Sep 24, 2022
“Long before it was ever submerged, the island [Adakale, in Romania] had struck visitors as a place marooned in space and time. By the late nineteenth century it was far from any other Turkish settlement, and not only the culture but the climate was different from that of the surrounding lands. In the humidity of the river air magnolias, almonds, and figs thrived. The islanders produced delicacies unavailable on the mainland: rose jam, baklava, halva, Turkish delight. For boatloads of nineteenth-century Danube tourists bound for Istanbul, it was the appetiser in the Oriental banquet that awaited them; its people were so accustomed to playing up their exoticness that it had become a natural part of their lives.“
