More information! :)

I promised more information about Turkey and here they are! 

DONDURMA

It's time to show you the traditional Turkish ice creams (dondurma), which differ from the European in taste and texture. Turkish ice creams dissolve more slowly and are very hard, so it is impossible to serve them by a round spoon for ice cream. Sellers use for this special metal spatula. No doubt, it requires from them extraordinary precision and strength, but it seems that they are not doing anything else in life because it does not make them any problems.

Dondurma owes its density to two specific components. The first is salep (a type of flour that arises from the tuber of wild orchids - two varieties), and the second - mastic (resin with a distinctive flavor, obtained from a shrub growing in the Aegean region).

The homeland of Turkish ice creams with the addition of salep is the city of Kahramanmaras. According to the legend, they originated in the foothills of the snow-covered mountains Ahir. Snow imported from the mountains, along with the milk of goats grazing on mountain pastures, feeding on the aforementioned orchid tubers, and fresh fruit juice gave dondurma.

Points where you can buy this ice cream are everywhere, basically along the major streets you can see a dozen. Interesting is the method of administration ice cream, which aroused fear in me, and then annoyance and anger. I am not a supporter of the street shows, but unfortunately buying ice cream requires patience because it's some kind of performance. 

What makes me so annoyed? Mr. Seller dangled ice patches in the air, spread it like gum and hit the bell. Three times I tried to take my ice cream, but unfortunately I had to wait until the end of the show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKbNcFhCqyY&feature=related

KOLONYA

Another Turkish product that I love utterly is cologne.

Eau de Cologne (kolonya) came Ottoman Empire in the XIX century. A pioneer in production was Ahmed Faruqi, who in 1882 founded the first perfume factory in Turkey, producing different varieties of water (lemon, orange, lilac and rose). Over time, to expand the range and the diversion of water was added aroma of lavender, tobacco, bergamot or rosemary.

To this day a real hit remains lemon water that you can buy ... Everywhere! It's valued because of the antibacterial properties, refreshing and cooling (Really True!).

According to Turkish tradition, kolonya is in every house, and hosts pour water over their guests hands. This practice is also used in Turkish buses and other means of transport during travel, but also in restaurants after the end of the meal. 

Personally, I have found that it is very effective in case of nausea and motion sickness. Just short sniffing of water and its sharp (but relaxing) smell makes all such complaints depart.

Radical Muslims do not use cologne, because it contains alcohol. As a substitute  in stores occurs a rose water, but in my opinion  it is not as effective when it comes to disinfection and improve well-being (the smell of rose water itself is a little bland).

GÜLLAÇ

Güllaç is such a delicious Turkish dessert usually made during Ramadan. It consists of a large, thin leaves of dough with milk, rose water, pomegranate seeds and walnuts or hazelnuts (I recommend hazelnuts).

There are two versions of güllaç. First, with pomegrenate, is prepared when Ramadan falls in the winter. Second, without a pomegranate, but with pistachio nuts, is a typical dish prepared during the summer. Recipe for güllaç is sooooo old. It was discovered in the fourteenth-century book, "Yinshan Zhenyao". 

This very sweet dessert you can buy in any store, but during this year's Ramadan, we prepared it ourselves. We bought a cake, milk, sugar, nuts and rose water (very cheap - 1.25 TL per 500 ml), and in accordance with the recipe arose homemade güllaç. Unfortunately, it is impossible to eat a large portion of the dessert, because it is so sweet. 

After all, it was a very fun adventure with Turkish cuisine. :)

Enjoy!!!

PS Thank you for all your valuable comments!

Came back :)

I'm in Turkey again so ... Dear Friends, be ready for a big dose of information about Turkish traditions. But before I write anything, I share my new photos from Istanbul. Enjoy! 

On the board

PS Thanks for visiting of my blog!

Beep, beep!

Today, something about the means of transport, and in fact about one of them, which aroused my special interest during my first trip to Istanbul.

