Bukhara

I know that nowadays I am neglecting to write, but it is more tempting to get a book and lie on a cool place with a book on these long and hot days. Swim, read and nap. My wonderful trio for the summer.

Anyway, I also realize that I also neglected to post more photos from my trip to Central Asia. So let me take you to one of the high lights of my trip: Bukhara

This wonderful city mostly built during the 16th century under an Uzbek dynasty and most of the buildings in the city succesfully survived until 1920s. When the Russians came, they have restored the city instead of demolishing and thanks to them, today we are having a chance to travel back in time. A time when Bukhara was an important trading center on the silk road.

Today the impressive caravanserais,mosques, palaces and schools are as alive as they were centuries ago. Merchants on small shops are as keen as their predecessors to sell you something. My favorite, beautiful Uzbek embroideries -Suzenis- are every where and if you are patient enough to dig deep like me, you could find some old and handmade ones for a bargain but let them to be the subject of another post.

Every traveller has his/her own taste and I usually do not like to give advice but if you are someone like me who finds her best moments when travelling towards east, dont hesitate to add Bukhara and Semerkant -the subject of my next post- to your list.

James Dean Wanna Be..

Once upon a time there was a dog who wants to  be just as cool as James Dean and she stole a cigarette from her human daddy....

Unfortunately her human mommy who is a non smoker screamed with horror when she saw her while the human daddy was trying to photograph the moment..Then there comes a long lecture about the dangers of smoking from human mommy. Well, Hera was a very good listener and stopped smoking instantly but the same is not true for human daddy.  

Total Eclipse

Today I read on the newspaper that some lucky few on the French Polynesia will observe a total solar eclipse. A very rare, extraordinary and a mystical experience.

I had the chance to see one on March 2006.When my friends invited me for the trip to see the eclipse, I was reluctant to go because it was visible on Side, a town on the Mediterranean coast which requires a 10 hours drive from İstanbul by bus. Well, to tell you the truth I wasnt thinking that it was such a big deal. How wrong could I be??

Finally I said yes and hopped on the bus with the rest. I was more interested to see the antic city of Side. At the end of the day it was a double bonus for me. I watched a wonderful show of the nature near the ancient pillars of Side.

We were lucky because it was a bright day with no clouds on the sky and the total darkness lasted couple minutes. I was expecting a semi darkness but it was dark as night.

But for some a nap was more important than everything. I remember taking this photo of a local just couple minutes before the eclipse.. 

Well, if you have a list of something like ''100 things to do before I die'' make one of the items 'to see a total solar eclipse' Its really a once in a life time experience.

Flowers from the Sea

As  Hera choose to pee and poo at the beach since her very first day here ,we are usually the earliest birds at the beach every morning which gives us the advantage of being the first ones to see what the sea offered previous night.

Couple days ago, there was heavy wind and big waves and the morning of that night I found these beautiful flowers. I have never seen them before. It looks like the wind and the first rays of the sun dried these little plants of the sea immediately.

As they are extremly fragile I only managed to salvage two of them. Have you ever seen something like that before? And the posing starfishes came from a far far away sea..

Göcek

The nearest airport - Dalaman- is about a 3 hours drive from here. Not a very convenient distance... However the most popular marina of the country is only 15 minutes away from the Dalaman airport. So it is a very busy airport especially at weekends where rich and famous are rushing here to spend the weekend on their yachts..

I didnt see the old days of Göcek marina, but they said that it used to be a lovely and quiet seaside village before the construction of the 6 marinas and the airport.

While we were flying to İstanbul 2 weeks ago we spent couple hours at Gocek before catching our flight. It is still a lovely and quiet place at day time as most of the boats are sailing. There were lovely small shops and nice restaurants. It was a refreshing stop before İstanbul.

Summer Flu

Just a quick reminder: Never take your good health granted. It is actually such a precious gift.

Well, as you can guess my summer flu still continues with blocked nose,running eyes,sore throat and some fever at night. I am confined to my bedroom surrounded with books, notebooks,pills,pc, tissues and so many other stuff. Its a mess, but here is a picture of it on a much tidier day.

The wonderful turquoise painting is the one that I bought this winter and posted about it here. Blue printed bed cover is from Esfahan - İran and pillows are the product of my mother who used a vintage bed sheet.

and the blue and gold painted pottery is a gift from Jordan..

have a very healthy day under the sun shine...

A quick trip to İstanbul

This past Saturday we flew to İstanbul to attend the wedding of my cousin. As expected, it was pretty hot when we left here.

However İstanbul had other plans for us, but the gray mist over the blue mosque was still dreamy.

Finally at the end of the night, my handsome cousin married to his sweetheart,

and the youngest guest of the party was my 5 months old nephew who had his own quiet plans for the night.

The next day, the newly wed couple flew to Maldives for honeymoon and we flew back to Datça, but guess what??? All the travelling as well as the weather differences made me sick. I think I have some kind of flue, and right now I am laying on my bed on a beautiful summer day and listening the happy sounds coming from the beach. I hope you are all healty and happy..