Alacam-Samsun, Turkey, 2007

After about a 1:30 flight from Istanbul, we landed in Samsun airport, and we started the most interesting and exciting leg of our trip.

I have added this email written by Sara to our families and friends during our trip. This email clearly portrays our experience in Alaçam.

Hi all,

I don't have time to encapsulate all of Alacham in this quick email, but I wanted to write to say that we had a truly amazing and adventurous experience!

We arrived at the Samsum airport and it was immediately apparent that now we were in Asian Turkey and that we were not on the tourist run. The airport was really small (I mean there was only one baggage claim carousel!). Our initial plan was simple--arrive. drink coffee. take a deep breathe and then figure out what the heck to do to get to Alacham!

After our coffee we went to the info desk. No English here of course. We managed to communicate that we were trying to get to Alacham. Long story short--we were placed in the hands of a someone who was likely a security personnel, he walked us outside to a sort of shuttle bus, and put us in the hands of the driver, who got us to the city center and put us in the hands of the Alacham bus driver who asked us about four times --Alacham? Alacham? As in are you SURE you want to go to Alacham? Yes- we nodded a million times. He got us to the center of Alacham and put us in the hands of a taxi driver who took us to what we thought was a hotel and then we were in the office there. It looked really official. At one point Oscar whispered this cant be just a hotel. It is too official. Two men in desks. Us in chairs. No English. Here comes the tea. Here comes a young girl who tries to speak English for us. We are able to communicate that we need a room and take care of that part. We are waiting. Laughing.smiling with the two men who we cannot communicate with at all. We take out the picture of Yiayia's house and show it to them and then we use our phrase book to point to the Turkish word for Grandma. AAAHHH. He gets it. I write 1913 on a piece of paper.

Next in comes a young man with a suit and tie on. He looks at us and says--Hello. I am an English teacher here in Alacham. How can I be of service to you?...Oh. I understand. My grandmother also was transferred from Greece to here. I know this house. There are many houses like this here where all the Greece People lived. I lived in a house like this too. First- are you hungry? What do you want to eat? I am trying to call the school director to see if I can leave early to show you around. We can give you some beans and pilaf and yogurt with cucumber. Is it okay? Can you rest next? I can come after school and show you.

They escort us into the restaurant and feed us. We are exhausted and I have a splitting headache but it's already one of my most amazing experiences. One of the other men in the room answers his cell phone. He calls over to the young girl who semi-speaks English. She is trying to tell us something. We manage to understand--three. Yes as in 3 o,clock. Okay-at 3 the teacher will come back to show us. Can we rest?

We do rest. I am Dramamine drugged and still have a headache and am too excited to sleep. But we rest. The Black Sea is right out our window and the air feels so different than Istanbul. Now we are truly in what Yiayia called her first country--Asia Minor.

At 3 be go outside and breathe and wait for the English teacher.

To be continued....

Hi all,

[[Sorry it's taken so long for the conclusion, and sorry it's long! You can read it in doses or skim!]]

Around 3:30 the English teacher came back to get us. He's an extremely hospitable young man who speaks excellent English--having learned only from school and from watching some TV (after being in Turkey we'd learned that very few people are able to travel out of the country). He drove us back to the main area of town where we parked so that we could walk and go see the sights.

We started our stroll through the town and veered up a hill or two before entering the area where all the "Greece People" lived. First he showed us the house that we think is Yiayia's. It still looks just like the pictures Plato took several years ago, but is a little different than the pictures taken years before that (I think by Ernie?). But it is definitely the only house that seems to fit the bill and we tell ourselves this is Yiayia's house-- I couldn't stop smiling and somehow managed not to cry. The current owner had no problem with us walking around the property and taking pictures. The English teacher told us that there is a group of professors at Ataturk University who are currently doing a study on the architecture of these old houses from the Greece People. Apparently, they may be choosing a few of them to restore. Because of this, the owner of the house thought we were more people involved with this study coming to look at the house again. We opted not to go inside--although he said we could he also warned that it was not in good condition, and we got the vibe that maybe we shouldn't go in--didn't want to make anyone uncomfortable or overstep our bounds. Before we left we saw a little girl smiling down from an upstairs window who looked to be around the age that Yiayia would have been just before her journey.

The house is pretty darn big, and in fact all the houses where the Greece People lived are huge. It's amazing to think that so many of the people went from these big houses to small one-bedroom refugee houses after finally arriving in Athens a few years later. After leaving Yiayia's house we walked through the hilly old neighborhood to see many of the other old houses with similar architecture. Along the way we met many locals who were all curious about what we were doing there. They were overwhelmingly excited to see us, and wanted us to take their pictures with them in front of their houses. Most of the people in this neighborhood are decedents of Turks who lived in Greece and were deported to Turkey in 1920s (the opposite end of the population exchange that Yiayia experienced). Because of this they were very sensitive to our story and loved looking at the picture I had of the Alacham church congregation circa 1915. Our English teacher guide quickly had Yiayia memorized as #76 (as she's labeled on the picture) and told the locals we met along the way that #76 was my grandmother and that we came to find her house and town.

