My sister emailed me commenting on the Avtepe festival saying she was looking forward to the tulip photos!  My mind must be going….I forgot the tulip photos in an email about the Tulip Festival.  Good Grief!  So here are the tulip photos.

Ru

Heidi had asked for directions from Avtepe out to the tulip fields so we set off hoping eventually to find some sign we were heading in the correct direction. I guess it there were lots of signs and it was easy to get there; there would be no tulips left to see. One of the organizers had asked to Denise to translate a notice into English telling “tulip pickers they would be prosecuted.” Being early there were few people there which was nice. We parked the car and headed off to find the tulips…in the wrong direction. Soon enough an official looking man told us we’d gone wrong and to go back and walk straight ahead from the car around some trees and shrubs and we’d find the tulips.

First we saw fields of white rock roses.

And fields of blue…somethings.

Heidi and Randal enjoying the roses but wondering, “Where are the tulips?”

.

Hunting for the tulips

Here they are…wild tulips.

Tulipa Cypria: Black Tulip

“The tulip appears to be bright scarlet, but in normal reflected light resembles its common name – Black Tulip. Distribution: Northern Cyprus only. Tulipa Agenensis occurs in Aegean Islands, Turkey, Syria, Israel and Iran.” Flowers of Northern Cyprus by Halliday and Luschington

“Habitat mostly in cereal fields, hidden below the level of the wheat, but in great numbers: 400-900 ft. alt. (Not sure what that means.) Flowers March to April.” Flowers of Northern Cyprus. Avtepe in one of the few places in Northern Cyprus where they grow.

Kalle taking some photos.

Finally we had to leave and as we drove back through Avtepe we were glad we’d stopped early in town to buy our “souvenirs.” Cars were parked half way to the next town! It would have been fun to see the dances or maybe get a glimpse of the President of North Cyprus, but we had more things to see and do and Heidi and Kalle had, at the end of the day, to drive back to Yeşiltepe.

Our next stop was the Panagia Kanakaria Church in Boltaşli. It is a lovely church and Randal and I had stopped there back in August.   http://www.mydoramac.com/wordpress/?p=8020 is the entry. I had every intention of walking through the lovely church compound until I heard those terribly enticing sheep bells so off I went to see.

Koyun (Sheep)

The shepherd and his neighbor.

Heidi, Kalle and Randal were back at the church talking with other tourists so there was no one to take the photos of me playing with the baby sheep. The shepherd had called to the lamb and it had come to him. He told it to come to me and it did and I got to play “butt my hand” with its little head against my hand. I rubbed its neck and felt the lovely wool. It was so unafraid. I raced back to the car and grabbed my “cheat notebook” and ran back to show it to the shepherd so he could read what I still haven’t memorized. It tells about Randal and me and where we live and that we like Cyprus. It also says I worked in a public library and that impressed the shepherd very much. I had one of our flag bandannas in my backpack so gave it to the young boy. I finally left my new friends and ran back to the car where Heidi, Kalle and Randal were patiently waiting for me and off we went to Bafra.