Alaçati - Day 3

After another dleicious breakfast we went to Sibel's hotel and then went altogether to Sole & Mare Beach in the AyaYorgi Bay.
















Ekin sunbathing








Senem in a bag












Some more mussels, weren't that great though, too much rice.









Streets of Alaçati.































Lavanta restaurant








And back to Istanbul...

Alaçati - Day 2

This is our hotel's entrance. It is a very nice place. It's called Ümit Ev Otel and the owners are very nice, kind and friendly, speaking a very good English.





































Everything on the table (except for the cheese) was homemade from the garden. Everything was delicious. Even the olive oil.






















Today we went to Babylon Beach. Babylon is a concert Hall in Istanbul, they also opened a place in alacati where they have live concerts during the summer on the beach.




we ate some 'midye' (mussels) from Pamuk Amca's son.












Tonight the famous Turkish band 'Mor ve Ötesi' is playing and they were rehearsing right behind us.









Sibel and Ekin's fake smile ;)









Ekin ate some kind of pickles from a street vendor.









Then we decided to eat at a restaurant called 'Lavanta', meaning 'lavender'.



























Thenwe met up with Sibel and her gang and went to a bar/club called Yaya.

Alaçati - Day 1

This week-end we decided to go To Alaçati (pronounce "ala" like 'a la carte' and "çati" like 'tchat uh'), near Izmir. It's a big destination during the summer especially for the Turkish Tourists.
Actually, Ekin had some meetings for work in Izmir today so while she was working I met up with a friend (Sibel) who happened to be there with three other girlfriends, so I had a pleasant day.













Ekin came at night with her friend/co-worker Senem and we went to eat some langouste. they were delicious but maybe a bit over cooked.

Engin Bday

Happy Birthday Man !

Business Week Cover

Ekin did this cool composition with a Doritos 3D chips. The man on the cover is Kemal Dervis.

SuAda

SuAda (Water Island), formerly known as Galatasaray Ada is kind of a beach resort during the day and a place to eat at night. You can have access to an Olympic size swimming pool (as they claim) and bars.
At night you can have access to four different restaurants : a fish restaurant, an Italian restaurant, a kebab restaurant and a Turkish/world food restaurant. Its location is ideal though the price might be less.

Cats

Here are some of the cats I saw today.

Walk in Kuruçesme

After coming back from the hairdresser I decided to go back near Bebek so I went o Kuruçeşme (meaning Dried Fountain) which is right next to Arnavutköy. Arnavutköy (meaning Albanian Village) is also a historic neighborhood in Istanbul, famous for its wooden Ottoman mansions and fish restaurants.
But this time I decided to walk on the upper parts of Kuruçeşme and Arnavutköy where a lot of slums can be seen.
Another interesting part of Istanbul, Even in the heart of the wealthiest districts you will find slums, where very poor people live. They have the same magnificent view.

Asian side from the Kuruçeşme Harbor.








































Kuruçeşme's Mosque and upper parts














































































The wonderful view of the Bosphorus is facing those houses so why would you put the balconies on the side so close to the other house ?

































































































View from the slums.





















Kuleli Military High-School









Panoramic view of the Bosphorus. The thing you see at the bottom center is Su Ada, a swimming pool/restaurants place. I'll post more photos of it in the next post and tell you more about it there.



House entrance

































The balcony is not falling apart, it is the actual way they built it. I call that recycling.









































Arnavutköy on the left and Kandilli on the upper right (Asian side).























Kuruçeşme and the first Bosphorus Bridge.





















Bebek and Rumeli Hisari (with the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge).









Do not litter, those who litter are asses.













Typical urbanism : a slum house falling apart (but in use)...









... right next to this beautiful wooden house...












... right next to this other falling apart house...









...or this one, but surrounded by fancy homes and all sharing the same great view.









Very hot weather today : 40°C (104°F)









So I decided to have the car cleaned and cooled ;)