The words for spring and autumn are very similar in Turkish. Spring is in the second quarter of the year from March to June is Ilk bahar – translated the first spring. When there is fall in Europal, there is Son Bahar in Turkey – the last spring. And it is true – while the landscape became drier and drier over the sommermonths, the grass and the flowers slowly disappeared – now everything is thriving again. Green meadows lie down on the soils which are becoming slowly wet, and wetter, and all sorts of autumn flowers make the landscape colorful again.
At the same time, the days are getting shorter, the nights are fresh and now and then it rains cats and dogs for a few days. In the little wooden house where I live, we make ourselves ready for the winter slowly. Wood has been delivered, the thin wooden walls are covered with carpets and the roofs and open terraces isolated with plastic sheets. And I’ve moved – from an airy treehouse in the height I am now resettled in a wooden hut nearer to the earth and better isolated- which improves the stability of my body heat considerably. That was necessary, as I did not fully realize how much I was freezing up there. Now I live not only warmer but also a drier life.
Yes, I had underestimated the cold. This may sound strange, as the temperatures are of course considerably higher than in Central Europe. The difference is probably the strength of the sun – if it shines. Then the few remaining guests and locals flock to the beach or out in the mountains and they really search for the sun – quite the opposite from the summer. A kind of inward warming up before shadows and the cold are coming around 4:00pm. To live closer to nature, means also to be more exposed to the cold. Then the warmth is all the more pleasant – at niche camp fires, or at the great designed fireplaces in the very few still open restaurants where every evening brings together a round of people and to warm themselves.
My (for now) last month in Turkey is breaking and I am looking forward to more walks along the beach or in the mountains, with just starting mandarin and orange season (a taste explosion – I think I’m forever spoiled for citrus fruits purchased in Austria) and cozy soup cooking evenings by the warm stove, which is lined with thick pieces of wood. And the cold – yes, you have to outsmart it each day with a piece of the action ….