Kahramanmaraş is the city where the ice cream originated that now is sold all over the country. It sticks to the instrument that is used to ladle it out of the vat in which it's made. So the vendors stick a cone on top of it, and hand it to the client. Who tries to grab it, but the instrument is reversed and you reach in empty air. This may continue for a while. Nice for kids, but a bit boring if you have outgrown the trick.

I had not been in Kahramanmaraş for eight years, and how the city had changed when I returned in December 2005. Like almost any Turkish city it had grown considerably. Some restoration had taken place and more parks adorned the place then I could remember. In the center a high building of modern design (Piramit) housed several shops and, I was told, the social service offices. I was astounded to see it on my 1997 pictures, somehow I had utterly overlooked it, concentrating as I was on historical buildings. I requested permission to go up to its roof and this was kindly given (thanks to all who helped me), so rather then take pictures from the citadel – as was my original idea of a high spot to take overview pictures, I was looking down to that citadel or kale, and all the city around me.
Then, in 2024, I returned once more. I had read that the Piramit building had been voted one of the ugliest buildings in the world, and had been torn down. But a huge earthquake in 2023 had been more devastating. The town was amongst the hardest hit and only a few of the mosques and other ancient structures had escaped without damage. A huge mosque near my hotel, on a hill above most of the town, that was modern, had survived without obvious damage, and I took many pictures there. I also walked some parts of town I hadn’t visited before and was astounded to find stretches of stairs going downhill for tens of meters.