![IMG_3173 - Copia.JPG](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/alecaltab/23zGYR3ZfwZ3jP3NyCUEPuikbnGkCTrS18sepMMFtgEz2SDjZSv3fZb2CYV1LibH5inUW.JPG)
*Climbing rocks in front of the Watch Tower.*
---

**Ciao, Hive family!** ✌️

Let's complete the story of my travel in **Turkey**. In the previous episode, I showed you two interesting places in **Sivrihisar** ([here](https://peakd.com/hive-163772/@alecaltab/exploring-turkey-chapter-3-sivrihisars-bazaar-and-grand-mosque)).
Today, I will show you **an overview of the remaining pics taken in this town**: each one of them mirrors the memory of a precious moment for me, but I  hope they will also give you **inspiration** for a future travel...

<h4>The Watch Tower (Saat Kulesi)</h4>

![IMG-20210809-WA0053.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/alecaltab/EqfGSNtth3BLU6HoFPf8BpHNRhmVt66QbnFnJmwzo5phtfqTbhKaQyBFHmri8zf347B.jpg)
---
The **Watch Tower** (Saat Kulesi) is one of the most iconic places of Sivrihisar.
It was built in 1899 on a high rocky peak, in order to be visible from every part of the village. For the same reason, **I was curious to reach the top and enjoy a perfect view of the whole town from above**. I sat on the rocks with some friends, <strong>in silence, breathing pure freedom and losing the sense of time.</strong>

![IMG_3113.JPG](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/alecaltab/245TBTw8YNYBRnkqH6DDoHAC2BUTDENb8Spq8WALnVo1Fq2aXTCukLcbb7T9GZjFBSQsE.JPG)

<div class="pull-left">
https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/alecaltab/23w2aXruh9NJ8tsSBP7z9v7X9eD1BW8GCovKK9QE3XSA7RJ4iRaHsDuogCfVo6HaxP8VH.JPG
</div>
<div class="pull-right">
<img src="https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/alecaltab/23vPQwWPu7Hm6KXHBrzEQkDfALPo3rHNVwNkQTqSaSMeH4SBe7iiT72WJeM6nRWx3k6Y1.jpg" alt="IMG_20210714_194034 - Copia.jpg">
</div>

_____

Little curiosity about this place. Around the Watch Tower <strong>there are many other interesting points</strong>: other rocky peaks, a centenary <strong>Christian church</strong> built for the first Armenian refugees, some little <strong>bars </strong>in which you can sit and get a cold drink, and a curious park full of... <strong>stone figures</strong>!
<strong>The strangest detail is that these statues seem to move around, if you look at them distractly</strong>. But I can reassure you, in the end they are definitely motionless. Each one of them represents an important character or moment of Turkish history.

<img src="https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/alecaltab/23ywnbb5LgKTSZ6HSHgcG5YmaNsBriRZXrRuaq5CCFraSJbFhtHPyYYUkGfo7q5n8pnc8.JPG" alt="IMG_3077.JPG">
<img src="https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/alecaltab/23wqkBWfWs6R8dFuyufgp7kU7j8Hovk7GZcN7AqeXXs1z5TppjVepBfujbastm3zyujyB.JPG" alt="IMG_3059.JPG">
<div class="pull-left">
<img src="https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/alecaltab/23w2gc7ivBRHQNX6JQ1QvUo6MGoMccswDmbEQmiWKtE7BXMCHspFgMDbSLrz3DgTaXaDW.JPG" alt="IMG_3066.JPG">
</div>
<div class="pull-right">
<img src="https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/alecaltab/23w2o85SieMuRdunwdC25LjRUDLyega36BPucveNsfDbxt7sQeHYYjZ6PaCwLy8DnFMFg.JPG" alt="IMG_3086.JPG">
</div>
But not everything is made of stone, around there. <strong>I found at least something moving</strong>, <strong>something animated and alive</strong>, and was a wonderful surprise...
<img src="https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/alecaltab/243Bq2QfdWqy69hF7M5gPPKGkoYyZFFn9bEi3w8aydVjWSKbU7DdknbMMf6DXQK55McaY.JPG" alt="tart.JPG">
This little creature <strong>warmed up my heart with his company</strong> for a while. As a lover of animals, <strong>I took care of him watching his back until he finally managed to reach a safe place</strong>. His presence in this park offers an interesting insight into <strong>how wild this area is</strong>, despite human habitation.

