MangoJuiced: Style steals from an Istanbul apartment

I stayed in this Istanbul apartment last October—and I loved it so much, I "stole" something to take home with me. Can you guess what it is?

Go style stealing with me in this week's post on MangoJuiced. And leave a comment to congratulate me on my newfound sewing skills. Consider that your hint!

MangoJuiced is a webzine for anything and everything that interests women—from fashion and family, to pop culture and beauty, to travel and lifestyle. Follow MangoJuiced on Twitter and Facebook... and don't forget to check back in for a new post from me every week!

Five faves from... Istanbul

Hoo boy, I've been busy busy busy these past two weeks! I had so much about Istanbul that I wanted to blog about, but I figured if I had to wait until I actually had time to write about all of it, it would just never happen. And so much has happened since that trip, that I really need to blog and be done with it.

So I'm wrapping up my Turkey posts with a roundup of my five favorite things about Istanbul. I think the tag "five faves from..." could easily apply to anyplace and anything, so watch out... it might just become a regular feature around here!

1) Sweets at Saray. There are lots of sweet shops selling pasha lokum, more famously known as Turkish delight, along Istiklal Caddesi. But all of them pale in comparison to Saray Muhallebicisi, a restaurant, tea and dessert shop that's been satisfying Istanbul's sweet tooth since 1935. Saray's huge storefront window, filled with a tempting array of Turkish sweets, is completely mesmerizing.

Until Saray, I never knew watching syrup drip could be so hypnotic. You are getting sleeeepy... you will want to eaaaat meeeee...



Brisk, efficient staff in old-school uniforms dish out tray after tray of sweets to a packed house and long queues at the takeout counter. Towering stacks of treats disappeared literally in minutes. It was fascinating to watch.

Inside: bedlam. Four completely packed floors of sugar frenzy. Those servers were practically mobbed!

Speaking of sugar frenzy, this was another one of those moments where everything was so yummy I forgot to take pictures. Just take it from me, those sweets in the window are every bit as rich and delicious as they look. Best washed down with a hot Turkish tea or strong Turkish coffee!

2) Aya Sofya. It was a photo of the Aya Sofya (or Hagia Sophia) that first made me want to visit Istanbul. The city's most ancient, and most famous monument was built by Emperor Justinian in 537 AD, and was many things in its long and tumultuous history: a church, a mosque, then a museum.

Behold the splendor, after the jump!

Friday night in Istanbul

Every city has an iconic avenue, a vital artery through which the lifeblood of the city flows. Paris has its Champs Elysees, Barcelona its Las Ramblas, and Singapore its Orchard Road. What Istanbul has, is Istiklal Caddesi. 

That's precisely where Marlon and I found ourselves on our first evening in Istanbul. We were far too tired to do much more than take an evening stroll, after getting up at 3am to leave Cappadocia and traveling the entire morning. On our way there, dozens of Turkish flags hung up for the Victory Day national holiday waved us on. 

You know things are about to get interesting when you see public art like this, at the south end of Istiklal Caddesi just minutes from our apartment. 

We hit the first bend in the road with a slight downward slope. Looking down at Istiklal Caddesi from that gentle hill, two things immediately came to mind. "Madness!" was the first. What followed next, I had no words for at the time. But now I know what it was: it felt like home. And this shows you why.

Cat country

Upon our arrival in Istanbul, Marlon and I were both delighted and relieved to find not only a lovely apartment in a fantastic location, but the cutest, most endearing welcoming committee ever. Say hello to Georgie and Bavaria!

Georgie and Bavaria belong to Suzan, our fantastic Airbnb host in Istanbul. My personal theory is that cats are an indicator of a great apartment and a thoughtful host; I was definitely right this time.

Black-and-motley Georgie was the most affectionate cat ever, purring and cozying up to us literally from the moment we walked in the door. (Note: hire her to give Rogue some coaching.) She even climbed into bed for a cuddle on our last morning... just like Rogue would if we were at home! As you can see, she had lots of bonding moments with Marlon. Bavaria was more reticent, but being deaf and very old, that was easy to forgive.

Turkey is cat country. There are big, beautiful, fluffy cats everywhere—the type that would be pet store material in Manila. Being the crazy cat lady that I am, I couldn't resist snapping pictures of the cats I saw. Coo over the cuteness, after the jump!

A taste of Turkey

My past experience of Turkish food in the past can be summed up in three words: fast, greasy and cheap. In Cappadocia, I became reacquainted with this cuisine in what was a long-overdue "proper" introduction. It turns out that whatever version of Turkish cuisine has made it out of the country and become ubiquitous around Europe are but pale fast-food shadows of the real thing.

Care for a sampling? Let's eat!

Top row: At Cafe Safak in the center of Goreme, the owner Ali's mother makes a competition-winning lentil soup (warm, hearty and cheap!); a refreshing cucumber, tomato and onion side salad; pide, Turkish-style pizza with cheese and sausage. Bottom row: "Pottery" kebap, a meat stew (your choice beef, chicken or lamb) slow-cooked in a terracotta pot that's broken at the table; chicken kebap fresh from the pot, served with rice; tangy pickled beet slaw; local red wine from Cappadocia.

