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Uzak Rota Travel Marketing Summit

by gezielciniz March 17, 2016

Last days and last tickets for the Uzak Rota Travel Marketing Summit, which will be organized on March 25th at Ramada Plaza İstanbul! Previously Uzak Rota organized a first of its kind travel summit in İstanbul, last November in 2015. So the team is ready and loaded for another round!

This time topic is travel marketing and Uzak Rota is organizing 32 speakers with 11 sessions covering their specialty topics. 400 people from the industry is expected to join. So between sessions a great chance for good networking will be available for attendees.

Also another benefit attendees will be getting is chance to use special promotions and join sweepstakes of sponsor brands. Examples are Uber offering a free first ride on the day of the summit and Pegasus Airlines offering 5 free tickets to “anywhere” for 5 lucky attendees.

If you are familiar with the industry you will immediately recognize some of the important guests such as Tav Business manager Bora İşbulan, Skyscanner Turkey marketing manager Murat Özkök, CEO of Otelz, founding partner of Gruppal İlker Atalay. Also marketing managers of Korea and Malesia tourism offices, important names from Emirates and Singapur Airlines, famous instagrammers, bloggers, social media managers, content managers of Mynet, N11, Jolly tour, gezi.com, and media faces of marketing consultants and travel writers of such as Eray Kılıç, Cem Karakuş and Bahar Akıncı. As you can imagine there is much to mention and I just named a couple, so you should definitely check out full speakers list below.

Uzak Rota Speakers

I guess I made my point on how awesome this conference gonna be ( assuming you are interested in travel and travel marketing), so without further delay I give you the link to get your tickets. For the time being sessions are not in English but still for networking you will have plenty opportunities!

March 17, 2016 0 comment

Food-Drink Istanbul

Can Oba Restaurant Gourmet Experience

by gezielciniz March 4, 2016

written by gezielciniz

Can Oba restaurant is one of the interesting points in İstanbul to experience a gourmet dish with reasonable prices but in a completely unexpected neighborhood!

Seriously does it look like a gourmet place?

Owner and chef Can has longed worked with Michelin starred chefs abroad and finally opened his place in a side street of sirkeci among your usual cheap kebab houses. Also you are likely to see him since it is a small place and he likes to take care of each table!

So Can Oba restaurant, despite looking like your average kebab house both on the outside and inside, you will be surprised when you see the menu! Because you will find a menu with orange flavored fish, duck with cherry sauce, risotto with walnuts and octopus, tiramisu with grapefruit! and so on… Yeah that’s right. Actually menu is not that long and changes occasionally but you will always find special soups, main dishes with pasta, fish, chicken and so on. And of course dessert alternatives.

Menu is quite a shock for visitors compared to inside and outside decor that previously tourists wandering here were asked if they have come knowingly and they are shown the menu only if they say yes 🙂

I tried a dish namely lasagne with sweet tomato sause and with spinach and cheese inside and a dessert because Chef said not to miss it and you know when Chef says it you gotta try it 😀

Prices are around 45-60 TL per main dish in Can Oba restaurant which is a good price for such gourmet food. But it has very few tables so you might wanna make a reservation or go before afternoon, and also there is no alcohol so just you know 🙂

Additional info: Can Oba lovers can expect a “sweet” surprise soon to be opened in Kanyon!

Telefon:

0212 5221215

ADRES:

Sirkeci–> Hocapaşa Mahallesi, Hocapaşa Sokak, No 10, Fatih, İstanbul

March 4, 2016 0 comment

Food-Drink Istanbul

10 Cocktails to try in Istanbul!

by gezielciniz February 26, 2016

written by gezielciniz

I heard that this year gonna be year of cocktails but between you and me every year is “year of cocktails” to me 😀 In any case I want to introduce you to 10 finalists of DBC Masters which is short for Diageo Barmen Club Masters, the highly esteemed platform for professional bartenders’ competition to decide on Turkey’s best bartender.

Only 50 bartenders can enter first phase of DBC Masters competition and out of 50, ten chosen to be finalists. Full finalist list is at the end, and I suggest you visit them because they are the new generation of bartenders with unique cocktails. Although most of them are from Istanbul, you can also find names from İzmir and Muğla, popular seaside destinations of Turkey. By the way winner gets one week training in London.

