Breakfast with Mustafa at 09:00
his family were till asleep.
Mustafa
had one more shop he wanted to show us Cemal’s brother in law’s
shop. We got there by going to a fertilizer shop and waiting for
the brother in law then he took us to his ware house. Most of the
people we are dealing with are wholesalers and do not have a shop
front as such.
Here
we saw some Afghan carpets which we liked.
We returned to Cemel's shop front and travelled in his car back to his ware house. We looked at the small carpets then asked to see the
bamboo carpets most of which were still being worked on.
After
some deliberation we chose one a 2m x 2.9m one.
Back
to the hand woven carpets where two small ones were finally chosen.
Next to brother in law and we chose two of the Afghan carpets.
Now
Cemal stopped a few times to show us different workshops. A shop that specialises in mosque
doors were also interesting. The design and writing all done by two
large machines with a engraving head.
I found the
bell man really neat. He makes the animal bells and exports to Greece
and Bulgaria. Some where tiny and others very big but those for carnivals good size for elephants though.
Now
we know who made all the ones we hear most nights…
Next
a visit to the Saturday market. A section for local produce and imported
from other villages.We dropped into a very modern looking
restaurant for a small lunch , very good chicken soup followed by a
huge platter of grilled meats...Not small at all.
We dropped by Cemal's wife's clothes shop and I bought a pair of trousers with lots of pockets and she gifted us a hoody each.
Next
back at his store where we paid a deposit and wrote out carpet costs and
reciept. Had a little trouble with English so he asked a friend into help Gulsah is an English teacher and has good English. She helped us a lot.
Cemal
wanted to take us to dinner so piled into his car with his wife we
headed 40km to another village. When we arrived Elif (via google
translate) said she was going to pray and would I like to go to. I
accompanied her. Shoes off, step inside then lift shoes inside onto rack. She
then signalled me to a chair and she prayed. The room had a carpet
with the soft lines going from left to right. A small carpet was
placed in the right hand corner and this is where Elif stood, facing
the wall. Whispering she went through her motions which entailed
prostrating herself 4 times. Very interesting.
Gulsah
and family met us there. We had a wonderful meal of fresh water
fish and lots of smaller platters.
I
fell asleep on the way back to Demirci…… We stopped at a cafe and
had roasted chestnuts and tea followed by a Turkish coffee.
The
chestnut were tipped wet onto the top of the fire place and where
cooked to perfection…..