The Turkish are a people after my own heart. They love their sweets and so do I! Thanks to the Turkish sweet tooth, meals always ended with a variety of delectable pastries. I chose to wash mine down with the omnipresent çay, or Turkish tea, while Marlon opted for very strong (too strong for me!), almost mud-thick Turkish coffee.

Top row: Sweet and chewy borek, a layered and baked (or fried) phyllo pastry that seems to be the Turkish national snack (it's everywhere!), best with a glass of warm Turkish tea. Bottom row: Marlon enjoying his manly coffee with delicate bites of baklava.

I thought it was going to be easy to stick to my low/no-carb diet while in Turkey. ("They eat a lot of kebabs right? Grilled meat? I should be fine!") As you can see, I was way off the mark... but quite happy to be wrong!

Panoramas, peaks and pigeon poop

On our last day in Cappadocia, Marlon and I signed up for a day tour through our hotel. The tours are pretty standard (with a standard color-code system) throughout all the various tour agencies in Goreme. We opted for one that would take us to sites that were further from Goreme and would thus require the use of a car.

Our first stop was a nearby lookout point with a beautiful panorama of Goreme. Remember the flat-top mountain in the distance from our hot-air balloon ride?

Then we drove about thirty minutes to the ancient underground city of Derinkuyu. Built in the 8th century B.C. and enlarged in the Byzantine era, Derinkuyu was an underground refuge where entire towns, complete with their livestock and possessions, could weather enemy invasions. Though its series of chambers, tunnels and stairs extend eleven stories into the ground, only 10 percent of it is accessible to the public today.

Confession time: I'm claustrophobic. I braved the first room on the first level, but after attempting to walk further in I knew I couldn't handle it. So I stepped out and decreed Marlon our official representative and photographer.

We worked up our appetites for lunch with a hike through the truly stunning Ihlara Valley. A 16-km gorge cut deep into the mountainous landscape, we hiked only about a fourth of the way through it (4km, which took about an hour to an hour and a half). Four kilometers was not too bad at all. Remember, I like hiking now!



Hike along with me, after the jump!

See it, do it

I just found a collage that I made at the beginning of spring, when I first started getting back into my creative groove. I was done with it, but not quite.. until I saw these tiny hot air balloons in a magazine ad and decided to toss them into the mix at the very last minute.

Six months later...

Coincidence? Or is it just what happens when you put something out into the universe? You tell me. I'm just glad it worked out this way. As R. Kelly sings: "If I can see it, then I can do it!"

Take a hike

As a leisure activity, hiking has never appealed to me. For one thing, as I've said before, I'm not the biggest fan of walking. Also, Southeast Asia (particularly the Philippines) is not the easiest place to go traipsing into the wild. It's always too hot, humid and sticky, mosquitoes and insects abound, and then there's things like the NPA (which is the kind of thing parents warn you about on a field trip to Mount Makiling.)

My impression is that hiking is a rather dreary activity. What's so fun about trudging on and on for hours? Why would anyone want to walk that much? 

After a sunset hike through the stunning scenery of Cappadocia, I now know why.

How Cappadocia converted me, after the jump:

Sanctuary

After catching up on sleep post-balloon flight, Marlon and I took a ten-minute walk out of Goreme town proper to see the Goreme Open-Air Museum, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

I'm not the biggest fan of walking, but there is a lot to see along the way, from spiky alien foliage to the cutest little tag-along pups to camel rides (and the quirky signs advertising them).



The open-air museum is a sprawling monastery complex built by early Orthodox Christians between the 8th and 12th centuries.

Exploring the site takes about three hours at a leisurely pace. You can't exactly speed through it since there is a lot of uphill walking and climbing involved.



Like most everything in Cappadocia, these churches, refectories and monasteries were hewn out of rock, taking advantage of the natural shelter afforded by these caves.

It's not just the raw beauty of these rock formations that makes this place a treasure...



 ... but also how they represent a rare successful collaboration between man and Mother Nature. These caves have served as natural vaults for the paintings and decorations made by the early Christian monks, keeping them safe for centuries. (Given the region's bloody and tumultuous history, I'd say they did a pretty good job.)

Inside these rock walls is a truly special site: the Dark Church. For an extra 8 TL (which is well worth it), the stunning frescoes within (some damaged, many still vivid) take you back to what it was like to be a Christian in the 12th century. No photos are allowed inside so this is as far as I can take you.

For a Catholic like myself, the experience was like stepping into an alternate universe (or have I been watching too much Fringe?), a could-have-been. Though we share the same central figures and events as the Orthodox Church, I noticed that the frescoes placed heavy emphasis on saints we barely know—St. Basil and St. George are two of the most important ones.

It made me wonder what history would have been like if the two churches had never parted ways. What would I believe today? Would it have been better for all of us? I guess we'll never really know; the beauty of a place like Goreme is that it helps us imagine, ask, and wonder.

Yabadabadoo!

Walking around the town of Goreme, I noticed that the Flintstones were a pretty common reference. There were Flintstones cafes, Flintstones hostels, even a Flintstones handicraft workshop.

