CONSOLE WERRY'S JOURNEY TO BUCA

It was six in the afternoon when I had the pleasure of putting my feet on Turkish soil; I left the banks of the Thames on May 3, 1793, and arrived in Turkey on June 28, 1793, in perfect health and safety, after a 56-day journey.

At the consulate we reached by climbing with a janissary, horses were waiting for us. Then we went on a journey to the town of Buca, where my father lived with his family. The road wide enough to allow several horsemen to pass side by side; It ran through part of Frank Street; then we crossed a few small streets; here our horses rode through a wide stream or, in other words, a waterway running through it; The water was half a foot deep, and on either side there was an elevated road for pedestrian passengers. Chinese-style roofs were built on the hills to protect travelers from sun and rain. It was difficult to walk two stories side by side on these streets. The windows above us, which I observed, contained a kind of inner lattice. The lower floors contained only intermittent shops, kitchens, and stables. Some passengers were greeting our janissaries as they passed by. Now; we were on a wide road half a mile long, with tombstones on either side; We were passing through a cemetery with large cypress trees on our heads and feet. This; It was the high road to Manisa, Bursa and Istanbul. When we came to a bridge - now dry - flowing over a flood and past the cemetery, which was called the Caravan Bridge; We turned to a smaller road. Next to the bridge I noticed an elegant earthen terraced cottage; A few Turks sitting on the banks of the stream in the shade of plane trees, sitting on the mats with their legs crossed in a dignified manner, smoking their long pipes, sipping their mocha coffee in their small half-eggshell cups; They were playing chess and enjoying the coolness of the evening. When we passed this group; the road in a stream bed between stones of unusual size, which I think was washed away by the winter rains flowing from the side of the mountain; He was walking along the side of the mountain, embracing her. We climbed a steep hill for more than half an hour, with vineyards to our right and a deep streambed below us. When we reached the summit; We found an aqueduct running across the low hills to our north and crossing our path diagonally. We passed under the aqueducts and continued along the low hills covered with green grass. On our right; On its southern border was a plain stretching from the east, containing a beautiful range of picturesque mountains. The hills along which we drove had turned into a small plain in front of us as we descended; we could now clearly see the large and scattered village of Buca lying below us. Our way was towards Buca and my father's country house was located here. The mosque next to some towering cypress trees (note 1); a Christian church (note 2); A few large houses and large gardens were the most obvious objects in sight. Behind it were hills that looked like the hills on which we walked; The mansions on the high, brave but bare-topped Tatarlı Mountain (note 3), which is a little far away, complemented the view by glorifying our thoughts and dreams. We descended to the plain in a short time and reached the village of Buca.

Francis Werry, 1793

Note 1: It is not clear which mosque is meant, but Feyyaz Erpi has guessed that there is an old mosque between 36th and 38th streets in his book titled "Housing Architecture in Buca (1838-1934)".

Note 2: The oldest known Greek church in Buca is Upper Agios Ioannis Church, dated 1796. Probably this church is also meant here.

Note 3: The old name of Kaynaklar village is Tahtalı. What is meant here should be Mount Nif, which forms the skirts of Kaynaklar village.

The memoirs of British Consul Francis Werry, who is also known to have a house in Buca, were published in the book titled "Merchant Adventurers in the Levant" by Tom Rees from the Rees family, who was related to the Werry family. The Turkish translation of this part of his memoirs about Buca is taken from Mehmet Ali Demirbaş's book titled "Rees Köşkü: Levanten Malikanesinden Eğitim Fakültesine".

Source: Merchant Adventurers in the Levant: Two British Families of Privateers Consuls & Traders, 1700-1956, Tom Rees, 2003