One man we met was eager to show us a plaque above his door that had inscriptions from Greek, Ottoman, and Turkish rule. Everyone was so proud of the history they knew they were part of and eager to make us feel welcomed as their friends. Another older gentlemen really touched us with how excited he was to see us, asking the English teacher how long we'd be there and many other questions. He said he was so happy to see us because we are the next generation. He also said that he met a man several years ago who came to Alacham from Greece at the age of 82 to come to find his old house too.

We stopped at the house where the English teacher grew up--very similar to Yiayia's house. The old part is worn out and is now attached to a newer home that was added where his parents now live. We got to see inside of the old house, and then went into the new house to relax and have a cool drink (It's true what they say about Turkish hospitality!!). After our break we learned that the English teacher's grandmother is still living--I think he said she's around 97?? Anyway, she is the oldest person alive in that town and the only one still alive that was part of the population exchange. He said she wasn't feeling well and that his aunt was staying with her, but that we we would walk by the house. When we got there, he peered in the window and his aunt spoke to him and joyously told us we must come in. She was so warm and lively. Anyway, for me this was probably the best part. We met his grandma -- she was just like Yiayia plus 7 or so years. She spoke just like her, saying things like we are welcome there, thank you thank you thank you for coming to see her, she loves us, she is honored to see us, are we religious people? did we read the bible? May we live many years and have many children!, etc. etc. She talked like Yiayia and the way she grabbed my hands and patted my leg were just like Yiayia. As we were leaving she prayed for us. Our guide said she had no more friends from her time living anymore and that she felt that her journey was complete--she was ready to go now. It was fascinating to meet someone from the other end of the exchange with so many cultural similarities yet more fascinating to see the differences in how the Greeks and Turks feel about their stories....no bad vibes from these Turks we met who all hail Ataturk and ended up living in big houses surrounded on one side by rolling green mountains and on the other side by the Black Sea.

That evening we had dinner with the English teacher, whose name we finally understand to be Hakan, and his wife, Burcu. She made a delicious meal of stuffed peppers, and a roasted vegetable dish (native to her home town near Izmir) served with yogurt. It was a wonderful way to end our day and to really experience this city and the Turkish people now living here. We learned that many of Hakan's friends from University work in the tourists areas and meet people from around the world but that he never had experienced that. He was honored to have us over and said that "never in his imaginary did he think he would have tourists over for dinner..."

Burcu gave me a pair of traditional hand-made socks and a headscarf with beautiful needlework around the edges. She said this was very traditional for the women to make things with needlework, and after thanking her I told her that my grandma also did needlework/embroidery as a way to survive after the wars and arriving in Greece. After being offered to stay the night and us politely declining, Hakan delivered his tired tourist guests back to their "hotel" (which we by now understood to be a state-run facility that serves teachers, then government officials, then others if there's room--but there's usually no "others" as we're the first tourists Alacham has seen in over 7 years)!

The next day Hakan took us back to the city center, helped us buy bus tickets, and told the bus driver to make sure we got into a cab safely in Samsun and have the taxi take us directly to the state-run hotel in Samsun also known as the "ogretmen Evi" . The bus driver did his job well and before we knew it we arrived safe and sound to this second government-run building where Oscar impressively used our Turkish phrase book to book a room for our last night along the Black Sea...

Hope you are all well, and looking forward to seeing you soon!

Love,
Sara and Oscar

Samsun (Greek: Σαμψούντα / Sampsoúnta) is a city in northern Turkey, on the coast of the Black Sea, with a population of 439,000. Greek colonists settled in the 6th century BC and established a flourishing trade relationship with the Anatolians. At that time, Samsun was part of the Greek colony of Amisus. In the 3rd century BC, Samsun came under the expanded rule of the Kingdom of Pontus. The Kingdom of Pontus had been part of the empire of Alexander the Great. However, the empire was fractured soon after Alexander's death in the 4th century BC. At its height, the kingdom controlled the north of central Anatolia and mercantile towns on the northern Black Sea shores.

We arrived to Alaçam's Öğretmen Evi around 1 pm or so. At first we thought that the Öğretmen Evi was a hotel until our friend Hakan, Alaçam's English professor, explained that it was a government run facility that served as a hotel for government employees, and if there were any rooms available they would rent them out to travelers. The room was very modest, but it had a wonderful view of the Black Sea.
After our long and amazing journey, we were taken to the cafeteria where we were served lunch. We got a plate of beans (the beans were delicious), yogurt with cucumber and rice pilaf. Sometimes simple things can give you the greatest satisfactions.
Feeling so lucky to have met Hakan, we went for a short stroll by the Black Sea while we waited for our new friend and personal tour guide.
It was hard for us to believe that we had arrived to our destination by only saying one work in Turkish, Alaçam. Every Turkish person that we met in the Black Sea Region seemed eager to help us and make us feel safe and comfortable. We were amazed by the Turkish hospitality.
In some many ways, The Black Sea Region reminded me of Mexico. I felt like at home; I wish I had learned some Turkish.

Hakan took us to what we believe was the house where Sara's Yiayia (Grandmother) was born. The house was big, and regardless of its deteriorating condition, you could detect some beauty in it.

