Week 3 - Maşukiye, Büyük Ada, and Onwards...

We escaped the city.
Isn't it strange that we have created whole cities, whole lives,
from which we must retreat and rest,
lives that we must vacate?


We have been seeking places of quiet and beauty. So we took a boat to Buyuk Ada (Big İsland). Although largest of the Princess Islands it is still incredibly peaceful and remarkably perserved. We ate at a tiny little family run cafe that just opened two months ago. Limon Ağacı (Lemon Tree) has extremely well made, home stlye fare. We had a perfectly cooked Şehriye Pilavı and Kuru Fasulye (Turkish for Rice and Beans) followed by dessert of semolina and pinenuts cooked in butter called irmik helvasi.
We sat and painted interpretations of the sunset at a teahouse by the dock using a bottle cap to hold the water.

A few days later we were off again...

We went to the hills, tree and cloud covered. How lucious are dark storm clouds when you've gone 3 weeks without even the thought of rain ! (Last night we awoke to the startling sound of rainfall in İstanbul and listened, amazed, in the middle of the night until we drifted back asleep)
We felt we were sent there to meet Muhterem, a remarkable woman, and her family and we spent most of our time at her restaurant, which is literally her house. The name of the place Bizim Ev (Our House) straight forwardly points this out. İt was a meeting of hearts and souls and of course all in the midst of an amazing sofra (tablespread). We sat in her back yard, complete with fruit trees (still trying to identify what kind) hung with hammocks, a stone wall with a flowing stream behind it and picnic tables under the trees' dappled light.
In a word: Paradise.

Now we are preparing for our long day of travel tomorrow
and our arrival, finally?, in İndia.