A Tale in Red

The sun had just begun to breach the horizon, the sky slowly lightening from midnight blue to a hazy lavender. The digital clock on my phone read 5:22 am. After a beautiful day exploring Hatay, it was time to move on to Gaziantep. I had been looking forward to seeing some Turkish friends from Sao Paulo that I had made before this journey in Turkey.

The sun shone intensely, turning the sky a brilliant azure and the rolling hills to a colour of ochre. The car raced down the highway, its speedometer edging to 140 km/h. I had my earphones on, and Linkin Park thundered through my brain while I tried to make sense of the scenery around me.

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://helenycampoy.com/2023/01/30/history-rivers-zoos-and-education/

It was 5:22 am when the sun began to rise on the horizon. After having a great day exploring Hatay, we decided to leave early to enjoy one more day in Gaziantep, where some people were waiting. The people waiting for me in Gaziantep were friends from some Turkish friends I made in Sao Paulo before the first part of the adventure.

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://helenycampoy.com/2022/10/03/castles-battle-grounds-a-town-near-a-river-and-new-friends/

It was almost 8 am when we left Adana. It was a blue hot day, exactly as I knew it would be. Summer is full of bright days, high temperatures and sweat. As a precaution, we had water in the car, essential for days like that. Another significant thing was occasionally stopping to relieve our face and arms from the sun. Fırat put one of his CDs to play. We started with Trance. Our destination was Hatay or Antakya.

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://helenycampoy.com/2022/09/27/snakes-castle-sunflower-fields-churches-and-mosques/

Our first stop after leaving Cappadocia was Mersin, and the sea’s blue water was very refreshing and instructive. I wonder if you can travel to Türkiye without learning a bit of history. I was excited about this new path. I am not saying the first part wasn’t exciting when we revisited some of the most important sites from the ancient Greek and Roman civilisations. I guess because I had read many books about the ancient Greeks and the Roman Empire, there was some intimacy between me and the places like Miletus or Aspendus. However, I was ready to visit places far from sparkling Istanbul and the most usually touristic centres. Not that there aren’t tourists in East Turkey, the region has many, but the origin is different. While in the West, we have more Europeans and north-Americans, in the East, the tourism comes from Iran, Iraq, China, and other countries more to the East.

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://helenycampoy.com/2022/09/10/saint-paul-a-beautiful-mosque-and-bice-bice/

We left Göreme early (I revisited Cappadocia), not too soon that has prevented us from enjoying breakfast in the sunny garden. We took the opportunity to take some pictures along the cherry tree.

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://helenycampoy.com/2022/08/09/summer-sinkholes-and-caves/

That day, the wind blows cold the last serenade winter’s song. It was March, my birthday was close as close was the end of this first part of my journey to meet Turkey. There was a silence around me, even birds weren’t there. Probably was the mist I found waiting on the road that was keeping animals and people hidden on their shelters, spying the day thought cracks or windows. I loved cold days, even the dark grey days when the sun is only a metaphor or a ghost making the skies above the clouds so white making you wonder if you had left the Earth and was in some alien world.

The scenery was beautiful, a painting made of green and grey. The cold morning in February was driving us to a city that one day was the centre of the Ottoman Empire. The city wasn’t only a historic centre but also a place where nature is prominent. It was understandable why Bursa was called Green Bursa. While listening to Trance and looking to the landscape passing by my window, I thought what I knew about the Ottoman Empire.

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://helenycampoy.com/2020/07/06/ice-trees-sank-places-and-the-ottoman-emprire/

That morning everybody around us was driving fast, including Firat. The passion for velocity was Firat’s most annoying feature. He was always driving as the world would end on the next hour. In the beginning, I was afraid, arguing each driving infraction he committed. However, soon I came to understand arguing with him only result in more velocity, more violations (like a spoiled child, he usually did precisely opposite what I was saying). I glance the car velocimeter, 120 km/h. I thought it wasn’t too fast, in Brazil, travelling to Ribeirao Preto where my in-laws lived, and my partner did the same. But Marcelo was an experience and very cautious driver, Firat was the opposite. I concentrated in the music that was playing something from Armin van Buuren trying to enjoy the mountains around. I had discovered my passion for mountains in Turkey. Mountains are like giants sleeping waiting someone with wisdom come and awake them.

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://helenycampoy.com/2020/05/29/turkeys-zeus-a-communist-and-good-food/

After Safranbolu and Amasra returning to Ankara was something a kind of down. The next morning, the anxiety to move on, put the foot on the road and visit another ancient place was running on my skin. The breakfast took ages, and the checkout an eternity. In the end, we left the hotel, and I was ready.

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://helenycampoy.com/2020/05/25/a-military-base-a-man-who-transformed-everything-in-gold-a-football-match/