From the airport to various locations in the city you can be reached by metro, bus, metrobus or car, so initially anything surprised me. It was like that until the next day, while walking, I saw a little SOMETHING that looked like a blue bug or blue tin of sardines and beep strange. I didn’t like that vehicle, which looked like car from another era(?). Of course, I tried to hide my surprise ... On the other hand, why was I surprised? In every country there are some surprising elements, so maybe I should smile and move on.

This strange little thing Turks call dolmuş, which means "crowded". It should be noted that the name is not exclusively reserved for minibuses and dolmuş is called also a traditional yellow taxi in Istanbul.  If these small buses didn’t run then movement in the city would be much more difficult. For where city buses do not arrive (narrow streets), dolmuş reaches for sure. It should be noted that they do not travel only in the city but also commute to the numerous villages outside the city located to several tens of kilometers away. People who have never traveled dolmuş should prepare for a thrilling ride from the moment when the vehicle stops.     

To get on the van you can go to the bus stop or bus station, or just stop it at any point in road and stop minibus by a wave of your hand. Sometimes drivers do not wait for a sign and stop themselves. If you ask me, then I suggest you wait for the vehicle at the bus stop, because sometimes it is difficult to stop dolmuş on a busy street, so that the traffic is very intense or lack of seats. Theoretically, the vehicle is full when all the seats are occupied, but in practice, it’s quite different. Dolmuş goes when there is no free space inside. 

How much you pay the toll? There is no rule. Every driver has a price-list which depends on road we go, and we can check the required amount. Undoubtedly, the journey by minibus is cheaper than by taxi or the normal bus. Also you can pay at any time. Drivers are very perceptive and it is impossible to cheat him. Often, because of crowding, money goes from passenger to passenger before they reach the driver. The list of places where we get is on the windshield.

Get off the vehicle is easily. It looks like getting in it. Just tell the driver that you want to get off and he will stop dolmuş in the place indicated by you.

On my first riding dolmuş I was very afraid of an accident. It may seem that drivers drive like crazy or are unable to drive, but this is not true, because they know the roads and the specificity of the Istanbul traffic well.

 

So… iyi yolculuklar!

An oasis of peace

In the penultimate summer weekend of my stay in Istanbul, we decided to go for the Princes' Islands. I did not know what to expect, but even message about the flow of ship made me happy. It seemed to me that the island, which in fact are in Istanbul, can’t be very different from the city - maybe a little less populated ... Verification of my ideas came very quickly, already on board I realized that everything what I will see will surprise me.

 
The weather was very nice, but not as scorching as the beginning of August. We boarded the ship and we took my favorite place on up. Light breeze reminded of the coming autumn, and the moody sun showed up and hid behind the clouds. The ship, like at the weekend, was crowded and noisy - the essence of Istanbul.

 
I must admit that before I had no idea Princes' Islands exsist. Perhaps this is ignorance or lack of knowledge (I've never been interested in geography), but it was nice to experience such a surprise.

Among the people, who had the same idea on Saturday as we had, and decided to sail to the island, were foreigners too. Apparently some of them have their homes there. Americans, Germans... Tanned by Turkish sun and happy with life.

Ferry, which takes passengers on each of the inhabited islands, gave me an awesome experience so I could see everything from a distance. We decided to go to Heybeliada.

Turks called Islands archipelago Red. It’s official name however, in common use functions Princes' Islands name. Why? The name dates back to the Byzantine era, when there were sent members of the imperial family (later Sultan family). It is expected that the atmosphere was not very friendly, and the islands became a symbol of political struggles. The situation changed in the XIX century, when wealthy Turks began to "acquire" the land and build a beautiful and expensive villas. The reason why this happened, it was probably a desire to escape from the growing city, from the noise and crowds, and also an awareness of the beauty of nature.

Princes' Islands is not only a nine scenic lands, where nobody destroys nature and tradition, but also amazing picture of Istanbul from distance. Five islands are inhabited, but best known are four of them. In the summer population increases of 20 000 to 120 000 The best known islands are: Kınalıada, Burgazada, Heybeliada and Buyukada.

