Valentine

Late Valentine's day greetings!

Road to Uludag

Peeping out of the window on the way to Uludag. The sun was still shining at this point!

Over the rooftops

If the weather was clearer you would be able to see Uludag in the back of this picture.

Uludag in the clouds

We went to ski at Uludag this weekend and found some very foggy weather! The top of Uludag is around 2500 metres and it spent most of the weekend in the clouds! Maybe you can make out faintly some skiiers through the fog there in the back of the photo.

Mobile cafe

I've never seen such a big tea tray! The owner was taking tea around the market stallholders. He filled the glasses from a huge teapot in his other hand.

Candy Floss stand

Somehow I always thought candy floss was for the summer, but it seems I am wrong :)

Turkish pizza

Our local baker makes extremely tasty pide (Turkish pizza). Here they are waiting to go into the oven.

It's a cat's life

Bursa is full of cats and here is another one. They live outside, but they don't seems to be bothered by the cold weather.

School's out

When I took this photo I wondered why the walls were covered in scorch marks. Yesterday I found out. Some of the boys were tending the fire, the others were enjoying a game of football.

Turkish rolls?

My family is visiting at the moment and they loved these cakes! They photographed them so much that they baker cut one up and gave them all a piece to try. They taste good too!

Gloomy coastline

We are having a lot of grey and rainy weather at the moment. I think this is why Bursa is so green. Here is a small break in the clouds along the coast from Mudanya.

Secluded spot

This cafe feels a bit like a private garden. In fact I couldn't see where the actual cafe is, just the tables.

Turkish recycling

This is recycling, Turkish style! There is hardly any official recycling here, but people like this man do a good job or sorting and recycling the rubbish. He was taking plastic, tins etc from the waste bin and putting it in that big white carton. Who knows where it will go next?

Where next?

These containers are waiting in the Bursa free trade zone which is next to the port at Gemlik, just outside Bursa. The free trade zone produces goods for export - mainly to Europe but also the rest of the world.

Trimmings

I found these trimmings by the side of the road. I suppose they were waiting to be cleared away but I thought they looked quite pretty there.

Deserted

"this photo is taken in mudanya 30 km from bursa ..a nice little town...it was nicer before when we used to swim in the sea.the water is not clean any more unfortunatelly ...it seems clean but they found louds of collibasili(microbs) that can be dangerous..anyway the people are still swimming in the hot summer days ...you can see it feels like deserted but it is not...louds of appartments had been built up in the hills ...but still you have the sea to look at and feel like deserted:))"

Serving mantı since 1975

This restaurant claims to be Bursa's first mantı maker, although it has only been open since 1975. Mantı are small parcels of pasta filled with meat, a bit like Italian ravioli. Like a lot of dishes here they are eaten with yogurt.

Big and small

This is also at Mudanya. There is a small harbour where cargo boats sometimes dock. They are usually carrying sand. Maybe the small boat was helping to bring yesterday's fish..

More fish

I've posted a photo of the fish market at Mudanya before but yesterday we got there early and there was a lot more fish than usual.

If you look carefully maybe you can also see the different fish which are found at this time of year. The most common fish here are sea bass and sea bream, which are available all year round. Yesterday there was also red mullet, mackerel and bonito.

Take a break

The pigeons were enjoying a bit of sun on top of the restaurant.