My Turkey Vacation

Last June, my wife & i spent a great 10 days holidaying in beautiful Turkey. This marvellous country has a lot to offer... culture, sun, sea, good weather and very friendly people. I would strongly recommend this wonderful country to anyone! And so for today i would like to share with you a set of stamps from this wonderful country. Issued in 2008, this stamp set commemorates the 800th anniversary of the birth of Nasreddin Hodja.
Nasreddin Hodja was born in 1208 in Hortu village near town Sivrihisar (near Afyon) in the west part of Central Anatolia. In 1237, he moved to Aksehir town to study under notably scholars of the time as Seyid Mahmud Hayrani and Seyid Haci Ibrahim. He served as Kadi, Muslim judge, from time to time till his death in 1284.
Nasreddin Hodja was a philosopher, wise, witty man with a good sense of humor. Whose jokes were part of his daily life and they became accepted and welcomed by the public since his time.

Let's enjoy the stamps...

1. Eat my fur coat, eat

One day Nasreddin Hodja went to a banquet. As he was dressed rather shabbily, no one let him in. So he ran home, put on his best robe and fur coat and returned. Immediately, the host came over, greeted him and ushered him to the head of an elaborate banquet table. When the food was served, Hodja took some soup with spoon and pushed it to the his fur coat and said, "Eat my fur coat, eat! It's obvious that you're the real guest of honor today, not me!"

2. Riding the donkey backwards

One day Nasreddin Hodja was riding his donkey backwards, facing towards the back."Hodja" the people said, "you are sitting on your donkey backwards!" "No." he replied. "My friend here wanted to go one way and I wanted to go the other, so we are compromising."

3. Hodja & the Pot

Nasreddin Hodja borrowed a large cooking pot from a neighbour for a few days. Before he returned the pot, he put a smaller pot inside.Seeing the small pot the neighbour enquired "What is that?" Hodja replied "Oh, your pot gave birth."The neighbour was confused but he accepted the two pots.Some days later, Hodja borrowed the large cooking pot again but he never returned it. When the neighbour asked for his pot, Hodja exclaimed "I am very sad to tell you that your pot died recently!" "Don't be foolish, Hodja," said the neighbour. "Cooking pots don't die." "Are you sure?" asked Hodja. "It didn't surprise you to hear that your pot had given birth."

4. Turning a lake into yogurt

One day a fisherman saw Hodja pouring the remains of his yogurt into Aksehir Lake. "Hodja, what are you doing?" the fisherman asked. " I am turning the lake into yogurt." Hodja replied. "Can a little bit of yeast ferment the great lake?" The fisherman asked. "You never know perhaps it might." Hodja replied, "but what if it should!"

For more stories of Nasreddin Hodja, click here

Lastly, I would like to share with you some pics of our beautiful vacation.

My wife, Ash with Blue Mosque in the background
At Ataturk Mausoleum
Turkish flag outside the Underground City of Kaymakli
Fairy Chimneys in Cappadocia
More Fairy Chimneys!!
Nasreddin Hodja! Another view of Nasreddin Hodja
Pamukkale a.k.a. Cotton Castle
Temple of Hadrian in Ephesus
The Roman Celsus Library in Ephesus
Hagia Sophia in the background
Bosphorus Bridge, connecting Asia to Europe