![]() Piously he recollects his pilgrimage to Mecca and his visits to the tombs of Nasreddin Hoca and other saints. With an architect’s eye he describes the beautiful bathhouses of Sofia and Bitlis. With documentary precision he catalogues cities, their population, economy and revenue. Wherever he went, he sought out the company of dervishes, investigated local mysteries and recorded what he saw and heard. And I hope that Evliya, when he passed through Elmalı on the climb into the Domaniç Mountains, enjoyed a version of the exquisite makarna that we were served there, baked with butter and sprinkled with spicy chopped pieces of lamb cooked with garlic and parsley.Įvliya called himself “a wandering dervish and world traveller”, which is to say that he was a pious Muslim with the inquiring, scientific mind characteristic of the era, as well as the broad and bawdy sense ofįun of the wandering Sufi. I recall how the local village-baked bread tasted marvellously different wherever we went, much as it must have done in his day. He tells of spending 40 days with companions on summer pastures south of Sofia, “savouring the regional delights… trout that we caught in the lake and cooked in butter… milk and cream and yoghurt, curds and whey and buttermilk and beestings and cheeses, and butter-baked breads and pastries” and “fattening ourselves on roasted lamb”.ĭespite rumours to the contrary, we never did manage to procure a lamb for roasting while on the 2009 Evliya Çelebi Ride (see Cornucopia 43), but I will never forget sampling all those other delicacies, as well as the “strawberries and chestnuts, wild pears, sour plums, medlars and rowan berries” that Evliya enjoyed. Composed from notes kept during more than 40 years of journeys throughout imperial lands when the Ottoman Empire was at its most extensive, Evliya’s often astonishing record opens up life in an era still little known and understood, and reveals a man fascinated by everything he saw. Born in Istanbul and raised at the court of Murad IV, he also liked to travel and do a lot of other things, as readers will quickly discover. IncludingĪn informative introduction, a useful guide to literary allusions, a glossary, several maps and a generous selection of full-colour illustrations, this is a beautiful book at a reasonable price that connoisseurs of Turkey will want to read and reread, and which deserves to find its way onto university reading lists.Įvliya Çelebi liked to eat. ![]() The publication of this wonderfully rich, lively selection from the ten volumes of Evliya’s manuscript, in a clear, vigorous and atmospheric English translation, is sure to bring this monumental work the attention it deserves. For far too long, Evliya Çelebi (1611–c1684) and his Book of Travels have been almost entirely unknown outside Turkey, and little read except by scholars.
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