<h4>The House of Culture (Kültür Evi)</h4>

This very ancient building, restorated in recent years, is now a museum in which <strong>you can explore the culture of Sivrihisar, its history and customs, its food and traditional clothing</strong>.
This place is also connected to <strong>Nasreddin Hodja, a popular character of Turkish and Muslim culture</strong>. He's also represented in the garden of stone statues that I showed you earlier, but you can see even in the picture below: <strong>an old man riding his donkey</strong>, as he often does in the popular tales that have him as protagonist.
<strong>His presence hovers throughout the whole house</strong>.

<img src="https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/alecaltab/23yJBuV9rNtDEmJgiNek5TGcXbFhiAS75uYx1wFESZhHqut8fkXGNEuCuQ4KNac6C3Gyv.JPG" alt="hocu - Copia.JPG">
<img src="https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/alecaltab/23wgWHg7rAv6rxHSiWXssNp1p75jL79qVX12gWRugWFcFGKE3rKvUkqd2mLJ6wVrDs9uR.JPG" alt="IMG_2944.JPG">
<div class="pull-left">
<img src="https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/alecaltab/AJTCfmZeyWXCNsi2DUrPSW7JsJfoQj1cwTbgfAYeD5Hb3WXamBoZAEs9jtDERfD.JPG" alt="IMG_2919.JPG">
</div>
<div class="pull-right">
<img src="https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/alecaltab/ALJsWynPtFE6cKZssLehjBPZhfaBZEiDzTUyS6x44jTzL2dijP3Z7agJu4CVa6m.JPG" alt="IMG_2934.JPG">
</div>
<div class="pull-left">
<img src="https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/alecaltab/23wC9UzXYRAnzLHSM1T7Y7DQhEMfwLsza9E7gfa5CUamD8BpjdVTzjv4k1WcP8jy6rBpr.JPG" alt="IMG_2933.JPG">
</div>
<div class="pull-right">
<img src="https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/alecaltab/EqL9mVFWKBzQ2bxDCWisrp7cDKFHsLeR3dGizaJ2ZE63oASpsqn7dq3Tc3C4yfCkf1v.JPG" alt="IMG_2936.JPG">
</div>

<em>Details from the House of Culture</em>.

-----

<h4>M.S.Ö. Air and Space Museum</h4>

This museum is located in <strong>Yeşilköy</strong>,  about 13 km on the southwest of Sivrihisar, in a kind of rocky desert area. <strong>The temperature was about 53°C</strong>, probably because of the rocks scorched by the sun, so I had a further very good reason to enter the museum as soon as possible: <strong>air conditioning</strong>!

<img src="https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/alecaltab/23xp4Xe4YWKVy5kEZb3Vt8rEFPeyjDj3y3qRZZ7CdRQqhkAT5buEdzj3RYDi6FZEpd9jF.JPG" alt="IMG_3238.JPG">
<img src="https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/alecaltab/23xefWeiuSP7DVtNXxy9hfqftB1RHv9bEjhPMCwMorcwUdPncEy6FEqQVrBrEnG7R5oSd.JPG" alt="IMG_3243.JPG">
<img src="https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/alecaltab/23y8sU1MdLKWXB1GcFgTL7iGfEAkax4mb2634AFEHhjZCHWxQQ1qgJPX3gdgWwfGpufub.JPG" alt="IMG_3224.JPG">
<div class="pull-left">
<img src="https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/alecaltab/23vi1YRzZ2j8v4i2dLEe1bu6oxgF5i6uJJFQnwatsmiyXknqWcuuQsc4Z8hpDLbcnX3Wm.JPG" alt="IMG_3225.JPG">
</div>
<div class="pull-right">
<img src="https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/alecaltab/23zGesZzA5bHtmnAuPkcSWghQXKu4QTjYj6EY9M59EzuAP3Hpf3mFNyBSDLCNtQPdZwV9.JPG" alt="IMG_3227.JPG">
</div>
<img src="https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/alecaltab/242hUa2UQqPJ2gKjK6bUGPfLuJ5r6ixjPGH9WiF7GNbWWk2EfmUKD64ygnPhkg9mDdYVX.JPG" alt="IMG_3244.JPG">
<div class="pull-left">
<img src="https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/alecaltab/ALQbFGfN4vn82ozBgU9J3DRzA4P2bifvjzgo4Dvu2R9hYDJfbVgsivEPhPKLq3g.JPG" alt="IMG_3245.JPG">
</div>
<div class="pull-right">
<img src="https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/alecaltab/AKSdLRTwTy2ZMnohMsd9Pvb4PCNBSvKF2uzARzHhhaXXX3y74bpha8jYd6HZiye.JPG" alt="IMG_3250.JPG">
</div>

