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A Breath of Fresh Air with Terra Mudurnu

 

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Since my last post had me mourning my inability to travel this spring and waxing lyrical about last year’s March trip to Bologna, it seemed only fair I should also remember fondly a domestic trip from last March: Mudurnu. 

Mudurnu is a deep-rooted historic town located in the western Black Sea, in the province of Bolu. A historic guild town situated on the Silk Road, it was an important center of trade, crafts, and culture in the early Ottoman period. 

Nestled in the Mudurnu Stream valley, the town stretches between the rocky and forested hills of the Abant Mountains to the northeast, the Kocaman Mountains in the southwest, and Erenler Hill in the southwest. It’s an incredibly green district thanks to its abundant water resources. About 70% of the district is forest and mountains. Coming from Istanbul, it was like being on an entirely different planet! The Mudurnu Stream cuts through the town before merging with the Sakarya River in the west.

How on earth did I get involved in a village in Bolu, hours drive from Istanbul? That would be thanks to my friend and former neighbor Dr. Ayşe Ege Yıldırım and Terra Mudurnu.

Terra Mudurnu

Founded in July, 2021 by Dr. Ayşe Ege Yıldırım, Terra Mudurnu is a culture, tourism, and real estate company as part of her mission to turn Mudurnu, a Cittaslow (Slow City) and UNESCO World Heritage candidate, into a high-end tourism destination, and a community where young people would want to live. Terra Mudurnu’s main mission towards this goal is to protect and restore significant cultural assets in Mudurnu, especially those in need of urgent repair, and use them to generate income for local socio-economic benefit. She uses, as a roadmap, the Sustainable Development plan adopted by the UN, and you can read more about it here.

In 2022. after extensive and careful restoration, Terra Mudurnu opened the Madanlar Mansion. A three-story mansion, with four guest rooms, Madanlar is a beautiful example of traditional local architecture with wooden ceiling motifs unique to Mudurnu houses, divans in the bay window, and sofa areas. Mudurnu houses were built large and to accommodate three generations of a family. Ground floors were generally used as woodsheds, closets, and barns. Often ovens and water tanks would also be on the ground floor, sometimes extending into the garden. Subsequent floors held common areas and individual family and bedrooms. The second floor would have low ceilings and small windows with high ceilings reserved for the third floor. Elaborate woodwork decorated the outside, the eves, and balconies. 

Akhism and the Craftsman Prayer

Mudurnu is well-known for continuing the tradition of Akhism. It is a fundamental element of the town’s identity and, Terra Mudurnu believes, its most valuable intangible heritage. The Ahi order is a guild system tradition is based on a philosophy of tolerance and fair distribution of earnings. The word “ahi” has two possible origins: 

-from the Turkish “ahı, aki” meaning “open-handed, generous,” or

– from the Arabic “ihve” meaning “brother”

Either way, the generous nature of those who practice this tradition is alive and well in Mudurnu. Terra Mudurnu’s website explains:

Ahilik is a association of tradesmen and craftsmen with moral, philosophical and political principles, founded by Ahi Evran in the 13th century by the Turks in Anatolia, the Balkans and the Crimea. This association was established to provide cooperation, business ethics and solidarity between artisans and craftsmen in Anatolia. Mudurnu is the only district in Turkey that preserves and sustains the Ahi-order tradition, which is based on reason, morality, science and work. Demirciler Bazaar and small shopkeepers still work in Arasta, which is located in three parallel streets in the historical center of the district, and the Craftsmen’s Prayer, which is a tradition of the Ahi community, is held on two parallel streets, the Middle Bazaar and the Demirciler Bazaar, right after knelling on Fridays. At the end of the prayer, food to be eaten by hand, such as bread and Turkish delight, is distributed as a symbol of doing ‘charity’.

What to do in Mudurnu

Aside from enjoying the beauty of the region and its architecture, what else is there to do in Mudurnu? 

• Most towns have farmers markets. There are any number of them most days of the week in Istanbul alone. What makes Mudurnu’s Saturday market a draw for visitors though are the local products, things we rarely see outside the Black Sea. Not only will you find vendors here selling fruits and vegetables, you can get local honey and honeycomb (and since Turkey is increasingly accused of selling fake honey at home and abroad, local honey is very desirable), local-made butter, regional pasta and other dough products, and much more. 
• The tradition of the autumn fair in Mudurnu is very old and survived during the transition period from the Ottoman to the Republican period. The aim of the fair, which lasts for three to four days in September, is for the rural people to sell their products and buy the goods they need after the harvest season. Tradesmen groups set up tents under which they sell their wares while sporting events and children’s entertainment happen around the fairgrounds. 
• Handicrafts are another part of Mudurnu’s lasting cultural heritage. Since the Ottoman period, needle work and lacemaking from here were famous and much sought-after. Other forms of craftsmanship, especially metal and leather works, contributed hugely to the economy. Mudurnu’s blacksmiths, coppersmiths, tanners, goat-sword weavers, shoemakers, tailors, stove-makers, and saddle-makers, dominated these trades in the region until the late 20th century. Luckily for visitors though, you can still find a handful of craftsman in the main Arasta continuing some of this work today. 
• Eating! As with most places across Turkey, restaurants offer regional and local dishes that originate here. Mudurnu even has a few registered geographical indication dishes including Mudurnu pumpkin gözleme, Mudurnu basma halva, and kaşıksapı (“kesh” made from the dough wrapped around the spoon, a kind of pasta cooked with walnuts and local butter). While here you can also try regional specialty soups such as cranberry and tarhana (a soup made from dried yogurt).

Wine tasting at Madanlar

So what was I doing there? Giving a wine tasting, of course! There aren’t (currently) any wineries located in the Bolu province. As such, I brought some of my favorite wines along with me. Guests who came with me from Istanbul, along with a few people living locally, gathered in one of Madanlar’s sofa lounges for an informal and convivial tasting of native Turkish grapes from around the country. 

It’s always nice to kick things off with bubbles, so I uncapped a couple bottles of Paşaeli Naif Çal Karası Blush Pét-nat. This was a really fun wine to bring along as I learned that several people in attendance hadn’t ever had or heard of pét-nat.

After the pét-nat, we moved onto the whites with Kayra Buzbağ Rezerv, a rather unusual blend of Emir and Narince and perennial favorite Vinkara Hasandede. From there, a rosé with the Suvla Karasakız blush (which I quite like despite not overly loving the winery), then two reds with Argos Nahita Dokya Kalecik Karası, a great example of how volcanic soil effects the Kalecik Karası grape, and finally the Saranta Chateau Murou Öküzgözü, one of the few versions of this grape I like. 

I have seen a lot of Turkey. Thrace and the Aegean region mostly but I’ve also been to the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, Central, Northeastern, and Southeastern Anatolia…but always for wine. It’s pretty rare that I have visited anywhere just to see and to experience; which made my trip to Mudurnu a welcome change from my regular travel. Even more so, I’ve known Ege for years and for the majority of time I’ve known her, she’s worked on heritage restoration projects in Mudurnu (even before founding Terra Mudurnu). I was so happy to finally see what she’s been up to all these years!