Traditional Turkish Kiraathanesi

Yesterday I went to a traditional Turkish Kiraathanesi Called Gönül. This time with another flatmate of me, who explained me that the word Kiraathanesi means something like 'a place to read'.

When I entered the place it was already 11 pm., but the place was still very crowded with many people who were playing enthusiastically their games.
The owner of the place invited us to a table with him. He took his time to answer my questions. I asked him for example why there are no women in places like this. He said that it's not common for women to come here. This place is more like a men's club, where they can speak out loud about there work and home situation. Women are not really forbidden to enter, but it's just not happening. This culture of meetings for men dates back from the Ottoman's time and is until now one of the Turkish traditions.

The men in the bar play many different games such as Tavla (Backgammon) and Okey (in Belgium known as Rumikub). The owner noticed that most of the time, the loser of the game has to pay the bill. In real those losers are most of the time in debt with the owner. But because they all know each other, it's not a big deal.

After this explanations it was time to take some pictures. The owner proudly showed every corner of his bar. And everybody in the place wanted to be on the picture.
He also putted my attention on his snack bar, because that's very exclusive in bars like this.

At the end I realised that this bar isn't quiet different from the bar for homeless people. It's just the same concept and also the people looked the same for me. So I wonder why their has to be a place for homeless people apart from the traditional Kiraathanesi.

I finished my (free) drink and went home to sleep.

Kiraathanesi for poor and homeless people

Last Sunday I visited, with one of my flatmates, two bars for homeless and poor people. The bars are also called Kiraathanesi. Before I went to such a bar I was expecting some dangerous or weird place with people who are isolated of the community. But happily after all, it wasn't anything like that. The people in those bars were very friendly and eager to get on the picture with me. They also liked to talk about their occupations in the bar. Such as playing games, have a betting or just have small talks about their past days.

On the following picture you see me with an owner of a Kiraathanesi. He loved to be on the picture with me. Later he also explained how to play Tavla (also known as Backgammon). Unexpectedly I even won the game.
These funny looking guys were playing the cards and they tried to explain how it works, but I couldn't exactly get the rules. When I asked who is winning, they both said 'I am'.


On the first Kiraathanesi I joined some gentlemen in front of the bar. Because it's not allowed to smoke inside, there are always people sitting outside.

These guys were betting on horses. They were arguing all the time which would be the best horse today. During their discussion they could make some time for a picture.

After a couple of teas and some traditional games I went home with a new experience in my pocket.