Ikea comes to Bursa

This post is for anyone who thought Bursa was not on the international map... that's right Bursa IKEA will be opening soon! Bursa has been flooded with advertisements like this one for the grand opening on 13th November. The caption says 'Uludağ (mountain) is in Bursa, and a mountain-like bookcase is in one box'

We are also very pleased to add Elaine of Willits Daily Photo as a new author on BDP. Elaine has kindly offered to help us with potential logistical difficulties over the next weeks (or months, if it goes anything like the Wordpress ban)

Pideli Köfte

Apologies to vegetarians for this post...

When we sat down in the restaurant they asked if we would like one or one and a half portions. This is the small version!

The dish is a bit like the famous Bursa kebab - cubes of pide bread with tomatoe sauce eaten with yogurt on the side. However instead of sliced lamb as in the Iskender kebab, it is topped with meatballs (köfte). Yum!

last summer sun..

"come along to drink a glass of tea in the last sun of the summer...which they call here "the summer of pastirma" ...pastirma is a kind of dry meat..and definitely Lamia i mean me should learn why Turkish people use that term. so keep watching later you will find the answer coming soon..."

Diving Suit anyone?

One of the more specialist shops founds in the centre of Bursa. I think you can buy everything here, if you know where to go!

Blocked

A lot of renovation work is going on in the town centre at the moment. This is one of the houses that have been restored.

Blogger and all blogspot blogs have been blocked in Turkey from this afternoon, so please bear with me if posting is a bit erratic until it comes back - it's not very easy to get into the site at the moment.

Flying Saucer?

here's another shot of the spaceage Korupark, this time from above.

Korupark

Korupark is one of two large shopping malls to open in Bursa over the last year, and has become a favourite weekend activity for a lot of people. Inside are international chains as well as Turkish shops. It's not bad as shopping centres go, but the town centre is more atmospheric.

Autumn Leaves

The leaves are starting to turn autumnal these days. I like these colourful red ones.

Olive Groves

Outside Bursa towards a small town called Gemlik are olive groves which produce olives and olive oil for consumption all over Turkey. By the side of the road around Gemlik there are shops selling delicious olive oil, soaps and other olive oil products.

Getting ready for Christmas

Now that seker bayrami (the holiday at the end of Ramadan) is finished, the shops are already looking forward to Christmas. Christmas is not a holiday here, but there are still Christmassy things in the shops and the odd tree.
There are a few Christmas designs among these colourful slippers.