It is easy to find online information about the places that you should visit during your travel to the islands, because of that I will tell you a little about my impressions and hopefully I encourage you to similar trips.

 
The islands are a paradise where you can relax after a tiring travels through Istanbul. The silence, the smell of flowering shrubs and trees, color palette, which Monet would desire, and above all, the climate of the old Turkey - forgotten by many people, but still breathing here.   

Architecture of Ottoman times, white bunk villas (unfortunately often neglected) in the middle of large gardens. Between the houses narrow streets, followed by walking people. There are no cars, because they are banned, and the only transport are: ferry, cab or bike. People less in a hurry, less screaming and somehow seem nicer. Everywhere flies smell of fish recently caught by fishermen. Along the shore extend numerous cafes, restaurants, hotels and pubs - all at your fingertips, all in close proximity. For fans of the bath (sun or water) there is the beach, where you can spend the whole day.

In private homes, people eat meals on the large terraces adorned with flowers. Breathe green air, meet with friends and colleagues on the after-dinner coffee or tea.
Heaven on earth ...

And if I had more comfortable shoes we would stay longer there!

Short message! :)

Dear people who try to learn Turkish! :) I learn too. Sometimes it's so easy, sometimes... better not to say. ;) Because of one of fb group I discovered Pepee - a little boy who is so helpful in learning the language! :D I watch every part and except that it is funny, it really teaches! Meet Pepee and his Turkish family!

Enjoy! :D

          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1vTsps3MCI

Little journey, p. II :)

                         

                                                                     4. AMASYA

In my country, it is believed that Poland is the homeland of apples. Huge amounts of these fruits provide a great love of my countrymen to this fruit. It turns out, that also in Turkey apples are very popular.  

Amasya - the place where grow more than 25 species of apples! Some of the products are for export, but in Turkey consumption is also quite high. In addition to eating raw
apples, people use them as an addition to cakes, desserts and other dishes.            

Amasya (before Amaseia) has a temperate climate that is ideal for apple. It’s famous place from ancient times. Last travel trends forced the owners of hotels to back to the Ottoman times. Now you can see many traditional Ottoman houses which are cafes, pubs, clubs and restaurants. It’s really worth to see that place which is in middle-north of Turkey.

 

5. IZMIR 

You could say "Open Sesame!" Izmir and would open the vault with figs. And what do we find there? An unusual number of species which differ from each other in shape, size and color. You can choose the best from the sugar fig, purple fig, Sultan Selim fig and more, more, more. My first “date” with figs was in last summer in Istanbul. 

Then I understood that dried figs are delicious and so healthy.

 

Izmir (in English Smyrna) closes the three largest cities in Turkey. It’s so modern metropolis in west. City has a mediterranean climate long, hot and dry summers. It causes that Izmir is so popular in the Travel Guides as a good destination for holidays. Last time it became popular because of Erasmus. Many students from all Europe come to Izmir to spend there awesome 5 months.  

6.  GIRESUN

Let's move to Giresun. Place of hazelnuts. Here you will find five main varieties - delicious and well-known in Europe. Hazelnuts grow as a bush or small tree. They are used as a spice for food, a base for sauces or desserts component. They are very healthy and very cheap. Recently hazelnut oil become very popular and is added to salads and sauces.

Cherries, everybody knows them. Excellent fruit for jams, juices and cakes. Healthy and tasty. In Giresun can be found early and late varieties, which makes cherry season is relatively long.

Giresun (in ancient times Pharnacia or Choerades) has a borderline oceanic/humid subtropical climate with warm and humid summers and cool and damp winters. It’s beautiful north part of Turkey. Climate causes that snowfall period is from December to March – similar to Poland. So, who will go to Giresun or who was there???? 

I wasn’t there yet but I’m waiting for your memories of every city!!! 

 

Write your observations below! :)