Bozcaada – Heaven or Hell

Photo by Ferhan Talib

Only a year ago, I stepped on this island for the first time and it made believe in “love at first sight.” Even on the ferry going from Geyikli Yukyeri Port to Bozcaada I had a huge smile on my face, like I already knew that I was going to fell in love with this island.

It was early June, when my friends and I arrived on the island, and the season had not yet started. I believe that the peaceful and serene atmosphere of the island was one of the main reasons why I fell in love with Bozcaada.

I’ve visited Bozcaada many times since my first visit during the crowded (by “crowded,” I mean packed) seasons, which were not as delightful as off-season days, but still there is always a secluded beach or café to find even during the most crowded times of the year.

Bozcaada was one of Turkey’s best kept secrets until the 2010s, but today it is one the most popular destinations for romantic couples and families looking for a quite place away from daily city life.

How couldn’t it be? Bozcaada produces its own wine and gets the most delicious seafood from its bays. It could be one of the best destinations for those who like to wine & dine…

Bozcaada is also great for swimming if you are interested in ice-cold water. Ayazma is the most well-known beach on the island, but that also means it is the most crowded.


If you’re looking to be a bit more isolated you can always try Tuzburnu, Poyrazland, Igdelik and Akvaryum. Even in the city centre you could have a lovely day swimming in the back sea by the historical castle.

During the season you can travel around the island by minibuses.

But, for me, walking in the city centre’s narrow streets, which are surrounded by the old houses of the island, is more intriguing than anything else.

When you spend the day walking around the lovely houses of the island, or have coffee in the hidden gardens of the island’s lovely cafes, you’ll be ready to see the wonderful sunset.

The most popular way to watch the sunset while you are on the island is to go to the Polente Lighthouse, just in front of the windmills.

But my choice would be enjoying the sunset by the sea (you can always find a captain willing to take you to enjoy that view). But whether you watch the sunset by Polente Lighthouse or on a little boat floating in the sea - do not forget to take a bottle of local wine with you.

Bozcaada is best for romantic couples and families with kids because there not many options if you are interested in a heavy night life. There are a few bars where you can enjoy a few drinks before or after dinner, but the music ends by midnight. That means you can go to bed early in order to wake up early for the best breakfast in town.


Rengigül Konukevi’s breakfast is sensational with its 45 different kinds of homemade jams. If you ever visit Bozcaada, do not go back without enjoying this experience. Reservation is a must.

For me Bozcaada is heaven, but remember, it has the potential to become a hell if you ever decide to visit the island during Bayram holidays, where thirty thousand people trying to survive on 1500-2000 people populated island.

Good to know:
- From Istanbul to Bozcaada is 6 hours by car, 10 hours by bus.
- Geyikli Yukyeri Port is 50 km away from Çanakkale, you can fly to Çanakkale from Istanbul
- Make sure you check the Geyikli-Bozcaada ferry schedule, it differs from winter to summer
- Try to avoid coming to Bozcaada on Saturdays, and leaving Bozcaada on Sundays during summer season, or be prepared to wait in a ferry queue for at least a few hours
- Make dinner and breakfast reservations even before coming to the island - better to be safe than sorry
- Special tip for romantic couples: Bozcaada is even more romantic when you visit the island on autumn and spring… (Ferhan Talib/Hurriyet Daily News)

Top 10 guide to Çukurcuma, Istanbul

Istanbul's antiques district, Çukurcuma, is now home to novelist Orhan Pamuk's new Museum of Innocence – explore its winding streets with our top 10 guide to its shops, cafes and restaurants

Know a great place in Çukurcuma? Add it to the comments below

Orhan Pamuk's Museum of Innocence in Istanbul

Museum of Innocence
This wine-red 19th-century townhouse has become part-museum, part-art installation, part-novel brought to life. Pamuk conceived the project as he was writing the novel of the same name and he's filled 83 wooden boxes with collected and commissioned works of art relating to each chapter – items the characters would have seen, worn, or owned over the last decades of the 20th century when the novel is set. But it's not just a study of obsession and the mementos of a doomed love affair between the novel's protagonists. With the aid of cutting-edge technology blurring fiction and documentary, it's a chronicle of Istanbul at a time of great cultural changed. Click through our picture gallery of the museum here.
• Çukurcuma Caddesi, Dalgiç Çikmazi 2, +90 212 252 9738, masumiyetmuzesi.org, open Tuesday-Thursday, Saturday and Sunday 10am-6pm, Friday 10am-9pm, entrance 25TL (about £8.50) for adults, £3.50 for students