As we were taking pictures, we noticed a young girl peaking out from one of the windows. We presumed that she was probably around the same age of Sara's Yiayia when she had to leave Alaçam.

The owner of the house, the guy with the baseball cap, thought we were government employees from Ankara surveying the house. I believe that some professors from the Ankara University are planning to restore the houses were the Greek's used to live.
With emotions running wild, we left the house and began to tour the rest of the town. It was incredible for both us to be standing in front of the house where Sara's Yiayia used to run around as a child.
As we toured the rest of the town, we noticed that the houses where the Greeks used to live were very big. It is believed that parents and their children along with their children's children lived in these houses.
Alaçam might be a small community, but its history and culture is very rich.
The school director, Hakan's boss, restored this house where he currently lives with his family.
It is very refreshing and enjoyable to walk around surrounded such a colorful streets.
A local proudly showed us this placard where you can find inscriptions in Greek, Ottoman and Muslim.
Locals were very excited to see us. Hakan told us that it had been over seven years since they had seen a tourist in Alaçam.
Hakan invited us to his parents house for a little break and a glass of cold water.

This older gentleman told us that he was excited to see the new generations visiting their roots. It was an incredible feeling to feel so welcome and warmly embraced by these people we had just met.

We walked to the outskirts of town. It was an amazing view of the town with the perfect background, the Black Sea.

The tranquility that sorrounds Alaçam, its natural beauty and wonderful people are some of the main reasons that I would like to go back to in the near future.

Hakan turned out to be a great tour guide. His English was perfect, and he was a very proud resident and son of Alaçam.

In our way back to the main plaza, we stopped at Hakan's grandmother's house. Hakan's aunt lives with his grandmother and takes care of her. Hakan's aunt was so gracious and warm that for a moment we felt like family members visiting them.

Hakan's grandmother, Huriye Haya, is the only living survivor from the exchange population. She told us that she felt alone since all her friends have passed away, and she was ready to be by God's side. She prayed for us as we were leaving and wished us a happy life and many children.

A river runs through Alaçam diving the town in two. This bridge connects both sides. The bridge it is crooked because a few years back Alaçam had a flow that almost took the bridge down. No automobiles are allowed on this bridge.

Hakan and his lovely and gracious wife, Burcu. She was panicking when Hakan told her over the phone that he had met two American tourists that didn't speak any Turkish, and he had invited them for dinner.

She prepared a succulent dinner. We started with some delicous soup, followed by the main dish that consisted of stuffed peppers and a vegetable dish (a traditional dish from Burcu's hometown of Izmir). As dessert, we had some Turkish delicacies, tolumbu and bakalava. Burcu and I prefered the tolumbu while Sara and Hakan insisted that baclava was better.

After dinner, Burcu prepared some Turkish coffee. To our surprise, tea is the most common drink in Turkiye, while Turkish coffee is a distant second choice. But, Burcu treated us to some homemade coffee.

Hakan and Burcu offered us their guest bedroom, but we felt that they had done more than enough for us, and we wanted to give him a break from us. Before saying goodbye, Burcu gave Sara a pair of traditional hand-made socks and a headscarf with beautiful needlework around the edges. The generosity seemed to never stop.

In the morning, Hakan picked us from the Öğretmen Evi and took us to the main plaza where we would take the bus back to Samsun.

Hakan helped us purchase the bus tickets and instructed the driver to help us get safely into a taxi in Samsun that would take us to Samsun's Öğretmen Evi. Once again, we didn't really need to do much because everybody was willing to help us and make sure that we would make it to our destination.

A monument to Atartuk is the main fixture at the main square and most of Turkiye. It's impossible to overstate Atatürk's hold on this country, nearly 70 years after his death. His presence is unavoidable, his legacy everywhere. Children are taught from near birth to revere the heroic, ambitious, revolutionary figure who single-handedly forged a united Turkish state from the tattered remains of the Ottoman Empire.

Can life be any better?

We arrived to Samsun around 2 pm and successfuly checked in at the Öğretmen Evi. Samsun is an important Turkish trade centre and port on the Black Sea coast of Turkiye. Samsun is one of the major Turkish tobacco producer provinces. Under Ottoman rule the land around the town later mainly produced tobacco. Samsun is a buzzling city. It seemed that everybody was out on the streets. We headed to what it seemed a food center or mall. After mentally practicing how to order, we timidly approached a food stand. Since it seemed that I wasn't going to be able verbally order, I rely on the point and smile tactic.

After proudly purchasing what it seemed a burrito (okay, chicken wrapped in pita), we headed over to the park to enjoy our lunch/dinner while people watching.
It didn't take long to spot an ice cream vendor. I can honestly say that it was the best ice cream that I have ever had. I am not certain what I ordered, but it was great. Nothing like home made ice cream.
The ice cream vendor turned out to be a trickster. For a second, I felt like aI was at a Benihana Restaurant.

As we were relaxing, we were approached by these teens that thought we were American soldiers. At first, it was kind of cute trying to communicate, but it soon turned into an annoyance as they seemed to be up to something. They finally left when a man sitting across from us told them to leave us alone.