Sunday, April 21, 2013

Daily Bread


This is one of the places we buy bread.  That's all they sell - bread in different shaped and sized loaves. White bread is very common, but in most places you can buy koy or village bread which is a mixture of white and whole wheat.  Some bakeries also produce a good quality brown bread. If you want cake or sweets that's a different kind of shop.

Take note of the greenish square beside the large window. That square covers a hole in the wall.  This shop is very narrow. The baker removes the loaves from the oven with a long wooden paddle. The end of the paddle must come out of that opening in order to enter and exit the oven. The doorway you can just see on the far right side of the photo is the total length of the bakery.

Hot bread is put on shelves to cool. You can see bread cooling in the window. Bread is sliced while you wait or more usually sold whole. Turks usually buy one or two loaves at a time. Bread is never put into plastic bags until it is sold.  It is stored in the shop on the shelves or in plastic bins. 

The sign beside the front doors says this bakery has been in this location since 1845.




Friday, April 12, 2013

They're Back!



The long awaited time is here.
What time?
Tortoise time of course! Finally the tortoises are coming out of hiding, I found one yesterday. He was about medium size, his shell, from front to back was 19cm. I’m really excited about finding and examining more tortoises!