Following the Storks

Where in France a Parisian is regarded an expat, or you can go to a restaurant to taste some local specialties like baeckoffe or flammekueche? In Alsace of course.

Petite-Venice, Colmar

Guarded from the rest of France by the Vosges Mountains –ok, high hills really – and from Germany by the Rhine River, Alsace is a land of beautiful green hills, photogenic villages and good wine. And storks. In fact the regions’ symbol is the stork, due to the sheer number of birds migrating each year. Where I come from, there’s an old belief that if you see a stork flying, you’ll travel much and far that year.  In Alsace, we saw so many storks flying, walking, feeding or just looking around, I am curious what kind of a year we’ll have.

For centuries, Alsace has always been a subject of violent dispute between France and Germany. Roman Empire ended the tribal wars for a while but after its fall the region became the territory of Alemanni. They were a Germanic tribe who in most ways paved the way to modern day Alsace by extending the vineyards which has always been the main source of income. Their language formed the basis for the Alsatian dialect still in use today. In the following centuries the region was occupied, reoccupied, partly sold or presented as gifts to countless duchess, generals and kings from Germany, Austria and France so many times that it’s impossible to keep track. Just in the last two hundred years it changed ownership four times - which roughly means a new ruler / language/culture every fifty years - and finally after WW1, it was reunited with France.

The effects of this historical confusion are evident everywhere in Alsace from the names of its towns and local dialect to its cuisine and architecture, which are neither French nor German, but unique and beautiful.  

Most local people speak both Alsatian and French, and in restaurants and shops German is used frequently to serve the tourists across the Rhine. One friendly shop-owner told me ‘they’re coming to see what they’ve lost’, with a slight smirk on her face.  

No visit to the region is complete without drinking the renowned Vin D’Alsace and tasting the local cuisine therefore we spent considerable time doing both.  

Restaurant Au Raisin d'Or

A typical Alsatian restaurant is rustic and warmly decorated. Lunch and dinners are lengthy affairs where family and friends gather around a big table, sharing the days’ adventures while sipping perhaps a glass of local beer or gewürztraminer as an aperitif. 

Alsatian cuisine is rich and fattening, with lots of meat, potatoes and choucroute (French version of sauerkraut) served in generous portions and it’s delicious.  Unburdened with the French style sauces, it’s a typical villagers’ cuisine, with fresh produces cooked for people who do physical work and need their nutrition. Well, we didn't exactly fit to that description, but when in Rome...

My personal favourite is Tarte Flambèe, a very thin pizza made with fromage blanc, thinly sliced onions and lardons. It’s crispy and incredibly tasty, especially when washed downed with bottles of dry Alsatian Riesling.  Another favourite dish is baeckeoffe, a mix of potatoes, herbs, mutton, beef and pork marinated overnight in wine and slow cooked in a sealed ceramic casserole dish. Traditionally, the women used to prepare this dish on Saturday evening and leave it with the baker to cook in his oven on Sunday while they attended the lengthy Lutheran church services once typical to the culture. On the way back from church, they would pick up their casserole and a loaf of bread and Voila ! the Sunday lunch was served.

Desserts are mostly tarts or a slice Kugelhopf, served with layers of crème fraiche and ice cream. Luckily for me, that was the only part of the cuisine that I wasn't extremely fond of. 

Another ‘must-do’ in Alsace is to take dozens of pictures. Apart from the beautiful countryside, Alsace has a unique architectural style which changes from imposing to cute to kitsch throughout the region.

Strasbourg Cathedral

Most unhappy gargoyle ever !

Strasbourg, the largest city of Alsace is truly impressive with its cathedral and well preserved old town. Situated on the banks of Rhine, it’s a border city and changed hands countless of times in the past. This imperial city has always been a centre for learning. It was home to the world’s first ever printing offices, courtesy of Mr. Gutenberg, and first ever printed newspaper, a weekly affair published in German. Although housing many EU institutions today, the city still manages to preserve a youthful atmosphere thanks to its universities.

