Since the year 2006, local authorities and owners of old Ottoman style houses, began their restoration projects and boosted this amazing part of Eskisehir. The neighborhood is called Sahin and is to be found in southeast of the spread out city center.

As I came there almost exactly during the golden hour, I've set my camera on shutter priority with about 400 ISO, to make sure my photos wil be sharp and yet retain as much colour as possible. Keeping the shutter speed low, helps to maintain aperture of around 6.5 or higher which is needed with medium to far away objects. For close-ups where dept of field is needed the story would be different of course.

I am a big fan of this style of architecture. Not that I would be against building high rises, but apart from looking at them from a big distance, they don't seem to add much value to the city. Maybe to it's owner yes, but once you're actually in the city center, those small houses and streets are just pleasure to walk around. Practicalities aside, but the fact that almost no cars are present and you're free to look around without being overrun by a speeding taxi is awesome.

Also the ancient knowledge mirrors itself here. Those extended first floors, serve as a shelter against rain for a random by walker.

Local cafes are also somewhat cool, with a beatnik vibe to them. One could see if alcohol and drugs were more accepted in Turkish society, this place would be full of hippies. But who knows, maybe the new gen outcasts, will be happy just with tea...

The old town spreads itself on slight climb and the higher I go, the worse condition the houses find themselves at. A real tragedy. And that is not the case just here, but in most places with enormous historical value and little to no support or economical chance for survival. Be it Ottoman architecture in Turkey, or village houses all around Balkans or communist villas in former Soviet republic of Georgia. They all have something in common, they are slowly but surely becoming ghost towns. We really do need new generations of hippies to take over of such areas.

Maybe it is just my naivety or sheer wishful thinking, but the coming economical crisis and draconian plandemic measures might push right kind of people into such areas and we can see renaissance as never before. Wouldn't it be amazing to see today's ghost towns to change into digital or off the grid communities, supported by crypto mining operations and small scale agriculture, eco-tourism and arts.

Hopefully we can one day wake up to such reality...

All the best,

Global Local