Sandıma, Nuris art house
An article by Bodrum Bulletin reader, Carol Abel
How many times have you come over the top of the windmill hill coming from Bodrum to Yalıkavak and have looked at the hoarding with an aerial photo of a red roofed house set among eucalyptus trees, read the slogan “Sandımayı gormeden gitme” (don’t leave without seeing Sandıma) and wondered what it was all about?
What or where is Sandıma? Most people would probably answer that Sandıma is the name of a very popular bar but I now know that it is the name of an abandoned Greek village in the hills behind Yalıkavak and is the location of Nuris art house (Nuris sanat evi).
At the crossroads behind the market place follow the sign marked Sandıma, there is a smaller one marked Nuris sanat evi too. The road leads through some of Yalıkavak’s older houses, flanked by a dried up stream bed. It continues gently up hill and then, when the road bends round to the left towards a new complex, follow the dirt track up the hill. The stream bed is on your left but is hardly visible under the rocky landscape which is home to masses of flowers in the spring and to the tiny pink wild cyclamen in the autumn. The track gets steeper, narrower and more rutted until you can’t go any further. From here you go on foot towards the white-painted water fountain with a large mug hanging from a hook for thirsty travellers. To the left is a ruined building dwarfed by a huge eucalyptus tree which variously provides shade for a grazing cow or a parked car. A small wooden sign to the left of the gate indicates whether the owners are at home. If they are, make your way up the path, through the gate in the wall and enter another world. This, Nuris will later explain to you, is the Republic of Sandıma, which even has its own flag. Your personal tour will take you through the street of prayers and into another enclosed garden. To one side is a tiny little art gallery (mind your head as you enter and exit). At the far side a steep staircase takes you up to the highest part of the house but before you climb up, you can visit the kitchen with its wooden floor covered in brightly coloured paint – much simpler and practical than a carpet! There is another, larger gallery here where Nuris exhibits his clay sculptures and his wife her oil paintings together with some old farming implements. Then climb the stairs and visit the upper terrace, a mass of geraniums and brightly coloured bougainvillea. Cross the bridge and look out over the landscape and down to the sea. Over to one side are more ruins, those of Gökçebelen, separated from Sandıma by the rocky stream bed. Nuris will show you around the living/sleeping room, the minuscule shower room and another smaller living room, all of them decorated with paintings, folk art, items of clothing, sculptures, etc. Downstairs again you can visit the office and studio areas where there are more works of art to delight the eye. In the studio there is an oil painting of an old man. If you are lucky you will meet Osman. He must be 87 and, when I met him, was still walking down to the village a couple of times a day, in search of another wife, jokes Nuris. Joking apart, Osman’s life is one of poverty (he is the only other occupant of the village) so small donations are welcome.
Don’t plan on a quick visit, Nuris always seems to be happy to take time out to show visitors around and he has perfected his spiel in English; I have heard it 3 times now but although it’s always the same you don’t tire of hearing it. Nuris also exhibits his art in the summer months near the sarnıç (old white water cistern) gallery in Yalıkavak village.
