Staying in an Ottoman House: Gulevi..

Its been almost a week that we have returned from our little getaway and I realized that I still did not post about the good part of our trip..

We have spent a full day and night in Safranbolu (saffron city) It is located at the Black Sea region and definitely one of the most protected Ottoman towns of the country. Before taking you to a tour on the city first let me take you to our hotel: Gulevi ( Rose House) It will definitely give you an idea about the rest of the city..

It is a two house complex (soon three) restored and decorated by a lovely couple. They have left the big city life in İstanbul 10 years ago and settled here for a more fullfilling life. He is the architect, she is the decorator of this wonderful place..

We have stayed at the old Beten's House which used to belong to a judge during the Ottoman days..As it was rather off season we were the only guests and guess who enjoyed it most??? It was a big experience for her. Although she had stayed at doggy hotels before, it was the first time that she was at a human hotel. I have to say that she behaved extremly well..

All the small details were there to enjoy...

Our room was on the Harem part of the house..It was a very soothing experience to think and dream about all the people lived and spent their lives under the roof of this house before going to sleep.. Sorry for the messy room. I KNOW I should have to take the photo before..

For our luck the weather was excellent so we enjoyed the garden and the sunshine...

If you want to learn more about this wonderful place please visit : http://www.canbulat.com.tr/

Black Sea - Amasra

I was quite aware that we were chasing an image but not ready for the huge dissappointment..Couple weeks ago I published a post named ''Dreaming'' and the small town of Amasra on the Black Sea coast was our first stop on our mini getaway..

When you look from outside, it has everything. A unique and dreamy location, wonderful beaches, rich history, a great big castle which was built during the Roman period.

But I was expecting more. I was expecting to see many old and protected buildings, not ugly apartments built in the last 20 years. They have even built them inside the castle..

The only good part was the fish and salat lunch we had at the small port.The weather was excellent and we enjoyed being in the open air, but later the high bill we have to pay for a simple lunch even tarnished that good memory..

Although we were planning to stay there for a night, we drove into the amazing nature of Black Sea and headed to the historical town of Safranbolu...Well, it was a big surprise,too but this time a good one. More photos soon..

Have a great weekend full of good surprises...

On a fine day..

These fine days have been my ruin.
On this kind of day I resigned
My job in ``Pious Foundations.''
On this kind of day I started to smoke
On this kind of day I fell in love
On this kind of day I forgot
To bring home bread and salt
On this kind of day I had a relapse
In my versifying disease.
These fine days have been my ruin.

Well, these are the words of the famous Turkish poet Orhan Veli Kanik, translated by Bernard Lewis (1982) Oh, how well he is describing my mood on a fine day..

It looks like snow and cold weather are slowly coming towards us, but when the weather reports announced the last fine days before the winter for this week, we immediately made a small program. Right now we are travelling on the Black Sea region. Who cares that I have tons of stuff to do at home, weather is good, we are happy and that's all it matters.. More photos are coming soon..
Wish you a great week...

Beautiful Art of Renilde Wouters

Lately its been such a rare treat to receive a real mail among all the invoices and the junk mail. Recently I was SOOO lucky to receive such a mail from Belgium..

Renilde is an extremly talented artist I am following with great interest for some time. Striking emotions and the colors on her paintings are capturing my imagination. They are wild, they are peaceful..AND I was so lucky to win the latest giveaway of Renilde. She has sent me 2 lovely post cards of her art work and a sweet surprise piece.. Thank you for your generosity dear Renilde..

and please check her wonderful art at her blog: Stroke of the Brush and her etsy shop....

and a personal request::::: please put more of your work to etsy dear Renilde....

Dreaming..

Almost all my travels start with a single image. Mostly a photo and sometimes a scene quickly passing from the TV screen. Then that image stays with me until THE day. I dream about it, search about it, journal about it. I could only describe it as a kind of a hunger. Then the time comes and I will go and see it with my own eyes, experince it with all my senses and then the hunger satisfies....

This process sometimes takes couple months sometimes years. When I saw a pale photo of Tibetian monks at a magazine around my junior high years, I remember being vaguly aware of a country named Tibet,and that image found its special place in my mind and stayed with me for nearly 24 years. Needed lots of growing up and saving..

 

When I was looking the photograps of a long time friend, I found one of those images. It was a breath taking view of the town of Amasra, and luckily this time it is only around 400 km away from İstanbul at the Black Sea coast of Turkey..

For these beautiful images and the dreams I would like to thank Serdar Sualp who let me to post these photos on Turquoise Diaries. I am sure that Serdar's hobbies of flying and motorcycling will bring lots of photographs to dream..

Capital of an Empire - Edirne

Its surprising but the weather is still exceptionally good for this time of the year. I have tons of stuff to do at home but when we see the sunny weather in the morning, we are rushing outside thinking that this might be the last hot day before the winter really starts. However this goes on like this for the last 2 weeks. Believe it or not but I am praying for some cold and gray weathers to finish my many projects at home. So thats why these Edirne photos are a bit late..

Edirne is the western most city of Turkey which has a border with Greece and Bulgaria. Its only 2 hours away from İstanbul so ideal for a daytrip from here as well as from Balkan countries. It served as the capital city of Ottoman Empire before the conquest of İstanbul, so lots of Ottoman buildings to see...

Before noon we visited the covered Bazaars of the city and did some shopping like the beautiful fruit shaped soaps, I put on my previous post, but I was mostly interested with the classic details of the Bazaars built by Ottomans. This one is dated from 1418..

Main street of the city is an excellent place to have a cup of coffee and to observe the people as well as the wonderful old houses..Even Hera enjoyed the history and the crowd..

 For lunch there is only one choice in Edirne. Its famous fried liver served with fried dried hot pepper and a simple onion salad. It was delicious.

After lunch we put Hera to car so that she could have her precious afternoon sleep and we went to see the jewel of the city: The Selimiye Mosque which is considered the zenith of the Ottoman Architecture. Built in 1575, it had the largest dome in the world for several centuries..An amazing building and a piece of art..

After the magnificent Selimiye, I made a short stop at the oldest mosque of the city. Contrary to the colorful and precious ceramics of the Selimiye, walls of the old masque were decorated with striking caligraphy. It was dated from 1414..

While the night was getting closer, the waters of the Maritsa river was flowing smoothly and Greece is just on the other side of the river.. Unfortunately this beautiful photo is not taken by me, due to the dark. I took it from wikipedia travel.. 

Soaps of the Palace / Edirne

Last week we went to Edirne in order to take advantage of the excellent weathers. Edirne is the westernmost city of Turkey which has  borders with Bulgaria and Greece. It was the capital city of the Ottoman Empire before Istanbul.

We visited lots of monuments and did some shopping. Above are the soaps that I bought from Edirne. They are special to this city and produced for centuries. Starting from 1600 these fruit shaped soaps loved and used by the lovely ladies of the Ottoman Harem..In those days these soaps were only produced for the palace, but now decorating my bathroom.

Have a great week and more photos from Edirne trip soon....