Izmir Beach Party!

Woke up this morning and you guessed it, it’s time to eat!

Original Mama-santi and Auntie-santi put out a nice spread for breakfast including the honey and cream thing that I just want to swim in, it’s so delicious. 

After breakfast we went for a nice walk down to the beach...

Then I saw these guys...

And then they saw me...

And of course me being the city kid, I ran...

See you at the beach guys!

This place is so freaking cute and relaxing, its just impossible to not slow down a bit.  After sticking our feet in the water we tried 40 times to get this picture…

But the tide kept ruining it...

And its still hard to tell that it says Izmir in the sand, whomp...

Auntie-santi briefly lost her hat while we were trying to take a picture...

We sat down and had a nice beer before heading back to relax. 

Tonight we are out for a nice meal down by the water.  Off to relax, and maybe run 40 miles and do a million pushups to make up for the weight I’m sure I will gain tonight at dinner.

The House Made of Cute!

It’s the last morning in Istanbul so we checked out Topkapi Palace quickly before heading off to the airport.

We had a hilarious but craaazy taxi driver to take us around.  On the way to the airport there was an accident and he just drove on the shoulder to get around it.  I could never drive here, its all willy nilly, like there are just no driving rules, but we did make our flight on time so I’m not complaining. 

Asan’s stepdad Wolfgang picked us up at the airport, or as he will be known from now on Papa-santi.  

And we headed off the countryside.  It’s a nice change from Istanbul, it is so quiet and peaceful here.  We pulled up to the house and Original Mama-santi and Grandma-santi were waiting to greet us. 

Asan’s whole family is so welcoming and Original Mama-santi made a huge spread for dinner, so we sat and laughed and ate and drank our faces off, again.

These are like a Turkish egg roll filled with either spinach of cheese, soooo good!

You can't see them, but buried under here are huge artichoke hearts, thick ones like a steak, I also ate way too much of this...

Aww Asan and Original Mama-santi...

And Grandma-santi...

Me and Auntie-santi or as she likes to joke anti-santi!

 Off to bed now, and tomorrow is just a nice relaxing day at the house which is exactly what we need!

Eleos is Greek for Yum!

It's been a fun day today in Istanbul...

We met up with Auntie-santi for a quick beer and then headed off to Eleos, this Greek place on a terrace overlooking the Bosphorus.  The view was amazing...

They brought out some Ouzo with lemon juice to start..opa!

Auntie-santi’s best friend Lale joined us and you could see right away why they have been friends for so long.  We ordered some Raki…

Which in Turkish translates to Lion’s Milk because it turns white when you add water. 

And then we did the usual “a little little in the middle” which really means “a lot a lot in the middle”

Monkfish with tomatoes and onions...

Crab and Lobster in a cream sauce...

Grilled calamari...

Something called Semolina pie!

This was one of the waiters that photobombed our picture...

Now I'm too fat to live...again!

The food was so amazing and we all had a great time.  Now we are off to bed because we are off to Izmir tomorrow.