RIP Şule Anne

Wednesday, 31 August 2016
Eskİşehİr — Turkey
Temps: Hi 83F (28C) / Lo 60F (16C)

Mom and I traveled to Eskişehir on the overnight train from İzmir, arriving today for my mother-in-law’s funeral … she passed away yesterday at the age of 93.  Mui would prefer that I not dwell on her passing.  So, let me just say that she lived a long and healthy life, and was much loved by family and friends.

Şule Füsun Erkun

© 2004-2016 Two to Travel.  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED by ERIN ERKUN.

Torbalı: A Day of Cars and Wine

Saturday, 27 August 2016
Alsancak, İzmİr  — Turkey
Temps: Hi 90F (32C) / Lo 74F (23C)

Had a great day in Torbalı  — one of the districts of the province of İzmir … a drive of 35 miles (55 km) or so.  More accurately, we had a great time visiting a museum and a vineyard … we didn’t actually explore the town this time.

Our first stop was the Key Museum, established to house a collection of cars assembled from all around the world — all polished to an eye-dazzling sheen.  Also on exhibit … a number of motorcycles, model cars, hood ornaments, and scarves reflecting the automobile culture of the time.

Benz 18/45 4-pax runabout (1914) — note the snake-shaped horn.

Renault Type NM 40 CV Coupe De Ville (1925)

Mercedes Benz 300 SL Coupe

Lalique hood ornaments were produced between 1860-1945 and adorned the hoods of stylish autos of the time … such as Bentley, Bugatti, Hispano-Suiza, Mercedes Benz, and more.

Batmobile (1966) — was used in "Batman: The Movie."

A collection of matchbook cars decorate the entrance to the model car gallery.

Twin Coach Helms Bakery Truck (1935)

Scarves were once a necessary item used by Roman workers laboring in hot factories.
At the beginning of the 19th century, they became a fashion icon, made popular by women who started using them to protect their hair from the wind when riding in convertible cars.

Ford A Model Speedster (1929); 4,320,466 of these vehicles were produced.


Hood ornaments date back to ancient Egypt … they were used to decorate chariots.

Indian Board Track Racer (1921)

Left: Mom, Aylin & Murat take a load off for a refreshing beverage.
Right: Perfect for a billiards / automobile aficionado.

From the museum we headed to the nearby Lucien Arkas Bağları [vineyard].  At first we weren’t sure if we were going to get where we really wanted to go — the GPS directed us to take a couple of narrow, dirt roads.  Roundabout our route may have been, but turns out it was a shortcut and soon we were pulling up in front of the restaurant on the property … LA Mahzen [cellar … the LA is a reference to the initials of the owner].

LA Mahzen overlooks the extensive grounds of the Lucien Arkas Vineyard.

The vineyard was established in 2010.  The website describes it as having been “… born of a dream to produce wines to world standards on Aegean lands, which have been the cradle of wine-making and viticulture for hundreds of years.”  I’m no wine expert, so I can’t say whether the wines are world-standard or not, but all four of us enjoyed our selections with the tapas-style meal we opted to order in lieu of individual main courses.  We concluded our meal with a quick tour of the cellar under the restaurant.

Terrace Seating @ LA Mahzen	A peek through the glass floor into the cellar.

Arriving well-after lunch time, we have the restaurant to ourselves.

Our tapas-style lunch includes a trio of bruschetta; a smoked meats and cheese
platter; arancini; and grilled shrimp.  Dessert is a delicious pumpkin crème brûlėe
and panna cotta with blackberry sauce.  Afterwards we tour the cellar.

We really enjoyed the ambiance, the food, and the wine at LA Mahzen … it was a great way to wrap up our daytrip to Torbalı.  Our only regret — had we known about the special harvest activities, which included “pick your own grapes,” we would have timed our outing differently.  Next time!

[More photos from the museum and the vineyard are in this online gallery.]

© 2004-2016 Two to Travel.  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED by ERIN ERKUN.

The Cruise That Wasn’t

Saturday, 20 August 2016
Alsancak, İzmİr  — Turkey
Temps: Hi 94F (34C) / Lo 73F (23C)

Had things gone according to plan we’d be in Amsterdam today to embark Celebrity Silhouette for a cruise that would have taken us to Scandinavia & Russia.  But life has thrown us a curve ball this year, so we’re in Turkey instead.  There’s a Turkish saying that perfectly describes our situation — roughly translated, it goes something like: man plans, destiny laughs.  C’est la Vie!

We’ll try again another time!

At this point, our plans are totally up in the air …

© 2004-2016 Two to Travel.  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED by ERIN ERKUN.

It’s All About Food

Monday, 15 August 2016
Alsancak, İzmİr  — Turkey
Temps: Hi 92F (33C) / Lo 72F (22C)

It’s been two weeks since I left Mui in Eskişehir with his mom and sister, and returned to İzmir to spend time with my mom and sister.

Truth be told, we haven’t done much outside the house.  With the temps ranging from 96F to 102F (36C to 39C) it’s been much too hot to spend time outdoors.  That changed a bit this weekend … a cold(ish) front came through, dropping the temps down a bit.  Not for long, I’m sure, but we’re delighted to get a respite from the overwhelming heat.

Looking back on what we did do, however, everything revolved around food in one form or another.  Make sure you’ve already eaten before you proceed with browsing through this post :-)

We wrap up lunch at B’ready with a yummy double-chocolate brownie and uniquely presented, refreshing sour cherry iced tea.

Breakfast in Turkey is like no other anywhere else in the world.  It’s a feast that consists of a selection of small dishes shared family-style.  These breakfasts are known as serpme, a word that essentially means “sprinkled” … an appropriate description for the way the tapas-like dishes are sprinkled around the table.  Add to these dishes things like cream and honey, cooked-to-order eggs, sucuk [Turkish sausage], fresh breads and pastries, and gözleme [a type of flatbread filled with various savory toppings] … well you can understand why I describe breakfasts in Turkey as a feast.

Breakfast at Turkuaz Café in Ildır on a lovely Saturday morning.

An outing to Urla this past Saturday held a surprise in store for us — a harvest festival.  The town square was filled with kiosks where locals were selling goods ranging from handcrafted items and throw rugs to fresh-from-the-field produce.  After wandering around and buying some produce to take home with us, we wrapped up our outing with lunch at a small eatery that serves food cooked home-style.

Meatballs in a tangy broth at Ömre Bedel Yemekler [roughly “Food Worth Your Life”].

One last meal worthy of a mention in this post … an early dinner at Veli Usta Balık Pişiricisi [fish restaurant].  While we all enjoy the fish dishes on offer at this restaurant, we tend to order a variety of meze [Turkish tapas] instead … that’s what happened again this time.

Left: Murat’s plate with [clockwise from the left] sun-dried mackerel; purslane and
yogurt salad; octopus; roasted eggplant dip; a typical Cretan dip made with cheese, pine
nuts, olive oil, and garlic; marinated perch; and shredded carrots.  All yum-yum good.

Right: grilled calamari rings … much tastier (not to mention healthier) than deep fried.

I think I made your mouth water enough, don’t you think ;-)

© 2004-2016 Two to Travel.  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED by ERIN ERKUN.