

    Love the simplicity of your writing as well as the pictures. Very nice!

    Priyanka

    1. Thanks Priyanka, I enjoyed your virtual company 🙂

  2. I don’t usually like reading travel posts, as I don’t want to see it before I SEE it! Hope you get it 🙂

    But I can never resist your posts 🙂

    1. Of course I get it, and glad you can’t resist mine. Promise I’m not showing you everything there is to see 😉

  3. Great snaps Shivya, I know you said you don’t photoshop them … I’m very curious about your camera kit.. which camera do you use, which lense(s) ? Pls share this info 🙂

    1. Thanks Chetan. To be honest, I can’t be bothered with a DSLR. If a place really is beautiful, any camera should be able to show that. Until a couple of months ago, I was using a Sanyo digital camera (probably obsolete now). Now I use a Sony Cybershot, which I absolutely love 🙂

  4. Beautiful pictures and it is amazing that the moment they hear that you are Indian, they offer you tea. 🙂

    1. Thanks Amit, and yes, I was pleasantly surprised too 🙂 Felt nice!

  5. So vivid descriptions along with the beautiful pictures really makes me feel the place myself as if I am there right now.

  6. Hi Shivya, it’s Jude if you can remember me! 🙂 Love the blog, as usual. I am planning to spend a month in Turkey before I leave Europe next year and will likely use this as an inspiration!

    1. Good to see you here again, Jude 🙂 That’s great, Turkey is so beautiful. Try to head up along the Black Sea coast if you have time. It’s gorgeous and so untouched. I’ll be writing a detailed guide on it soon, so hopefully it’ll be some help!

  7. Thanks to you, already planning my next holiday….though it not Turkey, but still!

      1. Just weekend destinations around Delhi! The long holiday will be next year now!

  8. Best Offer India says:

    Nice Post. thankyou for sharing this.

  9. So good to read your blog on Safranbolu. I was there 2 weeks ago and I am absolutely in love with the little town. While wandering the streets I met the same blacksmith who was absolutely delighted to know that i was from Hindistan. I just can’t stop thinking about how cozy and welcoming people were in Safranbolu.

  10. It’s not because you’re indian that they offer you coffee! Turkish people drink tea all day and offer it to everyone! That’s how hospitable they are!

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