Life in Turkey

Family life in Izmir, the Aegean coast, Istanbul and other places we love in Turkey

What makes you overhungry?

Rhythm Life in Turkey,
Montalut Daily Rhythm

For the first time ever she was not happy to see us. Sheโ€™d already bargained for another night at the beach with her Aunt and we said yes. We dropped by to see her just the same, and she didnโ€™t even want to go near us for fear weโ€™d take her home! ๐Ÿคธโ€โ™€๏ธ

The local beach culture here in Turkey is very different from the PH. The water is only warm in the summer, so beach towns get packed in June-July-August. Young and old (itโ€™s normal to be past 70 in a bikini here, yay!) brave the midday sun complete with their beach gear: foldable chairs and tables, towels, mats and coolers. Often they live in the city and stay in their summer houses at the beach three months a year.

The summer house culture concentrates summer energy into three months. Maybe for seasoned locals, itโ€™s just how life isโ€“activities change every season, and itโ€™s actually a beautiful thing. Our daughter, on the other hand, has been beach-hungry since we moved to Turkey. Swimming was an everyday activity in the tropics, so she gets overeager or โ€œgigilโ€ for any moment to swim.

๐Ÿ’™ On Blue Day, do a mental check of what youโ€™re overeager for. What do you crave so much that youโ€™ll pack tons of it, maybe even hoard it? What can you do to release that hunger, to tune into what is, what changes, and flow with what comes, as it comes?

Istanbul from Up High

Life in Turkey

๐Ÿ”ฅHot tip: Donโ€™t leave ฤฐstanbul without visiting a rooftop bar! Really loved the peace and quiet here, and of course that amazing view ๐Ÿคฉ

Weekend vibe on BaฤŸdat Street

Life in Turkey

๐Ÿ›ณ Back to the Asian aka Anatolian side of ฤฐstanbul, and enjoyed the weekend vibe on BaฤŸdat Street. I had to ask Koray if there was a football match or concert going on because the street was so busy and alive, but he said itโ€™s just another Saturday afternoon on BaฤŸdat. It was really nice to see residents enjoying their neighborhood.๐Ÿ˜

Istanbul road trip!๐Ÿš—

Life in Turkey

Business meetings + slow travel + big city recharge + family time = fantabulous first trip with Sulana in the city of transformation ๐Ÿ•Œ

Istanbul is a beautiful city with such a rich historyโ€“itโ€™s over 3,700 years old!

โœ…๏ธ From Izmir we drove over 400km of highway in 4 hours, including 1.5 hrs of traffic in the greater Istanbul area. Itโ€™s about 100km longer than Manila to Daet (Bicol) and Koray says when he was a kid this trip was also about 8 to 10 hours. Amazing they cut travel time to less than half today. Hoping PH can catch up and do the same.

โœ…๏ธ Itโ€™s a hilly city! โ›ฐ๏ธ Much like San Francisco, walking around ฤฐstanbul will definitely up anyoneโ€™s fitness level. Izmir is mostly flat and very organized, with reliable public transportation from end to end (about 250km). ฤฐstanbul is a different storyโ€ฆmore rowdy and chaotic, difficult parking, drivers are hotheads that honk at you for being slow (parallel parking here is on ninja levels), and cab drivers are a mix of really nice to really shady.

โœ…๏ธ On the upside, Su got to ride the subway for the first time and enjoyed it so much that on her second try said, โ€œCan we pretend itโ€™s my first time on the subway again?โ€

โœ…๏ธ The drive home was a different story, because Koray wanted the scenic route along the coast of ร‡anakkale. We were almost 12 hours on the road with slow driving and pit stops, including a short walk around the old city of Troy, which deserves a proper revisit.

We werenโ€™t in a hurry to visit everything (we knew weโ€™d be back), so we just took in the city slowly.