I’m going to introduce you to “The Secret Garden”, which is one of the finalist cocktails made by Anılcan Safa. This cocktail was born from “now create a cocktail in 15 minutes from whatever random materials we gave to you” part of the competition. So it’s amazing how come a 15 minute creation tastes this good! But I guess that’s where bartender skills show 🙂

The Secret Garden is a vodka based cocktail with a garden mix of lime, lemons, oranges, mandarin and so on. Last week I get to try it in a workshop with Anılcan himself, and even though it was first time I’m doing a cocktail the mix was so fail proof that I enjoyed even my version 🙂 Of course I may not have finished with all the decorations so I’m also putting a “legit” photo of it 😀 You may have realized hash tags accompanying the photo because supporting your favorite cocktail in social media is a thing and creating a trending cocktail is also part of the competition 🙂

Price for this cocktail is 30 TL (around 10 dollars) as of February 2016.

By the way in the same workshop we also made 3 different cocktails too and all were good. I especially liked “zombie”s glass. Though same glasses are not in sale Turkey you can find similar ones in Paşabahçe (a brand in Turkey) stores.

And here is the list you have been waiting for…

Names of the bartenders are in bold and in capitals, next to them you can find the pubs/clubs/restaurant where you can find them and try their special cocktails!

Diageo Barmen Club Masters Finalists (2015)

SERHAT İLERİ – 5 Cocktails & More – İstanbul

OKAN GÜNEY – İndigo – İstanbul

ÖZHAN ZENGİN – Joker NO 19 – İstanbul

BERAN TUNCAY – Lacivert – İstanbul

ONUR BALK – BiBuçuk – İstanbul

MEHMET KEMAL AKŞAN – 1888/İzmir

ALİ RIZA KETENCİ – Marriot Hotel Şişli/İstanbul

ANILCAN SEFA – Hyatt Regency Hotel Ataköy/İstanbul

BAHATTİN AYDIN – Kepler Social House – İzmir

ÇAĞATAY ERCAN – Geyik Muhabbeti – Muğla

February 26, 2016 0 comment

Istanbul

Galeri Eksen Artist Suites

by gezielciniz February 5, 2016

written by gezielciniz

Galeri Eksen Artist Suites is a first in the world gallery as it combines a café, gallery and apart rooms for artists to stay in one place. Located in historical neighborhood Balat, this is Galeri Eksen’s second place, first one located in posh neighborhood Nişantaşı.

First floor of Galeri Eksen Art and Artist Suites is both a gallery for classic and modern art and a café, upper floors has nicely decorated cozy rooms for artists to stay. Garden areas intended use is for workshops but they are able to make changes according to requested different usage ideas. Gallery is also used for fashion shoots and meeting arena.

Interior décor is very detailed, specially chosen antiques and Ottoman pieces are used for furnishing. Of course gallery and artist rooms have many previously exhibited art works (oil paintings / engravings) and even famous sculptor works. I had the chance to see artist rooms as well, and as expected good room decoration was in order! I also loved the pieces in stairways! The room I liked the most was the one looking over to the garden, in which you can see a tree is protected and become part of the building. Which is of course extra point for this gallery 🙂

Painters, photographers, sculptors, film makers, actors, ceramic artists, art lovers, collectors… anyone related to art are most welcomed to stay in the rooms of Galeri Eksen. Each room has its own sink and shower stall. From air conditioning to heating, TV to refrigerator, hair dryer, shampoo, room slippers rooms has all basic needs covered.

Owners are theater artist Ayla Önder and her husband art seller Aşkın Önder’s idea of opening a different concept gallery seems to be fulfilled here! Gallery has really good artists, at the time I was visiting some photographs from a 1970 exhibition and artist Çağdaş Erçelik’s works striked me most. I also liked a young artist such as himself (borned in 1983) is already recognized. You can check out Galeri Eksen Art Suites’s website to check out their artists.

I can imagine myself starting the day in this art full room with a good breakfast and then exploring the historical Balat! Not to mention I’ll be able to check out new exhibitions and new works up famous and upcoming artists here.

Phone: 0 212 3273499

Address: Balat Mahallesi, Ayan Caddesi, No 32, Fatih, İstanbul

Special Note: If you are in Balat neighbourhood you might want to check out these places too; Dervish Father Cafe, Virgin Mary Ayazma, Anemas Cafe

February 5, 2016 0 comment

Food-Drink Istanbul

Santral Cafe – 3rd Wave Coffee House

by gezielciniz February 4, 2016

written by gezielciniz

Previously I already declared my relationship status with coffee and mentioned how things were getting even more serious (aka Famous Coffee Cities). Today I’m gonna introduce you to my new favorite café house – Santral Cafe – in the city of İstanbul! Though some part of me wants to keep this place as a secret so it’s all for me, as a blogger I feel the calling to write about it 😀

At first sight, this café gave me vibes of the cute cozy café houses I saw in San Francisco, and that’s probably one of the best things I can say about a coffee shop décor! Luckily coffee taste matched décor so I immediately knew I’ll be a regular here.

