THE STORIES OF OUR TOWN

Hello, I’m Sevgi. We are living in Giresun with my twin brother Barış. This year, for the first time, there will be a school holiday in November. We will go to our aunt who lives in Burdur with our family. We can’t wait to see our cousins ​​Gülsüm and Mehmet. We prepared our suitcases because one day was left for our trip. I also didn’t forget to take my indispensable books. My brother Barış, as always, was playing with his tablet. So, I decided to do research for our journey. After I did some research, my mother called me for the dinner.

I immediately washed my hands and went to the table. Barış stopped playing the tablet after a few calls and then, he came to the table. We had our dinner together. I continued to research after I went to my room.

According to my research, our journey was going to take 11-12 hours. Burdur was a small city. It was located in the Lakes Region. Burdur Lake was located right next to the city. Also, Salda Lake, Insuyu Cave, Sagalassos and Kibyra were among the important historical, touristic and natural beauties. I got a little tired and decided to sleep. I fell asleep dreaming of our journey and Burdur. We got up early in the morning.

My parents were getting ready for the trip. We had our breakfast together. I told Barış about the research I did in the evening. Like me, he got interested about the places we’re going to visit. My father brought our suitcases to the car. Now we were ready to go. We’ve all fastened our seat belts. Our journey has begun. During the trip, Barış showed me a picture of the bird named “Dikkuyruk” that only lives in Burdur Lake from the tablet. There was a birdhouse there. We talked that we can take a Dikkuyruk photo if we are lucky. In social media, it was written that Burdur Lake has become very small in recent years and it is in danger of disappearing if it continues to get smaller. This upset us very much.

Even though our journey took a long time, time was flowing like the water because we will see Mehmet and Gülsüm. We watched our surroundings. We read some books and then, we came to Burdur. It was late but we were very happy to see our cousins. We slept after a small chat with them. We got up early the next morning. We couldn’t decide where to go first. My aunt said: ‘Let’s go to the shore of Burdur Lake. ‘ We set off immediately. We came to the shore of the lake. The lake was smaller than I imagined. It was bigger before as I read.

The lake, whose resources have been decreasing due to the misuse of weather conditions and the effects of global warming, has started to shrink and dry. We walked a bit. We arrived at the birdhouse. The birdhouse was a tall hut made of wood. From there, they were observing the endangered Dikkuyruk. We tried to see them, but we couldn’t. We got a bit upset. Our families said we’ll go to Salda Lake from there.

Lake Salda was a place we have heard a lot of lately. Does it really have white beaches and turquoise waters? It is best to see it. When we came to Salda Lake, a white beach greeted us. It was a beautiful view. Lake Salda is a very deep lake. We put our feet in the water on the edge of the lake, but we did not enter. It was very nice. On the way back, we talked to Gülsüm and Mehmet about what we can do to prevent the lakes from drying out. For this, we thought that the simplest thing we can do is to use our water without wasting it.

We decided to visit Insuyu Cave before returning home. Insuyu Cave was very cold although the weather was hot. There were small ponds inside. There used to be more water in the past, but some are now dried up. When we came to Dilek Lake, we made a wish. Hopefully, our lakes do not dry out. When we returned home, we were very tired. We talked to Gülsüm and Mehmet about what they did in their school in the room. That week, their teacher Mrs. Canan took them on a tour to Burdur Museum. They showed us the photos they took on the trip.

There were many sculptures downstairs. On the upper floor, pottery and ornaments used by people living in the region were exhibited. They learned a lot of information about the history of the region. We had a good sleep that evening. The next day, Mehmet and Gülsüm said ‘Let’s go to Sagalassos.’ We decided to go to Sagalassos. We gathered our belongings and got in the car. After a journey between the greenery, we came to Sagalassos. It was 1700 meters above sea level. It is from the Roman period. It had a very nice view. The Antonins fountain was a beautiful place with its ancient theater and library with a capacity of nine thousand people. Gülsüm said there are other historical places in the region.

They did a project in the classroom and researched historical places. Kibyra was one of them, and it was the grand arena that caught her attention.

There was also the Medusa Mosaic, which is found nowhere else in the world but here. Some of the artifacts brought from here were exhibited in the Burdur Museum, where Gülsüm and Mehmet visited with the class. We had a very good tour today. When we returned home, Gülsüm and Mehmet’s bird, Çiko, greeted us by tweeting. Mehmet loves his bird Çiko very much. He takes care of all of the bird’s responsibilities. Nutrition, care. We liked the bird very much either. It is very important to feed an animal and take responsibility. Mehmet and Gülsüm are doing this very well. We went to many more places during the week. We ate Burdur Şiş. When we returned home, we bought the famous Ceviz Ezmesi to serve our neighbors. We have learned a lot of information that we can tell our friends. We took photos. Barış no longer uses his tablet only for gaming.