It's not without good reason. Cappadocia is famous for the cave homes that have been built into its otherworldly landscape. I have a friend who is notorious for having blurted out, while driving along the potholed roads of Kamuning, Quezon City: "Where are we? Are we on the moon or something?" A town like Goreme is the perfect place to ask such a question.

Residents of Goreme, and similar towns in Cappadocia, are real-life Flintstones—they've turned caves into homes. And with the tourism boom, many of those homes have been converted into hotels.

A cave hotel is the place to stay in Cappadocia. Unless your life is an adventure novel (hello, Hunger Games), how many times in your life will you ever have the chance to sleep in a cave?

Come into our cozy cave dwelling, after the jump!

Up, up and away

I knew Marlon and I were going to arrive in Goreme past midnight. I also knew that we would have to be picked up at the hotel before dawn. So I knew there was more than a slight chance that I would look back at my 30th birthday pictures and think that I looked like the biggest living eyebag that ever walked this earth. But I knew, more than anything, that I wanted this to be the first thing I did upon turning 30.

So I went for it. My first hot-air balloon flight! And because there are times when even pictures are not enough, I made a video so you could all come along for the ride.

I was stumped for a soundtrack until my wonderful friend Jeline sent me a link to "One Day Like This" by Elbow. It's awesome to have friends who have great taste in music. Thanks Jeliney!

Oh, and I think it's so cool that the date of my 30th birthday is printed right on my flight certificate.

Some notes on the flight after the jump:

Suspense

It's way past time I started blogging about my trip to Turkey. Yesterday I started drafting a post about the very first thing I did on my 30th birthday, which also happened to be my very first morning in Turkey. But I realized it was just not working as a blog post: too many words and too many photos.

So I'm working on something a little more special for the blog. In the meantime, I leave you with a hint of suspense. 

Marlon and I arrived in Goreme, in the central Anatolian region of Cappadocia, at midnight. It took a flight from Istanbul and an hour-long road trip in near pitch-darkness. And when we got there, this was all we could see from the doorstep of our hotel room. Spooky.

Ano ang nasa dakong paroon? Like we did, you'll have to wait till the next morning to find out. 

A (birthday) gift that keeps on giving

My wonderful husband has once again proved that he knows me so well. How? By getting me a birthday gift that I absolutely love.

Want to know what Marlon's gift was? I'll give you three clues. These three pictures all have something to do with it.

Any guesses? See if you're right after the jump!

Turkish delight

The past few weeks have given me soooo much to blog about, such as:

• My first choir audition since the age of 17
• The start of autumn
• Four fabulous days in Rome
• Dutch lessons
• My foray into baking and sewing

But first, I've been itching to express my delight about the speedy, hassle-free process of applying for a tourist visa for Turkey. 

A few months ago, I met a Turkish national who was horrified to learn that a tourist visa is required for a visit to Turkey. "What?!" she gasped. "Why do they do this? Why don't they just make it easy for people to visit our country?"

Philippine passport holders all know what it's like to constantly battle for that all-important stamp called a visa. Since putting off this trip in May, I had been  mentally bracing myself to slog through the usual pile of paperwork, coupled with a typically tight-lipped interrogation and finished off with that now-familiar nerve-wracking waiting game. 

So I was quite pleasantly surprised to acquire a visa via what probably is the fastest process I've ever experienced. Standing at the entrance of the Turkish consulate, I joked, "What if when we get inside, there's just a box marked TOURIST VISAS: GET ONE?" Till that sweet day arrives, this is about as close as it gets.

Step 1: Begin the usual way, i.e. by preparing travel documents. Marlon and I prepared passports, residence permits, booking confirmations for both flight and accommodations. Because we're praning, we also prepared bank statements and our triple-certified marriage contract.

Step 2: Download the application form from the Turkish consulate website, attach a passport photo and fill it out.

Step 3: Get on a train to the Turkish consulate in Rotterdam. This was probably the biggest hassle of the entire process, since Rotterdam is an hour away. We also had to go at the crack of dawn because Marlon had to be 

Step 4: Go through security and get a number from the information desk.

Step 5: Wait for about 10-15 minutes. In my personal scale of waiting times at government offices, this is not long.

Step 6: This is where the fun begins. Hand over your documents and prepare to answer... wait for it... not one single question about your visit, employment, residence status or financial capacity! The visa officer at the counter barely even glanced at the stack of papers under the application form.

Step 7: Pay the visa fee of €44 to the cashier and present your receipt to the visa officer. There is no queue at the cashier.

Step 8: This is the climactic moment. You will be told to come back for your visa between 3-5pm... wait for it... one, just one working day later! We applied on Friday morning and were instructed to collect our passports the following Monday. Unbelievable!

Step 9: Return to the consulate at the appointed time. Collect passport in less than 5 minutes. No number, no queue, no waiting time.

Step 10: Turn eagerly to the page upon which your crisp new visa is stamped. Feel only the faintest cotton-candy wisp of loathing for your Philippine passport, which is easily trampled over by your mounting excitement for your trip. Wonder why other countries can't just make things this simple. 

Saan ka pa? Turkey na!