For owner Ebru, coffee is a passion, so much that she left her plaza 9to5 job and opened this place. But she didn’t opened here immediately, first she wanted to learn from scratch and she applied to Starbucks. Alas with a CV like hers, people in Starbucks didn’t really think she was serious about working there so they refused her. She didn’t give up and thanks to smooth talking of her friends she got the job. After a while, she left there and started working in a Third Wave coffee house in Nişantaşı neighborhood. And finally she got her own café house.

First thing you will notice when you enter here is the giant wall paint that shows a voltmeter for soft to strong coffee. Obviously with an energizing name like Santral, connection between volts and coffee beans are obvious J. You can select how strong you want your coffee with this image, yet you should really have a look at the menu.

Along with classical choices, Santral café offers Third Wave coffees and house specialties. For instance, one of the most demanded coffee is their house specialty Santral coffee, which is also known as winter coffee since it has honey and cinnamon flavors. Another thing to point out is that they blend their own espresso with 5 different coffee, though they say formula is secret! Also check out how cute some of their cold coffee packaging, it reminded me elixir potion bottles!

You can also find fresh sandwiches and cakes to go with your coffee. But I have to mention their breakfast special, 3 cheese casserole! It is a good alternative, especially for us 9to5 workers to eat something good for weekday breakfast! They put three types of cheese into a pan along with olives, tomatoes and peppers, after 10-15 minutes you are served this beauty in the picture!

Another cozy place indicator, small library is also a tick for Santral coffee and a very important criteria for modern days café houses which is having plugs conveniently all over the place is also a big tick for this place! Also for those who want to sit outside in cold weather there are heaters on the outside.

So, since most of third wave coffee houses in İstanbul are located in European side posh neighborhoods like Karaköy and Nişantaşı, I found this place a good café house in Anatolian side.

In case you are in the area, do drop by…

Address: Atatürk Caddesi 72A , 19 Mayıs Mh (It is located in the very beginning of famous Atatürk Street, Near a bank named Akbank, just across a Starbucks!

February 4, 2016 0 comment

Istanbul

Virgin Mary Ayazma

by gezielciniz February 4, 2016

written by gezielciniz

I will introduce you to a good energy place which also happens to be an old church with “ayazma” water, mostly known as Virgin Mary Ayazma (Meryem Ana Ayazması) or Panayia Vlaherna Ayazma or Ayazma and the Church of St. Mary of Blachernae.

There are some places, once you knew them you became surprised that how you didn’t knew it before, or you feel like everybody has been here/talking about here and you just heard! Well this place has been one of those places for me!

When I first heard the word “ayazma” I didn’t know what it meant so I looked it up. It is a joint word made up from Greek words “Hagia” which is read like “aya” and “ma” and in time it becomes “ayazma”. “Hagia” means sacred and “ma” means water, so it’s literally sacred water. Usually when you heard “ayazma” it’s meant as a sacred water source for Orthodox Christians. Each ayazma has different story and people believe they have healing powers for specific illnesses such as people suffering from paralysis caused by strokes are suggested to visit Balat Surp Hrastagabet Chruch while new mums who have trouble with providing milk to their babies are supposed to go to ayazma in Aya Dimitrios Church!

Ayazma part is inside the church building, which you can reach after a short walk in the garden. Interior décor is your classic church, heavy curtains, religious themes paintings, statues, dim light…I noticed in candle lighting part you put your candles in grains which striked me as a different detail! You will notice interior is in very good condition, however that’s not thanks to good safekeeping but thanks to good restoration.

Historically first time a church has been built in this place is by Byzantine Empire, around year 453 by the Emperor Marcian (though her late wife started the construction in 450).But there were fires in 1070 and 1434 and after these fires it has not been functional for long time. In 1860 current church building has been constructed and it opened its doors to visitors again. So current building is not the original in 453 but still water source is the same 🙂 Before fires, church also held sacred items like Virgin Mary’s robe brought from Palestine.

In that case I’ll just photo them at home!

