One Last Night in Gaziantep

The remainder of our drive to Gaziantep was uneventful. It was about 4:30p when we bid Ali goodbye in front of the hotel.

We’re again at the Hampton by Hilton — in room 106 this time, overlooking a side street. No traffic noise, though we will likely be woken by the morning ezan from the mosque across the street. Not a big deal in any event, but especially tomorrow since we have an early flight back to İzmir.

Baklava is a dessert that has been trademarked in Gaziantep. There are hundreds of shops that sell this sweet treat. It is not an inexpensive dessert ... mostly due to the quality and quantity of the pistachio filling. If you find a price that is too good to be true, it's probably because the pistachio has been mixed with dried and crushed peas to enhance the green color. So, it's best to buy from a well-established baklava shop. Doing so was next on our agenda.

Once we settled into our rooms at the Hampton, we walked to Koçak so Mui could buy baklava, which is being sent by courier to İzmir. This company makes some 40 tons of baklava each weekend and has its own courier company with 24-hour delivery promised to select cities. Izmir, some 700 miles away, is one of those cities. Delivery is expected tomorrow afternoon. We'll be home by then.

Dinner tonight was at Yesemek. The walking directions the guys at the hotel gave us took us to the main restaurant, which is a kebab house. The dish du jour was a local specialty ... beyran, a soup made with lamb meat ... and plenty of garlic. Mui also ordered içli köfte, which consists of a bulgur shell stuffed with hamburger. Also a shish köfte to share.

For dessert, we returned to Koçak for baklava, each opting for a different variety to share with the others. I got one with pistachios and one with walnuts, which is the more common filling used elsewhere around the world. Pistachio is definitely yummier.

After returning to the hotel, we packed up our bags for tomorrow’s early departure and relaxed. Now, it’s almost 10:00p. Time to get to bed. I have a 5:30a alarm set … just in case Mui does what he did today … turn off the alarm and go back to sleep ;-)Read more