As the sign says, this bric-a-brac emporium is aimed at "the slightly deranged collector seeking identifiable memories'', and it's a sensory overload for even the most seasoned forager. With stock spilling out on to the pavement it's clear that the owner of this extraordinary shop, A. Karaca Borar, is a consummate collector. In the house-cum-shop's bathroom, you might find a marble Ottoman washbasin next to a mass of rubber ducks. Vintage clothes are stacked alongside collections of toys, plastic gnomes, wooden hands and other miscellany. If you can't find it here, it probably doesn't exist.
• Faikpaşa Caddesi 6/1, +90 212 252 2527, fleaworks.com, open daily 11am-6pm (closed 13-17 June), prices from around £3.50

A La Turca
A visit to Erkal Aksoy's A La Turca kilim house is like wandering around a delightful ethnographic museum – with price tags. A hoarders' heaven, this beautiful four-storey townhouse is filled with his global finds, displayed with the know-how of a skilled interior designer. There's plenty to covet if you can afford it and it's worth exploring even if you can't: the colourful, tightly woven antique kilims, rolled up and stored on bookshelves, the Ottoman embroidery draped over a chair (which is also for sale) and countless decorative objects. Don't forget to head down into the basement for stacks of green-glazed Tokat pottery.
• Faikpaşa Caddesi 4, +90 212 245 2933, alaturcahouse.com, open Monday-Saturday 10.30am-7.30pm and by appointment, prices on request

Hall Istanbul
New-Zealand born interior designer, Christopher Hall, has been living in Istanbul for the past 12 years. His eponymous shop – open since 2003 – mixes antiques with his own contemporary designs. He works in stone, iron, steel, glass, linen, cotton, wool and wood and is inspired by the wares of the neighbouring junk shops, the influence of the city and Islamic form. You'll find some of his bronze and marble furniture in this chic showroom, along with more portable objets d'art, lighting, ceramics and textiles. Most pieces are beyond the pocket of the average visitor but a few small decorative objects start from around £30.
• Faikpaşa Caddesi, +90 212 292 9590, hallistanbul.com, open Monday 2pm-7pm, Tuesday-Saturday 10am-7pm

Leyla Seyhanli
This wardrobe-sized boutique is piled floor to ceiling with an eccentric collection of vintage clothes, hats and hat boxes, handbags, wall hangings and embroidered textiles. A good rummage will reveal Ottoman-era silk pillowcases hand sewn with gilded thread, embroidered linen towels and Anatolian velvet table cloths, ornate traditional kaftans, turn-of-the-century silk blouses and 1950s taffeta party dresses. Always the genuine article, it's become a popular stop for collectors and Seyhanli also lends costumes and accessories to the Turkish film industry.
• Altipatlar Sokak 6, +90 212 293 7410, open Monday-Saturday 10.30am-6.30pm, prices range from around £30 to £160

Leila Butik
Virtually everything in this small, whitewashed boutique is a quirky, fun, one-off design. Different designers supply the store with everything from fascinators to ornately decorated heels, cute little prom dresses to hand-printed T-shirts, crazily patterned tights and leggings to customised straw hats. It also stocks jewellery from Anatolian-influenced crocheted necklaces to plastic brooches and, for men, vintage sunglasses and unique trilbies.
• Hayriye Caddesi 18, +90 212 245 3365, leilabutik.com, open Monday-Saturday 11am-8.30pm, prices from around £5

Holy Coffee
With its sofas, armchairs, bookshelves and art-covered walls, a Holy Coffee break is like stepping into someone's living room. Just a year old, it's become the cafe of choice for locals, ex-pats and visitors thanks to its relaxed vibe and its hands-on Turkish owner, Arzu, who is more than happy to offer her tips on the city. The smell of freshly baked cakes and biscuits wafts from the kitchen, and soups, sandwiches and salads are also on offer. Drink the homemade bitter lemonade alfresco on a hot day – the coffee is excellent too.
• Hacioğlu Sokak 1B, +90 212 243 6869, Holy Coffee's facebook page, open Monday-Saturday 10am-8pm

Cukurcuma Köftecisi
Traditional Turkish fare is served at this family-run lunch venue next door to Holy Coffee, complete with wooden tables and chairs and walls adorned with kitsch art and portraits of Atatürk. It's a paradise for carnivores, with all manner of köfte (meatballs) and şiş (skewers) sizzling on the grill, served with a carb overload of chips and Turkish pilaf rice. But there are also daily specials such as soups, stews and freshly made salads. Fridays and Saturdays are fry days, when you can sample the sublime courgette, aubergine and cauliflower fritters.
• Hacioğlu Sokak 1A, +90 212 245 0833, cukurcumakoftecisi.com, open Monday to Saturday for lunch and dinner