---

This is basically the end of my story in <strong>Sivrihisar</strong>. Or better saying, <strong>I thought it was the end</strong>. A couple of days later, while I was walking alone in the streets of Istanbul, a Turkish friend that I left in Sivrihisar sent me a message: "<strong>You're on the newspapers</strong>".
"<strong>Italian ones? How do you know that?</strong>".
"<strong>No no, Turkish ones</strong>"
"<strong>Eh?</strong>".
She immediately sent me pictures of some local and regional newspapers, and then I recognized this photograph. As a Leader of the Italian team in the international event I took part in, with Spanish, Portuguese and Turkish Leaders, <strong>we had actually met the mayor of Sivrihisar a couple of days before, we had shaken hands and taken a photograph together</strong>.
Just... I totally forgot it, didn't have idea that it would have been spammed on Turkish newspapers 😂 
</div>
<img src="https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/alecaltab/Eos4fhb3RBC7u3CbSPNPZCj9fMfJEdcBHJZX3kg1RYQGJ3D9YLhn2gcTGBdaaSdXQH5.jpg" alt="giornale 2.jpg">
</div>

-----

As I said, my travel finished in <strong>Istanbul</strong>... but this is another story 😁
<img src="https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/alecaltab/23t74yQxZQKGDui55hunhwUYQccxtDWqw1AKP4vDNPb4V4mbc7tUiYpANEMr9pFtroYfW.JPG" alt="IMG_3316.JPG">
<em>Finally, <strong>Istanbul</strong>, with its mosques and fishermen!</em>
<img src="https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/alecaltab/23tv8R38TVWxwJs1qH766Vs5AKxWETMe7h1ZJMFnJ6kbXHL5PA3cqPPwRqBiZVJyGaXXB.JPG" alt="IMG_3300.JPG">
<em>The <strong>Tower of Galata </strong>at night.</em>
<img src="https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/alecaltab/23tRxim3Y7EmykY52D4PqFKDvEbiUUAELGvdRb5WjMhkuYVeUsZDcjXEADjpA9ZGVAQGE.jpg" alt="IMG_20210719_011031.jpg">
<strong>Ugly selfie</strong> 😆😅 the last picture I took in this travel. Exhausted, but happy as I hadn't feel in a long time.


----
In conclusion, you can visit Sivrihisar if you're passing through this region</strong> and are looking for a <strong>slow, calm village after days spent in a hectic city</strong>. Life is so different here from Istanbul and the other big cities I saw in Turkey. Furthermore, <strong>my friendship with other foreigners and the chance to meet the authentic local people</strong>, people who weren't even able to speak English but showed me incredible care, love and respect, <strong>made all the difference</strong>.

----


<h3>As always, my last thought is for you. <strong>Thank you so much for your attention and your precious time. It's a pleasure to be here again</strong>! 🙏</h3>

----


<strong>See you on the road,</strong>


<center>
<em><h4>Alessandro</h4></em>
</center>


[//]:# (!pinmapple 39.45306 lat 31.53699 long d3scr)