Daisies everywhere..

During this time of the year whole Datca peninsula is covered with daisies.In 15 days time another color will be added to this white and yellow symphony. Red of the poppies.




Apart from filling all the vases in so many houses, they are also filling many stomachs in this part of the world. One of my favorite salad of this season is made from daisies. Receipe is very simple: Collect the stems of the unflowered daisies. Boil them and after they cool add lemon, garlick and olive oil. Just yummy....

Daily Excursions

If there is nothing particular to do around the house, our days in Datca start with a big breakfast. Later our family of three usually take a daily excursion in our small peninsula.A long lunch break with couple cold beers usually end the daily tour. Here are couple photos from the last two days. First two were from the very tip of the peninsula where Mediterranean meets with Aegean. Lovely turquoide bays..




The last two are from the Aegean side of the peninsula.Compare to the Mediterranean side it is much less developed and sea shore is mostly rocky. However it is still possible to find beautiful bays. The one below is Gereme bay.

Fresh Herbs

As I have limited internet connection here, I couldnt post in the past days as much as I would love to. But what can I say..Life is slow here, so does the internet. So far no problem..

Our days are filled with long walks and long lunch breaks in different parts of our peninsula. So far weather is so good and I believe I already got some suntan. One of the main activities of the season is to pick wild greens and herbs. Local ladies are extremly succesful in finding them and farmers market is full of wonderful greenstuff every week. Favorite salad of the season is to make one with mixing 7-8 different herbs and greens.


As we are rather amateur in finding them we settled with the easy ones where you could find almost everywhere. Our picks were fresh thyme and french lavender.There are different types of thyme but I like the taste and the smell of the ones that we took.



To make tea from the flowers of the french lavender is good for many health problems and known to be protective against cancer. We use fresh ones nowadays but dried ones are also good for winter months.

Spring

Although you have read couple post here in the past week I havent been around the net much lately. The reason is:



Yes we came to our beach house to enjoy the first days of the spring. The first two days were quite cold compare to Mediterranean standarts, but finally we are having beautiful weathers. We will be here until the end of March. See you very soon..

Turquoise Painting

I was lazily walking with Hera the other day when I realized that a nearby framing shop is holding a clearence sale. I usually dont find the taste and quality of the paintings on framing shops match mines but on this case I was totally wrong.

I found this wonderful painting among a stock of others.



Well there was a 50% discount and plus I used some of my bargaining skills and it was a real bargain.. Now I put it on our bedroom but soon it will find it real place and will meet with the turquoise waters of the Mediterranean. I will take it to our beach house.

The painter Atilla Susoren has a web site. It is written there that he started painting at a later age for therapy. I am glad he did so that we could all see the talented artist in him. Photo is from his website: www.atillasusoren.com

Something to think about :))

I know some of you love collecting quotes. I love writing them on my notebooks whenever I find one I like and here is my recent favorite and Hera is posing for you as a theme mannequin...




"TREAT LIFE'S LITTLE PROBLEMS AS YOUR DOG WOULD....IF YOU CANT EAT IT OR SHAG IT, PISS ON IT AND WALK A WAY..."

Master Sitki

Whenever I pass thru Kutahya, a city in mid Anatolia, there is a place I have to go. It is the store of a ceramic artist known as Master Sitki. Ceramic tiles used in the decoration of palaces and mosques for centuries in this country. It was a way for artists to express themselves when Islam prohibited most types of painting.

Sitki Usta (usta means master) is the most famous contemprary name in the world of ceramics here and guess what?? he was selected as one of the living human treasures by Unesco. Isnt it cool??? His love to his art led him to resurface the formula of certain colors which have been lost centuries ago.Please take some time an look at his wonderful works at www.sitkiusta.com . He is a real treasure.


As I said I love stopping at his store whenever it is possible. Although most of his works are beyond my budget I like to look around and if possible try to add something to my little collection of animals. This time an alligator came home with me..


And here are some birds from him.


First photo is from here

Aizanoi Antic City

We were planning to visit the Aizanoi antic city and its impressive temple of Zeus for a while.We took the opportunity to visit it while visiting my mom in Eskisehir.It is located in the nearby city of Kutahya. It needed some extra travelling but totally worth the trouble. Of course Hera the puppy was with us, visiting the temple of her unfaithful husband.

Temple was built in the 2nd century by the Romans.


The basement of the building is as interesting as the temple itself. Thanks to impressive technics of the Roman builders, the huge temple stands on top of this basement for centuries, in an area where big earthquakes hit several times in the history.



My little archaeologist keenly observed every detail of the antic theatre but couldnt find anything to eat.


The round building located right in the center of the nearby village used as a stock exchange building during the Roman period.

A part of the antic road with its beautiful columns could still be seen today in the village.

Old houses in Eskisehir

On my previous post I took you to a small tour of my hometown Eskisehir and mentioned how it has transformed from an old and forgetten city to one of the most modern ones in Turkey thanks to a vision of a single man. One of the biggest project he undertook was to restore the old parts of the town.The neighbourhood which is called Odunpazari was full of shabby and neglected houses during my childhood.However with a big restoration project most of the houses that are dated to the Ottoman period started to have a wonderful new life. Project is still continuing and there are still houses waiting for their new life.





And now let me take you to a small tour into the streets of this beautiful neighbourhood.







Some houses are bigger than the others and here is an interior view of a one which is used as a glass museum right now.


Eskişehir is also famous with its meerschaum and they did not forget the artists who created beautiful items especially pipes from meerschaum. There is a special market for them in this neighbourhood.