Of course ayazma part is very popular, there is a writing on it which can be translated as “Do not only wash your face, wash your sins too”. Water is drinkable and if you want to take it with you it has already been small bottled conveniently. (Needless to say even though there is no price, if you are taking one you are expected to donate some change in the nearby box). By the way they didn’t want me to take pictures inside so I can’t share any interior photo with you but I did take a photo of the bottles at home! Taste? Well, it’s more like tasteless but you are supposed to drink it with goodwill and wish to find healing, not for the taste 😉

The most known story about this place goes back to 1400 years. While Istanbul being under siege by Avars at the time, on a Friday, it is said that Virgin Mary’s face has been seen and disappeared when the danger of Avers passed and their attempt to take Istanbul failed. On some versions face of Virgin Mary is said to be seen from the sky and while it’s there forces of nature prevents Avars and when they leave the face also disappears. On other versions it is said that the veil of Virgin Mary figure inside the church has been lifted, and once the danger has passed it went back to normal.

Actually on one of the first sources you came across while doing a Google search about this place, claims that thanks to this legend Friday day is considered sacred for this church and it is the only church in the World where a Sunday ritual is made on Friday. But frankly all the other resources and my own sources couldn’t confirm this, In fact I found many sources talking about Sunday rituals here. So I’ll just let you know there is this unconfirmed info 🙂

Normally this place has many visitors but when I went there last weekend of January 2016 on a Sunday afternoon, had to ask the gatekeeper to open the door for the church! Thanks to recent terror attacks in the World and in İstanbul by ISIS, tourism in İstanbul has taken a serious hit and this can be observed even in somehow off the beaten path places like this. Of course being careful is important, but letting fear taking over would mean never go to Paris again, or in fact never leave the house, so I choose not to give into what terrorists try to create, a fear domination. But it’s for every person to decide how they feel more comfortable, this is just me!

In any case, if you are in İstanbul, have a short visit here, surrounding neighborhood has many other things to offer as well like very popular Dervish Father Café, or streets of Balat, so it may be a nice off the beaten path trip for you.

Address: Istanbul, Ayvansaray Mh., 34087 Fatih/İstanbul

February 4, 2016 0 comment

Food-Drink Istanbul

Dervish Father Cafe

by gezielciniz February 2, 2016

written by gezielciniz

This weekend I went to Anemas Cafe for Turkey’s Traveller’s Club board meeting and on my way to return I heard about an interesting place nearby. Of course I went to check out and had a coffee there. And yes, it was clearly my fault to not know this place before! Here’s what you should know about Dervish Father Cafe aka Derviş Baba Kahvehanesi.

Maybe some of you already heard Derviş Baba Kahvehanesi but I will tell you like you have no idea 🙂 By the way full name goes like Derviş Baba, Deliler, Abdallar, Meczuplar ve Aşıklar Kahvehanesi which you can roughly translate to Dervish Father, Mads, wandering dervishes, Sufism dervishes (who has been completely carried away by a mystical experience) and lovers (though in this sense it is used for love as universal not romantic way to another person).

I’m sure some people come here for the interesting decor, god knows how many types of herbal teas, special Turkish coffee made on ember, or house specialty “Tekke soup”, but this place is much more than an ordinary cafe.

Opened in 2009 in Balat neighborhood of İstanbul, now a popular place many tourists came by, this place priority guest are literally mad people of neighbourhood and poor people! I’ll explain in a bit. In this cafe, on certain days you can join spiritual conversations, enjoy “ney” (reed flute) music and if you are looking for a place to start helping people, this is the address you should visit. Charity organized here has already helped hundreds of families that cannot afford to pay rent , fed many hungry people, helped students on their school necessities, sick people’s operation costs are covered and volunteer teachers give lessons from violin to Spanish to students here…

Founders of this place are journalist Musa Dede from one of the leading newspapers in Turkey;Hürriyet, and architect Ali Denizci. With Musa Dede’s words “This place is like Noah’s arc, every living soul can be a guest. You can see a big company CEO talking to a crook, a communist talking to a priest, a nationalist talking to a foreigner, a wise man talking to a mad man…”

The story of these two coming together to open this place is also interesting. In a dinner Musa Dede asks everyone to make a wish and he wishes to open a place where he can help people. 10 days later in another conversation he meet Ali Denizci who speaks passionately about mad people on the streets of Balat, mistreated by neighborhood, chased with sticks, and people who lost their place to stay in winter time thanks to neighborhood reconstruction project. And Ali Denizci says “I wish we have a place where we can help these people”. And the Derviş Baba (Dervish Father), who is like a master in their spiritual sufism conversations at the time, tells them to go open a place like that together. Although their personalities greatly differs, Musa and Ali start to work together and with help in less than a month they open this place like it has been there for thousand years. A place to help poor and the mad, a place to drop by for conversation, a place to calm down…

Of course you are likely to meet some of the famous mad guests of the place if you happen to drop by, Yaşar for example is the poster boy for the place, his smile is contagious! Even though he has the intelligence of a 5 years old, he will share his food and clothes with anyone in need, so his heart is also as pure as a 5 years old.

