A Visitor from France

Raphael Rambur, who also is a member of the French team that has participated the second WTAF, has visited Istanbul to write an article on Ottoman flight stones. He was acommodated by Dr. Murat Ozveri and had a rather hectic visiting schedule, considering that it was his first time in Turkey. During his trip around the city he was also guided by Gokmen Altınkulp and Cem Ozcan along with Murat Ozveri, who took him to Sultanahmet Square, the old Hypodrome and many other architechtural sites representing the glory of the Ottoman era. After visiting the museums of Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace and Hagia Sophia, they took a break at the old Sultanahmet Grill House and continued shopping at the Grand Bazaar. The long day ended at the Cemberlitas Turkish Bath, where our friend relaxed his tired muscles.

The second day the group visited Dolmabahce Palace and the Military Museum. Having found the weapons section very impressive, Raphael also had the chance to see the musical performance of the Janissary Corps. After a very authentic and tasty lunch, the rest of the day was spent visiting Okmeydani and photographing some flight stones. Raphael chose a night out for his Saturday night so we escorted him to a place where he could both enjoy classical and modern turkish music with some examples of the Ottoman and Greek cousine. Our guest expressed his approval and astonishment for the kind of nightlife he has witnessed in Istanbul.

Day three was practise day. Almost every member of our team was present at the Sunday training along with some of our olympic archer friends. Raphael with his tall height and very long draw lenght used a Mongolian bow and we have tried to teach him how to use the thumb ring. Our guest had informed us earlier that he would like to photograph us shooting dressed in Ottoman costumes so we have arranged a out door shooting session for him. The models were Yavuz Arslan, Gokmen Altınkulp and Murat Ozveri and they have demonstrated some shooting diciplines of the Ottoman archery. During the intense photography session, the first synthetic Ottoman bow built in Turkey by Mehmet Golhan, the chain mail of Gokmen Altinkulp, which was completed in a little less than a years time and the overdraw device used in flight archery, of Yıldırım Ekmekçiler was also photographed for the very first time.

Before leaving our country with some memorable experiences, our friend Raphael interviewed Murat Ozveri, vice president of WTAA, for the article he is going to write.

Pictures…