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We took our first family trip when Viki graduated from 19 Mayis and Sara entered Saint Benoit Highschool [French Catholic school], to Ankara. We had a whole week’s vacation during a holiday. Four couples as friends, we wamted to see the museums in Ankara and Anitkabir [tomb of Ataturk [9]], with our children. We went to theaters too. We had gone by bus.
As soon as we arrived in Ankara, we rented a minivan. Every day, we went around in that.
We went to hot springs in Yalova once, too. But, trips outside the country, my wife and I took it alone. We went to Israel in the 1970’s for the first time for both of us. We went by boat to Haifa, cruising through the whole Mediterranean. We also disembarked in Cyprus (Cyprus was under British rule then).
Turkish money was very valuable in those days, and we would get two Greek drahmas for a Turkish lira.
The reason I went to Israel was to visit my relatives. Because there were people who immigrated from here in 1948. They lived in Batyam and its surroundings, we used to correspond with letters.
My older sister’s children and my girls are the same age. They used to go to the movie theater together in Sisli. However, during the summer months, even when we lived on Kumbaraci Hill, we started going to Buyukada [largest one in the chain of islands called Princess Islands, south of Istanbul, on the Marmara sea].
At the time, Greeks were more prevalent on the island. There were Jews too of course. A lot of languages were spoken. In the 1960’s.. There were a lot of languages like Greek, Spanish, Italian, and French. The Greeks on the island were happy people who loved nightlife, and having fun. Even when they were returning home, at night time, they would sing songs as a group.
The atmosphere was very cheerful. Later on, when they left, Turkish started to become the main language. Of course, their absence was felt. Now there is no nightlife on the island. The young people prefer Istanbul. It is nice for older people and young people with babies.
There weren’t as many houses as there are now, of course, we had rented a house made of wood. This house was close to the boat dock, on the hill that goes to Anadolu Club, and belonged to a Greek woman. There was no view of the sea. The rent was approximately 700 – 800 liras. The kids were little.
We used to go to Sedef island [fifth and smallest one on the Princess Islands chain] to swim in the sea, sometimes we went to Yorukali beach. We carried meals from home too sometimes. On the weekends we would go to Dil [translation: Tongue, part of Buyukada that sticks out like a tongue] with our daughters for a picnic.
We would prepare meatball sandwiches from home. The island was always beautiful. We had a lot of friends. We would get together, have a lot of fun amongst ourselves. There were open-air movie theaters, 2-3 of them, there was Cambaz in Lalahatun (today it is a clinic), the girls used to go there a lot to watch movies. We sometimes got together in friends’ houses and played cards. We were fond of card games. Bezik, Blum, Pishti [names of games], sometimes Poker.
We used to play lotto. We conversed. We had fun, as you can see.
As soon as we arrived in Ankara, we rented a minivan. Every day, we went around in that.
We went to hot springs in Yalova once, too. But, trips outside the country, my wife and I took it alone. We went to Israel in the 1970’s for the first time for both of us. We went by boat to Haifa, cruising through the whole Mediterranean. We also disembarked in Cyprus (Cyprus was under British rule then).
Turkish money was very valuable in those days, and we would get two Greek drahmas for a Turkish lira.
The reason I went to Israel was to visit my relatives. Because there were people who immigrated from here in 1948. They lived in Batyam and its surroundings, we used to correspond with letters.
My older sister’s children and my girls are the same age. They used to go to the movie theater together in Sisli. However, during the summer months, even when we lived on Kumbaraci Hill, we started going to Buyukada [largest one in the chain of islands called Princess Islands, south of Istanbul, on the Marmara sea].
At the time, Greeks were more prevalent on the island. There were Jews too of course. A lot of languages were spoken. In the 1960’s.. There were a lot of languages like Greek, Spanish, Italian, and French. The Greeks on the island were happy people who loved nightlife, and having fun. Even when they were returning home, at night time, they would sing songs as a group.
The atmosphere was very cheerful. Later on, when they left, Turkish started to become the main language. Of course, their absence was felt. Now there is no nightlife on the island. The young people prefer Istanbul. It is nice for older people and young people with babies.
There weren’t as many houses as there are now, of course, we had rented a house made of wood. This house was close to the boat dock, on the hill that goes to Anadolu Club, and belonged to a Greek woman. There was no view of the sea. The rent was approximately 700 – 800 liras. The kids were little.
We used to go to Sedef island [fifth and smallest one on the Princess Islands chain] to swim in the sea, sometimes we went to Yorukali beach. We carried meals from home too sometimes. On the weekends we would go to Dil [translation: Tongue, part of Buyukada that sticks out like a tongue] with our daughters for a picnic.
We would prepare meatball sandwiches from home. The island was always beautiful. We had a lot of friends. We would get together, have a lot of fun amongst ourselves. There were open-air movie theaters, 2-3 of them, there was Cambaz in Lalahatun (today it is a clinic), the girls used to go there a lot to watch movies. We sometimes got together in friends’ houses and played cards. We were fond of card games. Bezik, Blum, Pishti [names of games], sometimes Poker.
We used to play lotto. We conversed. We had fun, as you can see.
Period
Interview
Nesim Levi