Composition: My winter holidays

My winter holidays were actually spent in the Mediterranean summer. For two weeks we criss-crossed Turkey and the Cyclades islands in our own version of "The Amazing Race."

First, after a 20 hour eventless trip, I arrived in Istanbul where I was met by Barbi, who had been visiting his mother and his restaurant for a couple of weeks already, and looked quite tan. We spent one night at Zeynep and Jackie's beautiful apartment in Galata with its views of the Bosphorous and the cow-sized seagulls squawking away, walked a lot, had brunch with Ozgur, shopped for Uzbeq silk fabrics at the Grand Bazaar (at a smuggler's shop hidden on a second floor where you almost need a password to be let in), and at around midnight boarded a bus to Ankara that according to Barbi would take us in 5 hours and would be less tiring and less hassle than dealing with 2 airports, plus transfers, etc.

Wrong. We were on the bus for 8 hours, 3 of them spent trying to get out of Istanbul.

Ankara's famous hittite statue, removed by islamists and later reinstated after much popular demand

We arrived with our bruised asses in Ankara mid-morning, spent a day with Barbi's father, and the next day flew to Hatay, in Antakya province, so close to the Syrian border that most Turks call it "Arabistan". At least temperature-wise, it was indeed Arabistan. But also, our friends and incredibly gracious hosts Seval and Alpagut guided us through various eateries where we had THE BEST TURKISH FOOD EVER IN OUR LIVES. Really.
Alpagut and Barbi at the site of our first amazing meal in Hatay

The tahini, fresh mint, zahter salad (thyme leaves salad with millions of spices) the hummus, the salads with pommegranate dressing, the dozens of mezzes, the kunefe --a dessert served hot with melted cheese inside, deep fried angel hair dough on the outside, and soaked in syrup, the best I've ever had-- everything was incredibly fresh and full of flavor. Coupled with delicious sesame-covered, hot from the oven, flat bread, there was nothing we could do but eat non-stop the 22 hours we spent there.
Barbi matches the door in Hatay both in color and size

The shoe repair place
Cherries are in season and the cart is adorned with mosaic images

After a visit to the mosaic museum, and a delicious lunch, we flew to Ankara again where we rented a car at the airport, visited friends Baris, & family, who fed us yet again (tea time) and continued on to have dinner at Barbi's father's just before driving 12 hours to the Mediterranean coast. It was a bit mad to drive all night, so we made a couple of stops along big trucks to sleep for a bit, but were still in Cirali in time for breakfast at a beautiful lodge by the sea.

The garden in our Cirali inn, complete with all kinds of fruit trees and chickens...

The beach at Cirali off our inn's restaurant area


Cirali is a gorgeous, protected beach near Antalya, where lodging is not very good quality and is pretty high in price (nothing under 100USD) but where you pay happily anyway because of the gorgeous setting and peaceful atmosphere. We swam, we slept, and early the next morning we drove off again, this time to meet our ferry in Marmaris (via Dalaman airport to drop of our rental car, bus and taxi to the port).

Arriving in Rhodes in the late afternoon, we went for a long stroll in the old town, which never ceases to please me, had a fantastic dinner, as usual in Rhodes, and at 3 AM boarded a huge, old ferry towards our final destination (almost). The 13 hour trip promised by the travel agent turned out to be more like 18 hours. We camped on very comfy reclining chairs, pulled out our recently purchased bedspread and pareo collection, and slept for 90% of the trip. As we hit about 6 or 8 different islands, passengers embarked and disembarked, and we just watched it all go by until Santorini, where we were able to barely catch the last ferry to Ios, our final destination, arriving at 11 pm.

Traveling in style -- gypsy style.

From the moment we set foot in Ios it was clear that it was all worth it. We had a top-notch dinner by the pool, and retired happy to have a few days of rest ahead of us. For five days we swam at about a dozen different beaches that ranged from touristy but half empty to rural and peopled by goats, driving in our rented canary-yellow Fiat Panda, which Barbi mistook for a Land Rover Explorer and took on roads that more than dirt roads were coarsely chopped rock roads.

The view from our room in the early morning

One of a gazillion postcard-perfect chapels in Ios

Goat beach, my favorite

Our off-road adventure comes to an end

At Basilico, the Italian operated restaurant at the "party" beach

But the Panda performed stellarly, thanks in no small part to its amazing driver no doubt, and took us to some wonderful places. My two favorite Mediterranean features combined in the beach next to Ptalamos, where the crystal clear, turquoise sea was framed by a sandy beach covered by a herd of about 120 goats, all bleeting and ringing their huge bells in unison, providing quite a concert. Definitely the highlight of "my winter vacation."

Our return was through a 3 hour fast ferry to Athens (plus one hour bus ride to the airport in 500 degree heat through ugly Athens) and one hour flight to Istanbul, where we crashed at our friends Sema and Volkan's place. We were lucky that it was the weekend, so we were able to spend a lot of time with them, and with Ozgur and Naim. We did some more shopping in Istanbul's fancy new shopping mall, Istinya something (summer sales!) had a couple of lovely breakfasts, and were driven to the airport by Sema and Volkan, where our nightmare return journey began.

first wonderful breakfast at Sema and Volkan's

second, and our last breakfast in Turkey

Looking on the bright side, the countless hours of flight rescheduling at various counters yielded an all expenses paid night and day in Paris, the first time for Barbi. Still, we arrived home about 28 hours late and luggage-less, as one suitcase was left behind in Paris and the other in Sao Paulo --they say.

Barbi in Paris bistro

in Paris delicatessen

patisserie
yet another patisserie

our millefeuil and apricot tart at Paul's patisserie


They better arrive soon, as this was my once-a-year shopping event as well as my winter holiday, and everything from the bottles of tahini and pommegranate syrup to hundreds of yards of Uzbeq silk and my Uzbeq silk kaftan, new clothes for Barbi and me, olive-wood kitchen utensils, hand embroidered bed sheets, hand woven camel-hair and silk shawl, greek slippers, and who knows what other trinkets and goodies are all packed in those two suitcases...

Another highlight of our trip, beyond the swimming in insanely beautiful, deserted beaches, was the seasonal fruits we ate, which would taste great to anyone, but which were further appreciated by us as we were coming from apple-orange-bananas winter weather. Delicious watermellon, plus incredible apricots and cherries and peaches. As a summary of our vacation, they were all featured in our delicious going-away breakfast at Volkan and Sema's.