When on holiday all I need is peace, space, good food and inspiring people. That’s why when choosing where to stay I prefer small family-run hotels with thoughtfully done rooms, enthusiastic owners and lovingly prepared breakfast. What could be better? Only a vacation house - your own or rented from a nice host. I found Sara’s house almost immediately when I was looking through the listings in the Aegean region where we were heading out with Özgür, my visiting parents and sister, and at once I knew we had to stay there. Our whole trip was planned in a way to make it to Köyceğiz by the time Sara had her house available.
September 2013
Every single time I visit Topkapı palace I think I am back to India touring the palaces of the once-mighty maharajas. Intricately carved marble, symphony of the floral and geometrical patterns on the walls, thrones laid with mother-of-pearl, oversized jackets made of the fine handwoven silk embroidered with gold. Those displayed at the spacious courtyards of the Topkapı palace in Istanbul are not so different from the exhibits at the maharaja palaces in Rajasthan. Who is to blame for these similarities - the Mughals, the Seljuqs or the Persians before anybody else?