Thanks to this trip and the photos he took, he started to use it for information. Most importantly, we learned that we should not waste the water we use. Now the day has come. It will be very difficult to leave Gülsüm and Mehmet. We will miss them very much. After this trip, we decided to meet more often. After completing our preparations, we said goodbye and set off towards Giresun. Our trip was tiring but very nice. We visited and learned about Burdur. Our kinship relations were strengthened thanks to this trip. We thanked my parents for taking us on this trip. After that, they promised us to visit our relatives who lived in other cities during each holiday and then, we returned to our house in joy.

CHAPTER 2

SEVGİ  AND BARIŞ IS VISITING GIRESUN

Mehmet  was living in Giresun with his wife Yasemin  with their children Sevgi and Barış.

It was only 3 months since he came to Giresun. However, they got the news that Zeynep, their beloved family friends, was coming to Giresun  from Tunceli next day. Sevgi was looking forward to the next day. She kept saying “ I will walk her Giresun when she comes” to her mother.

Zeynep was a curious girl and was very curious about Giresun. As soon as she came, she started to ask questions about Giresun to Sevgi.

Barış had an idea and said it to his mother:

– Mum, Zeynep, is very curious about Giresun. Can you make a breakfast speacial to Giresun? You can cook kuymak, dible and kiraz kavurması for the breakfast,. So, she can start to know about Giresun from the cuisine.

Mum:

-This is a very good idea, I will do whatever you want tomorrow.

When they got up in the morning, all the things on the list came to Zeynep.

Zeynep turned to Sevgi:

– What are the ingredients of kuymak? It is very delicious.

Sevgi:

-My sweety, kuymak is cooked with corn flour, butter and a kind of cheese native of Giresun. Giresun folk love to eat kuymak at the breakfast.

After breakfast, Zeynep searched Giresun’s touristic attractions with her tablet. She was most interested in Giresun Island.

She asked to Barış:

-How can we go to Giresun Island?

Barış was smiling:

– Zeynep, boats are used to go to Giresun Island, if you want to go, let’s ask our parents and get permission.

Barış, Sevgi and Zeynep first asked their parents if they could visit the island, and then got on the boat waiting for them in the harbor.

They went upstairs and watched the Black Sea, then Zeynep was a bit hungry. “Sevgi, is there anything to eat here?” asked.

Sevgi, said vaious fishes were sold at the boat, they went down, asked the cooker what they could eat, the cooker said they could eat  various fishes like anchovy, haddock,saurel fish and red mullet.  Zeynep wanted to eat anchovy because she loved anchovy. Sevgi preferred to eat haddock. They ate freshly caught fish from the Black Sea.

At that time, the boat approached the island, when they came to the island, they encountered various plants, laurel trees, flowers and abundant greenery. When they move forward a bit on the island, they saw ancient ruins, an ancient fortress and an excavation site.

Sevgi:

-Various nations have lived on this island, but what is remarkable is that the Amazons lived here.

Zeynep:

-Amazons? What does that mean?

Sevgi:

– Amazons are warrior women. According to a legend, Hercules, who participated in the Argonauts’ Golden Post journey, also visited Giresun Island and fought with human eating birds here. Also known as female warriors, Amazons used Giresun Island as a headquarter. The island, which is considered as sacred by the city and the local people, is surrounded by walls and there are ruins of the palace and monasteries on the island.

During the trip, Zeynep noticed a huge stone and directed her camera to the rock to took a picture.

Barış walked towards Zeynep:

– Its name is Hamza Stone. It is a stone representing the mother goddess Kybele, sitting on three legs like a trivet.  He also stated that this holy stone, with its millennial history and religious beliefs, is a wish stone that gives hope to the elderly and is a mystical source of power.

Zeynep could not hide her astonishment with what she learned and constantly asked questions to Sevgi and Barış. Sevgi also said that Zeynep was very lucky because people are not always allowed to get into the island because the island was a nest for many bird species, including endangered birds.

They took nice photos with the natural beauty and the historical ruins of the island.
When Zeynep saw plenty trees, source of oxigen, on the island:
-How beautiful! Global warmng hasn’t visited here, she joked and they laughed together. They finished the island tour and returned to their boat, and it took them back to the harbor.
Sevgi turned to Zeynep:
– “Shall we go to Giresun Museum.”
Zeynep:
– Sounds great! Let’s go to Giresun Museum!