Non-touristy Highlights for me:

๐Ÿšถโ€โ™‚๏ธwalking around local neighborhoods, shops and malls AND being able to chat up people in English (yay!)
๐Ÿชgetting our fill of non-Turkish foods and flavors including superfudgey brownies and cookies
๐ŸŒ‰driving around the Bosphorus road at night
๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ญ visiting the PH consulate and talking in Filipino again
๐Ÿ™ visiting the Anatolian side and seeing the street come alive with residents just enjoying their neighborhood on a Saturday afternoon
๐Ÿ˜Ž just vibing with the city and its super friendly people, who are extra nice to children (Turkey is really known to be children-friendly)

Su got her wish and was in the Philippines for her birthday! ๐Ÿฅณ

Life in Turkey

Thank you to our wonderful Philippine diplomats at the Consulate in ฤฐstanbul, Rachel and MJ, who were so gracious and generous with their stories and Pinoy hospitality. It was great to be back โ€œhomeโ€ even for a few hours, and with pabaon dried mangoes ๐Ÿฅญ Special thanks, too, to Tita Rap who connected us with Consul Rachel. ๐Ÿ™

Bonus#2 was seeing the ฤฐstanbul bridge in Philippine colors as we drove around the Bosphorus last night. Super heartwarming (nakakatuwang yakap!) to see our two home countries shake hands this way.

๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ญ Happy Independence Day, Philippines!

#PH125Istanbul

Legit burgers, brisket, and milk tea in Istanbul

Life in Turkey

Multiple cravings satisfied, yay!

On our agenda in Istanbul was to taste the flavors we missed from back home, and so far so good ๐Ÿ”๐ŸŒฏ

We had to walk half a km in hilly neighborhoods for our milk tea hunt, and pasado!! Itโ€™s no Tiger Sugar, but after 9 months, we finally get our proper milk tea fix.๐Ÿง‹๐Ÿ˜‚

Beautiful purple plants! Milk Thistle & Germander

Life in Turkey Farming and Gardening

Beautiful purple plants! And one of them is the milk thistle, which I thought was a prized plant tended in a gardenโ€ฆturns out itโ€™s a widespread wild flower, even covering full hillsides.โ›ฐ๏ธ If youโ€™re wondering why it sounds familiar, itโ€™s a key ingredient for supplements for nursing momsโ€“so itโ€™s a superfood growing so abundantly here for free. Itโ€™s also been used for liver, kidney and gallbladder diseases. Wow ๐Ÿคฉ

The other purple shrub is the shrubby germander, a silvery-gray member of the mint family popular in landscaping home gardens. We thought it was lavender at first, but the aroma is very faint. Bees looooove them ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ’œ

Nature walk by the seaside
April 2023

Iyi Bayramlar from our family to yours โœจ๏ธ๐Ÿ™

Life in Turkey, ,

Ramazan bayrami is the first of two Bayrams celebrated every year, and it marks the end of the thirty days of fasting during Ramazan. Kurban bayrami or the Feast of Sacrifice comes two months later, where families sacrifice a lamb to share 1/3 of the meat with neighbors and family, 1/3 with those in need and the remaining third to eat for themselves.

Itโ€™s amazing to be in Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท to experience the month-long fast (I was just a spectatorโ€“it was Koray who fasted from sunrise to sunset), the special iftar dinners every night with the prayers and mezze traditions, and now an open house on Bayram day itself to welcome visiting family and friends. Amidst all this came our first experience of Spring (and all the sheep! Iโ€™m an uber fan of sheep now), and two other Holy Weeks: Easter and Orthodox Easter. We were even able to squeeze in two visits to Maryโ€™s house in Ephesus to offer prayers and petitions.๐Ÿ™

Today, everyone is dressed up, chocolates and Turkish coffee ready to serve to guests and the house is given an extra special Spring cleaning to welcome the new season. Yesterday, groceries and malls were swarming with crowds and families buying gifts, sweets, and new dresses for Bayram, and even the line at the carwash was crazy! Traffic in downtown Izmir was at a standstill as offices closed at midday and the roads were packed with people flocking to the coastal towns to spend the holiday in their summer houses. Altogether it feels like a mix of Christmas and Holy Week in one, complete with the feasts, pamasko, reunions, visits, and holiday fever. Truly thankful weโ€™re able to experience this with our Turkish family, and sending everyone lots of clarity, holy energy and joy. ๐Ÿ™Œ

Guess the fruit ๐ŸŒธ๐Ÿ’๐Ÿ‘€

Life in Turkey Farming and Gardening

We love checking babanneโ€™s garden everyday to see how the flowers bloom, wilt and turn into fruits! Can you guess which flower turns into which fruit?

๐ŸซOlives
๐Ÿ‡Grapes
๐ŸŽApples
๐Ÿ’Cherries
๐ŸŠOranges
๐Ÿ‘Peaches
โค๏ธMulberries