Yesterday, four of my friends and I visited Beypazarı to do some Christmas shopping. Beypazarı is about 60 miles northwest of Ankara. We took a dolmuş to ANKAmall and then caught the Beypazarı bus under the overpass.
The little town was so cute! I loved the white and brown houses and cobblestone streets:
One of the things Beypazarı is known for is its carrots. We saw several carrot juice stands. I didn’t try any, but I love the carrots in Turkey – they’re a lot sweeter than the carrots in the States.
By the time we finally got there we were super hungry, so we grabbed a quick lunch. We had a little room to ourselves. It felt so good to get in from the cold!
I ordered tarhana soup to warm up and a speciality of Beypazari called güveci. Güveci is lamb mixed with rice, some veggies, and spices.
While we ate our lunch, it started snowing outside. It was the first snow we had seen this winter! It started snowing lightly, but then the flakes got bigger and bigger and the snow came down faster and faster.
I think it was one of the first snows of the season in Beypazarı. Kids came out to play and throw snowballs and all of the Turkish shopkeepers were in a good mood. It was so beautiful and kind of magical! We didn’t get much snow in Turkey last year. I felt like I was home in Michigan crunching along in the snow.
Aside from checking out shops and stopping for some çay and baklava, we didn’t explore a lot since it was so cold. I’d love to go back when it’s warmer out! There were a lot of empty street stands that I’m sure are overflowing with beautiful produce in the warmer months.
A few travel notes if you’re in Anakra: the Beypazari bus comes on the hour near ANKAmall. The ride one way costs 9TL and it took a little over an hour and a half to get there.