Münferit
Award-winning interior design duo, Seyhan Özdemir and Sefer Cağlar – better known as Autoban – gave Münferit a retro feel with marble-top tables, smoked-glass mirrors and wood panelling. But the vintage aesthetic belies a menu filled with thoroughly modern meze, such as black couscous topped with sprigs of grilled calamari, baby octopus skewers and, for dessert, the irresistible sage ice-cream with plum sauce. Wash it down with some thrice-distilled Beylerbeyi Raki, Turkey's potent anise-flavoured spirit produced by the owner's family, or one of the inventive martinis and mojitos. On balmy evenings, you can dine alfresco on the terrace before it's transformed into a dance space.
• Yeni Carşi Caddesi 19, +90 212 252 5067, munferit.com.tr, open daily 7pm-2am, main courses around £14

House Hotel Galatsaray
The first hotel project from the owners of Istanbul's trendy House Café chain has turned a dilapidated 19th-century building into a design buff's dream with help from Autoban. Spread over four floors, the 20 rooms combine old-world charm with innovative design – lofty ceilings, ornate plasterwork and polished parquet floors, with sleek, custom-made furniture and rainforest shower cubicles in the middle of the bedroom. The top-floor lounge bar, with its open fire, large brown Chesterfields and panoramic views is the perfect place to relax post-sightseeing.
• Firuzağa Mahallesi, Bostanbaşi Caddesi 19, +90 212 252 0422, thehousehotel.com/the-house-hotel-galatasaray, from €139 for a deluxe suite on a B&B basis. If you prefer the idea of an apartment, studios with The House Apart start from €80 per night and one-bedroom apartments start from €100, including two breakfasts at The House Café on Istiklal Caddesi (Sarah Gilbert-Guardian)

Islamic-style hotel demand up 200 pct

Hürriyet Photo

“Family style” holidays, or the kind of holidays preferred by more conservative members of Turkish society, have witnessed a 200 percent rise over the past five years, according to daily Milliyet.

“Every year new facilities are built to accommodate these holiday-goers, but there is so much demand that they are not enough,” said Şah Inn Paradise General Manager Yusuf Yücel. Şah Inn Paradise is one such five-star hotel in Antalya, a coastal resort town in southern Turkey that caters to a more conservative clientele.

“Six years ago we entered the hotel sector with the ‘family style’ concept. When we came up with this notion, we weren’t just thinking of the conservative segment. We came up with a model that would take into account jealous spouses, families and women, in line with Turkish norms and values,” Yücel explained to daily Milliyet.

“Turks have really taken a liking to this concept. When our customers are on vacation they are both at peace and comfortable because we provide them with the kind of holiday that they want and are accustomed to,” he added.

Facilities like Şah Paradise Inn are currently not enough to meet demand, according to Yücel, who said no other country in the world offered this sort of holiday concept.

The “family style” holiday concept has seen a 200 percent boom over the past five years and Yücel expects an even greater increase in the coming period. As a result, they are focusing on new investments, such as a new facility in Antalya’s Belek region.

“We have a project to build a five-star hotel that will be open all year round … In the next few years the Şah Paradise Inn label will also expand into the thermal and city hotel concept,” he said.
(Istanbul-Hürriyet Daily News)

‘Floating palace’ in Turkey with 450 boarders

'Seabourn Quest 6', a famous cruise liner who offers a 6-starred holiday opportunity to its guests, arrived in Antalya with some 780 people onboard...

The luxurious cruise liner, of some 32k tonnes weight, anchored at Antalya Harbour on Monday, with 450 passengers, and 330 crew members. Seabourn Quest 6 has received the best boutique ship award for four consecutive years.

“This ship is offering comfortable, stylish, and luxurious travel. It set out from Athens on 4 May, and will be visiting Kusadasi, Rhodes, Antalya, Alanya, Cyprus, Israel, Egypt, Greek islands, Canakkale, and Istanbul, as part of a 14-day trip. It will be going on a Black Sea tour after that, and continuing with Aegean and Adriatic tours,” said Dilek Bayraktar, of Larenta Tourism.

The Bahamas flagged ship is expected to go on a 116-day world tour next year.
(Özgür ÖZTÜRK/ ANTALYA-DHA)