Sunday, 22 June
Alsancak — İzmİr, Turkey
Our last day in Turkey! After bidding his mother farewell, Mui joined me today at mom’s apartment. But before I get to what we did today, I’ll do a quick wrap up of yesterday.
Saturday saw us having breakfast at Tepe Kahve in Urla, visiting with Mui and his mom at
the beach house, and having dinner at Levent Marina in the city. We spent today at
home, venturing out for dinner at Midpoint, a short walk from mom’s apartment.
Saturday, 21 June …
If I had to summarize the day, I’d have to say it was about people and food.
When I was a child, we spent many a summer day in the Aegean resort town of Çeşme. Back then there was no freeway connection. Instead, we used a narrow, winding road that carried bumper to bumper traffic unless we got an early start — especially on weekends. Often we skipped breakfast, stopping at one of two rustic cafés en route to grab a bite to eat.
We didn’t go all the way to Çeşme today since we had other plans … just as far as Urla to have breakfast at Tepe Kahve (Hilltop Café) [website in Turkish], one of those cafés on the Old Çeşme Road. The place has expanded since my childhood — with good reason. It’s still a popular stopover, with people exiting the freeway specifically to come and dine here. There’s also a university campus nearby now, which has increased its customer base.
With a busy day ahead of us, we got an early start, arriving at Tepe Kahve around 9:00a. Only a couple of tables were occupied, but that didn’t last long. Shortly after we sat down to breakfast at a table on the lower terrace, cars started filling the parking lot. Most of the newcomers preferred to eat on the upper terrace, so we got to enjoy a quiet meal.
Beautiful, well-tended hydrangeas decorate Tepe Kahve.
It didn’t take long for the table to be filled with enough food to feed an army … starting with the usual olives, tomatoes, cucumbers, hot peppers, cheese, and farm-fresh butter. Then came an herbed tomato paste spread, cream and honey, cheese curd and black mulberry jam, cooked-to-order fried eggs with feta cheese, and even fried eggplant and peppers topped with tomatoes and yogurt. Farm-style bread, hot-from-the-pan pişi [a type of fry bread], and flatbread just out of the oven accompanied all this good food, which we washed down with fresh-squeezed orange juice and glasses of the ubiquitous Turkish tea.
This is just the beginning of the breakfast feast …
which includes pİşİ (top right) and black mulberry jam over cheese curd.
To say that we were stuffed would be an understatement!
When possible, Murat buys organic farm eggs for their weekday breakfasts. His usual provider was closed, but Tepe Kahve had fresh eggs for purchase. When I say fresh, I mean just-laid, warm-from-the-chicken fresh. Packing them securely into the egg cartons Aylin brought from home, we headed to our next stop — a visit with Mui and his mother at the beach house in Narlıdere.
On the way there, we drove by Zeytin Parkı [Olive Park] in Güzelbahçe, which literally translates as pretty garden. I had read a short article about this municipal park in the newspaper, but had no expectation of seeing it on this trip, so it came as a nice surprise. The centerpiece of the small park is a collection of bronze statues placed around a 150-year-old olive tree, underscoring the importance of the olive industry to the millions of people whose livelihood depends on it.
The bronze figures, set around a 150-year-old olive tree, represent
a family that makes its living from the fruit of the tree.
Two of The bronze figures sculpted by Cumhur Ata Türk represent
the women of the family collecting olives that have fallen to the ground.
We found Mui and his mom waiting for us on the terrace. My mother-in-law was anxious to show me the room she has deemed her “museum,” so after saying our hellos, she gave me a tour. With family photos from three generations arrayed on the walls, it is a room filled with memories. Should have taken a photo, but neglected to do so ... next time.
A happy reunion on the terrace of the beach house.
Next came … you guessed it … more food. What can I say; it’s all part of Turkish hospitality, and we helped by contributing a cake. Not only did Mui have tea and pastries to serve us, but ice cream as well! Can you say double-stuffed?
At 91, Mui’s mom is still going strong,
living on her own and traveling when the opportunity presents.
Around 1:30p, we left to run errands and rest-up for an evening of … yes, even more food. Luckily, we had time to digest what we’d already eaten before Murat and Aylin dropped off mom and me at Levent Marina where we met up with Mui and his mom for dinner at Sipari Restaurant. Joining us were our friends Hakan and Ferda. Regular readers might remember them as the couple that hosted us in İstanbul last November before we embarked on the back-to-back cruises that returned us to the US after our fall-winter 2013 vacation. We had no expectation of seeing them this year, but a happy coincidence put them at their beach house on the outskirts of İzmir, so getting together was a not-to-be-missed opportunity.
Dinner at SİpARİ with the moms, and our friends, Hakan and Ferda.
We enjoyed a light dinner — a few mezes [Turkish tapas] and grilled fish; so no one had to roll us home. Actually, Hakan and Ferda were kind enough to give us a ride back to mom’s apartment even though it was out of their way.
Back to Today …
Actually, I don’t have much to write about today … which is why I combined the posts for these past two days. Murat drove out to the beach house late morning to pick up Mui. They arrived at mom’s apartment shortly before noon. After some chit-chat, Mui and I excused ourselves to organize our luggage, separating what we need in Helsinki from what we only need on the expedition voyage that will follow. The plan is to leave the ‘Arctic bags’ at the airport hotel, where we will be joining our Quark group a week from Monday. With only our ‘city bags’ in tow, it will be easier to take the airport bus to the city hotel, our base for exploring Helsinki and environs next week.
We were done with our travel-prep chores in time to go out for an early dinner with the family. We went to Midpoint, a casual restaurant overlooking the lawn of Swissotel Efes, just a short walk from the apartment. A few mezes; a couple of entrées to share; wine and beer to toast one last family gathering before we leave tomorrow. Not to be overlooked, dessert took the form of ice cream at Cremaria Milano ;-)
Left: The last family Dinner of this trip to Turkey is at Midpoint.
Right: Man on Horse by Fernando Botero stands on the grounds of Swissotel Efes.
Yes, this trip turned out to be a lot about food, and only a little about exploration. What can I say? It was hot, hot, hot … so I limited my outings. And of course, Mui was busy with contractors. Next trip, we’ll return to a fall schedule that should be more conducive to being out and about. In the meantime, see you in Helsinki, Finland tomorrow.
Alsancak, İzmİr — Turkey