 Masions D'Tanneur of Petite-France

One of my favourite parts in Strasbourg is the Petite France, partly due to its relaxed atmosphere and partly because of the story behind the name. Now a tourist favourite full of restaurants and galleries, this part served two functions when it was a part of the medieval Germany; it was the district of the tanners and the hospital for syphilis – which was regarded as ‘a Frenchman’s disease’ by the puritan Germans - was located there. In those times, the tanners were placed at the worst parts of the cities due to the considerable smell coming from the vast amounts of urine that was used to soften the leather. Naming that district as Petite France was a not-so-covert way of showing how the medieval Germans felt about their neighbours.

Another place we visited was Colmar, a nice market town that demonstrates the typical Alsatian architecture.  To my surprise, Colmar is pretty known among the Americans because of a certain M. Bartholdi, a 19th cc architect who among other things constructed the Statue of Liberty.

We visited many small villages on the wine route whose architecture differs from cute and classy at Ribeauville, Turckheim and Eguisheim to downright kitsch at Riquewihr. It was only three weeks after Easter, so maybe it wasn’t so surprising to see the little village of Riquewihr decorated with millions of little bunnies and eggs; but I shudder to think what they’ll do for the Valentine’s Day.

Full moon at Place Stanislas

On our way home, we stopped at Nancy. The Place Stanislas with its beautifully proportioned buildings and Art Nouveau style gilded iron gates was truly majestic in moonlight and definitely worth a visit.

Water Palaces of Turkey

I recently spent a long weekend at Spa, the Belgian city whose name became eponymous with the thermal wellbeing centres, or spas. It’s a lively little town surrounded by forests, springs and a small lake. The town is famous for two things, first one is Spa-Francorchamps, the Formula 1 circuit and the second is the Thermes de Spa, the big spa complex complete with pools, jet fountains, massage and rest areas. The fast boys with their expensive cars were not around that weekend so we opted for the spa option and spent a few hours relaxing in the pools and took a small tour around the facilities. There we came across the inevitable steam room or hammam as called by the people in these parts of the world.

Well, with all due respect to my foreign friends a hammam is not a crowded steam room where one has trouble breathing after three minutes. The word hammam signifies the Turkish bath, a large complex dedicated to well being, sanitation and as most things Turkish, a place for socializing and enjoying life. It’s embedded into the cultural fabric of the land and its people through generations.

When Turks first came to Anatolia in the 10^th cc, one of the things they were pleased to find in this new land were the Roman baths which provided similar structures to their cleansing rituals that were born both from their Asian roots and the Islamic culture in which hygiene is not nice to have but essential.

Topkapi Hamami

With the rise of the Ottoman domination and enhancements in architecture and fine arts the hammams turned into monumental buildings. The Sultans and Pashas, often after a successful mission to bring civilization to the newly captured territories or sometimes as presents to their favorite concubines, commissioned famous architects to build hammams and they were widespread throughout the empire. Many cities in Anatolia got their fair share. Most of the hammams in larger cities were adorned with exquisitely crafted ceramics and tiles and it was quite common to find gold and precious stones to be used in the hammams built in the palaces.

After successful restorations most of them are still in use today, populated by locals and tourists alike and increasing their popularity by adopting the old customs in accordance with the modern tastes and styles.

Hürrem Hamamı

An example is the ultra stylish Hürrem Hamamı, the 16th century hammam complex ordered by Süleyman the Magnificent to Mimar Sinan, the most celebrated architect of the time, for his favourite wife, Hürrem. Reopened after an expensive restoration, it combines the best features of hammams and spas in its beautifully structured marble rooms and terraces.

