Black Sea Day 2: Biking Trabzon

So, we woke up late on July 22nd, packed up, and headed out. We were eager to start cycling after having such a long break.

Coffee Talk

Shortly after starting, we came to a seaside café and decided to sit for a couple of Turkish coffees. You may notice how short the chairs and tables are. In the beginning, it feels like sitting in a Kindergarten classroom. I tried to do a quick google search to figure out why the traditional Turkish café tables and chairs are so petite but I didn’t get anywhere. If you know, I’d be curious to hear! It’s really quite nice to sit right along the sand, feel the breeze, be able to see the sea, and drink a coffee. By this point, we had learned that the typical cost of Turkish coffee is 10 TL and çay 3 TL. The coffee always comes with water and perhaps something sweet like lokum or chocolate nibs. While çay is grown and produced right in Turkey, in fact Rise right next to Trabzon is a huge hub, coffee is not. It seems most Turkish coffee comes from South America.

As you can see in our pictures, our bikes are quite unique looking so many people like to ask us where we are going, where we came from, and our nationalities. We started getting more questions and meeting more people in the North. It was usually assumed we were from Germany or France.

Shakshuka

Around 1 PM, we usually start to think about lunch on our “ride days.” After we grab some produce from a local market or Sok/A101/BIM, we look for a public park to have access to a cool, shady spot to cook as well as a fountain. Many Turkish people bring gas to parks to prepare tea so it’s not that unusual. It’s less usual to cook a full meal including bringing spices, cutting vegetables, etc. but still within the bounds of acceptable behavior.

Selim and I officially have two meals to choose between for each meal: shakshuka and pasta. Within each, there are iterations but the big decision is eggs and bread or pasta. So what is shakshuka? Shakshuka is a Maghrebi (Maghreb* = West of the Arab World) Arabic term that means “mixed up.” In Tunisia, the dish is called Ojja if it’s just with tomato concentrate, tomato sauce, and eggs. And shakshuka is the dish but more so with vegetables, with more of a crunch than Ojja.

*Informational aside:

• Maghreb is the Arabic West, also Northwest Africa. Includes 5 countries: Algeria, Tunisia, Mauritania, Libya, and Morocco. They make up UMA (L’Union du Maghreb arabe).

• Mashriq is the Arabic East includes Egypt, Sudan, Arabic Peninsula, Iraq, etc. I don’t hear this term as much as I hear Maghreb but maybe that’s just my experience.

Selim’s Shakshuka Recipe (serves 2 people):

3-4 tomatoes

Water (to taste)

2 tablespoons olive oil

Salt, cumin, red pepper, oregano

1 bell pepper or 3 skinny Turkish peppers

4-5 eggs

1-2 loaves of fresh bread

1 onion

2-4 garlic cloves

Dice tomatoes, onions, and peppers. Finely cut garlic. Heat olive oil. Add vegetables. Cook vegetables until they soften. Add spices to taste. Add water to taste (add less for thicker shakshuka, more for thinner). When veggies are almost ready, crack eggs on top of veggie mixture. Do not mix. When eggs are cooked to your preference, turn off heat. Break bread and dip in shakshuka to eat. Highly recommended to enjoy with cold Ayran!

If you make it, send us pictures and tell us how it went 🙂

The Mouton Who Survived Aid

After a long day of cycling, we arrived near a town and found a nice camp spot on the beach. I went to the town to gather some groceries and water. While there, I met a very cute sheep who appeared to be the pet of an older woman. The sheep behaved just like a dog. At first, she was a bit scared of a new person but when the woman signaled that it was ok, she greeted me. She followed the woman around like a puppy. It was very cute and reminded me of a story that Selim told me once when we were talking about all of the sheep that are bought by families for Aid. So in Arabic countries, there is big Aid and small Aid. Big Aid this year happened in July but each year it’s a different day according to the Islamic calendar. Anyway, on Big Aid, families buy sheep and bring them home maybe a few days or a week before they plan to sacrifice them for the holiday. Oftentimes, the sheep is kept in the yard and they become a temporary pet for the children of the household. Sometimes, it can be quite sad for the kids when the mouton is sacrificed. All of that to say is that there is one man who brought home a sheep for Aid one year, a grown man, and to this day, the sheep is his pet. They do everything together including swimming. You can see some cute photos by the photog Yassine Gaidi in this news article. You won’t be disappointed.

So this woman’s sheep pet reminded me of the old man and his sheep. I don’t imagine the story is the same as the sheep looked to young to be potentially sacrificed but it made me happy nonetheless. According to the religion, animals less than one year should not be sacrificed. You can hear the woman say “gel-gel” which is “come-come” to the mouton.

Tent Service Dinner

After dark, a man came to our tent. He said something in Turkish very quickly and signaled at a tent on the beach. We understood it to mean that he was camping there and just wanted to let us know. Problem yok (“no problem”). So we wrapped our evening, got settled in to go to bed and were almost about to fall asleep when we hear the leaves rustling and a bright light right outside our tent. We unzip the door and right in comes a plate full of toasty warm chicken wings, tomatoes, peppers, and a few slices of bread. Well, this was a first. We had already eaten but it looked and smelled so good. We couldn’t say no, quite literally, as he had given us the plate and turned quickly to go back to his partner. It really felt like we had ordered it and he was just doing his job. Very generous. Anyway, we left the tent and tucked in!

We really enjoyed it and felt bad that we didn’t have anything to give in return. We pulled a few things together and offered what we had.

They offered us to have a drink with them but we had to get up early to find a café for my French class so we graciously declined and went to bed with full bellies.