I love traveling off-season. Alaçatı, an upscale resort town on the Turkish Aegean coast, that overwhelmed me during the family trip last fall, looked much more promising this April. I did not mind that our hotel staff was busy installing doors at the rooms upstairs, that the nearby restaurant folks were painting their chairs “Aegean blue”, that you could hear the sound of a saw and hammer everywhere, that on Thursday night only a few places were open for dinner. None of that could cancel the blossom on the lemon trees, kids playing on the streets, air filled with anticipation and the carelessness one could feel only on the seaside.
Aegean Skillet Greens
Fresh Fava Beans Braised in Olive Oil
Every spring in Turkey I set aside time to get to know the seasonal vegetables I still consider foreign: artichokes, fresh fava beans, asparagus, unripe almonds, green plums, blessed whistle and such. I find the spring guys tricky: they either play hard to get (think peeling artichokes or shelling fava beans) or require extra work to unleash their flavor (think unripe almonds). This year I have made a significant progress with artichokes. I eat them every week, and I have learned to peel them myself, a big achievement for an Istanbullite: every greengrocer happily offers peeled artichokes, and dedicated artichoke carts roam around the city neighborhoods in season.
Karaburun: Well Hidded Aegean Bounty
We (me and my sister) added Karaburun to this Aegean trip because of the house we found on Airbnb: a spacious stone house on a hill where a very personal touch of the owner was present in the cheerful colors and lovely details. When Özgür learned about the Karaburun plan he was outraged because it had little to do with his idea of the seaside holiday (beach by day and town by night). Then pretty much everybody to whom we announced our travel route gave us blank looks when hearing about Karaburun.
While researching for the trip I came across a saying about Karaburun that looked even more alarming than the blank looks of the Istanbul acquaintances: “Karaburun, iki bakkal bir furun/ Zeytin ekmek yiye yiye ne ağız kaldı ne burun”. You can translate it as follows: “Karaburun, two grocery shops, one bakery / Eat olives and bread to your heart’s content”. And what we experienced on our first day fitted that description very well.
Delicious Guide to Ayvalik - Cunda (Part II)
I wrote about our delicious road trip along the Turkish Aegean coast earlier this week and it seems only right to continue. Right after Ayvalik which won our hearts and stomachs we ventured to another culinary destination - Cunda island.
Delicious Guide to Ayvalık (Part I)
I love traveling off season. Locals unburdened by the crowds of customers are happy to chat with you. And you are not destructed from the main purpose of traveling and simply being - eating.
In October when the summer is long gone you can still enjoy Turkish seaside. Ayvalık, a town on the Aegean coast is a great choice if you travel for the same cause as I do. Located right one the shore and overlooking Greek Islands Ayvalık is renown in Turkey for the finest olive oil. Hard to go wrong with food if olive oil is good. Good olive oil obliges: its making is a family tradition of paying respects to the mother earth and knowing how to make good sense of its produce.
