i have spent the first 19 years of my time in samsun. and it has been 3.5 years since i moved to ankara. they are both home to me, no matter where life drags me.
i am filled with emotions while arriving / leaving from them. one can always be devastated to leave a place, but if they don't smell the old familiar feeling upon arriving,
it is not their home. ankara and samsun both make me feel this way, so i will take the liberty to speak about them as a local, not a tourist.
the mighty desert
the memes infact reflect the reality, it is a one big desert (at least the outskirts) full of uphill roads and it is too fucking cold in here. the youth here have become photographers trying to make the city seem
beautiful in the social media. not going to lie, the city gives me the retro vibes sometimes, but it is heaviliy overexaggareted by the people. i am living
in one of the most popular neighborhoods, life is alright here. but living in mamak and defending ankara like your life depends on it is just ..... meaningless.
the public transportation system sucks heavily, it is just barely faster than walking. and taking the taxi is starting to become a pain in the ass as the traffic
density has grew expotentially over the last two years. after the earthquake, ankara received a lot of immigration and the motorways were not ready for this.
taking the metro is another pain as after 5pm it is indifferent from the indian metro.
it is not the greatest city, but i like it in here. the gourmet tours with the boys are more than enough, and in addition to that, i had the opportunity
to attend various festivals, concerts, plays (l'avare alice, take a bow). saved the best for last, world's 8th wonder is scattered through ankara. the IF SOKAK franchise.
god i love the place. if IF SOKAK has a million customers, then i am one of them. if IF SOKAK ten customers, then i am one of them. if IF SOKAK has only one customer,
then that is me. if IF SOKAK has no customers, then that means i am no longer on the planet earth. if the world is against IF SOKAK, then i am against the world.
i mostly hang out at the tepe prime branch, say hi if you see me there.
"ankara'da ya okunur ya da aşık olunur zaten." luckily, i did them both once upon a time, even though they did not turn out like i wanted them to be.
king of the north
the city is known for its reputation of constantly dominating third page news. not all of us are gun owners in samsun, but can be the case in the counties far away from the city center.
like in ankara we have a safe haven named atakum (it's counterpart in ankara is çankaya, excluding kızılay ofc.). the traffic problem persists and it is now worse than ever, but i have
the chance to take my bike to anywhere i go. the food are delicious (try pastırmalı yumurtalı pide, i know the name sounds scary), the weather is nice, almost indifferent from california, the coastline is wonderful and still
growing. and the city is well-developed, public transportation is also fine. this summer, i have visited a very crowded city at the south coast (starts with m). that city was no match to samsun, it even
lacked any form of official public transportation. unbelievable. we also have a very successful football team at the moment, currently 3rd at the super lig.
what else do you expect? well, there are no jobs suitable for me at samsun unfortunately and that is a deal breaker. so it is unlikely for me to live there. but very likely to visit.
or move permenantly after retirement since samsun is one of the best cities to live in this sorry country.
right now, i am saving up money to bring IF SOKAK to samsun. we can be partners if you want (and have the money). contact me.