Alacati Turkey

The summer has started to turn into fall in Sweden, and I keep going back to my photos from Alacati, Turkey, remembering the warm summer breeze (even cool at times!), the fresh lemonade and the wonderful salad offered on many of the Cafe terraces. AHHH, what a place!! Alacati has definately some Greek inspiration, as well, as you see:But clearly, clearly it is Turkey at its very best. Here you still see Turkish people enjoying their vacation in rather than masses of foreigners. Almost all of the hotels are boutique type small instances rather...

Read More

IKAT silk

When rushing through Istanbul Grand Bazaar last week, I stopped to admire Ikat silks, these ones hand-woven in Uzbekistan. Now, I'm no expert in such, but grew very interested in these pieces, as some of the sellers seemed to be so proud having them in their selection. Of course partly they were pure polyester, accidently slipped to the pile probably ;), but some of them were genuine, like these ones shown in the photos. The more complicated the pattern (like below), the more valuable the piece is. I rather like the bit simpler ones, so does...

Read More

TULU Istanbul

Does it ever happen to you that while driving you all of a sudden step on the breaks ignoring the location AND situation, all because you have seen something absolutely delicious driving by? Well, something like it happened to me on thursday in Eminonu. I scream ‘STOP!!’, get out of the car and run across the street to a haven called TULU, a home decoration store just.... STANDING there. Ahhhhh….Barching in almost wild (well, wild J), I’m welcomed by the friendliest host – I’m calling her this as it best describes her role during...

Read More

Iznik ceramics

While visiting some handicraft stores in Eminonu, Istanbul, I dropped by an old friend’s store selling Iznik ceramics.  What wonderful pieces he had again available! Unfortunately they require some serious packing to bring back home, so I had to settle for one bowl which had gotten broken during our move from Turkey to Sweden.But the tiles and plates and bowls he has…Instead of the 2 artists he was working with before, he now has 3, each working in their very specific style. They are using both the antique Iznik patterns in their work, as...

Read More

Marine antique

Without realizing, my blog has been on a very undeserved vacation for almost a month! Sorry for that - the summer was busy, and hot, and - well, PERFECT! Now full of energy and tons of things to write about, this will change!Do I write a lot about my husband? Perhaps, but you tend to think of the things you love in this world, right :)? Well, he is a big fan of marine antiques, and when we lived in Turkey, we found a really nice shop which sold the rusty, worn-out-kind-of marine antiques. So quite frequently we would visit the shop, but guess we...

Read More