Marble & Gold

In Ottoman times, apart from being a place for sanitation and relaxation hammams were playing important roles during some special events. Special customs and rituals took place at hammams to signify the important days such as preparation to feasts, weddings and even the start of a military service. Such days were planned carefully in advance and invitations were sent. Apart from the usual washing, massage and entertainment functions, such occasions were celebrated like major events with gifts and donations.

Today, many hammams offer bridal packages as a part of their usual service and the tradition continues in the form of bachelor parties where young locals start their stag or hen parties by relaxing at a hammam before going to clubbing.

Courtesy of jeanleongerome.org

In the relatively closed life of the Ottoman women, the hammam was filling a big vacuum for entertainment, showing off to neighbours, keeping up with the latest gossip and even finding suitable brides for one’s sons. After all, the hammam was the perfect place to examine one’s future daughter-in-law not only for her physical beauty but also for her behaviour and abilities. Even the wives of the rich, who had private baths in their houses, frequented the common hammams. Usually a weekly affair, the preparations for a hammam visit typically started one day earlier. Apart from the typical hammam set of peştemal  (a light linen cloth to wrap around the body), takunya (wooden sandalets), hammam tası (a copper bowl to pour water), scented soaps & oils and henna (for hair as well as hands), delicious pastries , fresh fruits , refreshing lemonades and sherbets as well as musical instruments were prepared to enjoy this ‘girls-day-out’.

Similar to the Roman baths, a typical hammam consists of three interconnected rooms; the sıcaklık (the hot room), the ılıklık (the warm room) and the soğukluk (the cold room).  

The sıcaklık is the heart of the hammam. It’s usually built under a large dome with small windows to provide natural light and accomodates the göbek taşı ,a large heated marble stone to lie down and relax, eyvans or niches with marble basins that provide hot and cold water and halvetlik, small private rooms if you choose to escape from the prying eyes. Best of all, it smells heavenly with the soaps and aromatic oils, instead of smelling of chloride that's common to pools.

It’s also my favourite part of the hammam, mainly because of the light which changes from powerful to mystical in different parts of the great marble rooms but also for listening to the gentle sounds of running water while lying down on the göbek taşı as the heat slowly sinks into my muscles. It's total relaxation.Afterwards, one continues to the ılıklık to have a kese  - think a bubbly form of Swedish massage applied with a rough piece of cloth called kese to increase blood circulation. Because the body is still warm, instead of feeling raw the next day, you feel great. The chic hammams of today offer many different types of aromatherapy massages, facials and bubble baths, but the traditional kese is still one of the best if you complain from sore muscles. It’s followed by washing with soaps and oils.

A 16th cc Tellak

The kese is always applied by tellak, the attendant acting as a private masseur and helps with the scrubbing and washing. Traditionally, the hammams had separate sections for women and men called haremlik and selamlık and the tellaks who served in these sections were either women or men depending on whom they serve. In Ottoman times it was quite the norm for the tellak boys to carry out sexual favours as a part of their services to their male clients and some of them were the favourites of merchants, soldiers and poets. Their salaries and tips reflected their abilities and popularity. In his book Hubbanname (Book of Beautiful Boys), the 15^th century poet Fuzuli paid homage to the beauties and abilities of his favourite tellaks in quite some detail. Today the pleasures of hammams are slightly more conservative but still many.

Courtesy of jeanleongerome.org

The hammam tradition also caught the imagination of the visiting foreigners. Among them, the 18^th cc French painter Gerome had created many nude hammam paintings while visiting Istanbul and other cities under Ottoman rule, later exhibited as a part of his Orient collection. His courage and imagination together with his technique must be praised, for the punishment of getting caught in the harem section of the hammam was death.

After all the washing and scrubbing is done the best way to relax is to follow the footsteps of countless people through centuries; change into a dry peştemal and enjoy a refreshing drink or a bite at the soğukluk. Today, the soğukluk usually comes complete with a vitamin bar, a coiffeur and a small boutique for a bit of shopping, a la hammam.

Some things never change, only get better with time.