In any case even if you are not in the area, do drop by to experience this place…You may be surprised where it will lead you…

PS: Dervish Father Cafes are in some other locations too, like Cihangir and Kadıkoy, but this Balat location is the place the idea borned, so this is the original place.

Derviş Baba Kahvehanesi Address: Sultan Çeşmesi Cd. No:79, Balat, 34087 İstanbul

Tlf: 0538 264 7204

E-Mail : balat@dervisbabacafe.com

Website: http://www.dervisbabacafe.com/#

February 2, 2016 0 comment

Food-Drink Istanbul

Anemas Cafe

by gezielciniz February 2, 2016

written by gezielciniz

I met Anemas Café last weekend thanks to their invite for us to make our board meeting of Turkey’s Traveller’s Club in their location. And what a good decision that was as I learned so much good things about this place and want to share it with you immediately!

Located in Ayvansaray, an area where you can find many historical places close to each other, Anemas café is just near the Anemas dungeons its name came from. From terrace you have a great view of southern shore of Golden Horn and much more!

The view includes freshly restored Ayvansaray Kazaasker Ivaz Efendi Camii built in 1585, which is one of the first works of famous architect Mimar Sinan, Anemas Dungeons – though their restoration continues so it will be a while until you can visit, and many historical wall remains which are used in old Turkish historical movies and of course Golden Horn shores…Need I say more 🙂

First I will talk about the café part then I’ll mention the boutique hotel part!

Place has both large interior and outside area so even on cold days you can still enjoy your food or drink. Owner Mr Seçkin and kitchen manager Mr Giray are both multi skilled people, and they are doing this café/hotel as their hobby. Owner Prof.Dr. Seçkin Dindar is a dentist and academician in İstanbul University. He has always been a people loving, cares to give person and his service to people continues out of hospitals. Few years ago he bought and saved a soon to be ruined building and start restoring it and surroundings. He is determined to make this area more presentable. Kitchen is trusted to Giray Karanlık, who is known for his author, journalist, TV program manager, editor and so on works and who has also worked in the editorial board of Gastro 2000 magazine (kitchen culture) for some time. His passion for food and food culture is coming alive in this café. Olive oil dishes have a special place for him and he shows extra care for the olive oil used in his dishes. He only buys them in places he knows and trust and sometimes even go to witness oil extract process himself. By the way, he covers not only Turkish olive oil dishes, for example I tried a zucchini with rice dish there which belongs to Kavala district of Greece. (I should have asked the origins of celery with orange!). He also tries to make dishes in accordance to the season products and try to use as much as local and organic products as possible. Another thing to keep in my about the café part is that, if you will be visiting as a group you can contact to arrange a menu special to your group. Usual menu varies all the time, like I said depending on season products but to get an idea of their classic menu here’s a link to their website.

Alright, let’s talk about hotel part! Actually original plan was to make it for tourists but right now mostly Erasmus students stay here. And why shouldn’t they! For example last summer in the interior garden which is open till night, an international singing contest with over 150 people held, there is a separate kitchen area for people staying to cook their own food with all equipments and that area is also used as a gallery for paintings and statues! Of course there is laundry and I already mentioned terrace area view! Also all these, including water, gas, electricity, internet bills prices start as cheap as 650 TL a month! Like I said, they don’t manage this place for profits 🙂 Place is really popular between Erasmus students and it becomes an international chatter place!By the way they even have honeymoon suites (for a higher price obviously).

So if you are planning a visit to this area, you can combine many sightseeing with a good café as a break location! I will include some of the nearby worth to visit places soon in the blog 😉

Tel: +90 532 276 5060

Email: info@anemascafe.com

Address: Ayvansaray Mh. Ahmet Rufai Sk,
No:4 34200 Fatih İstanbul Turkey

February 2, 2016 0 comment

Travel Guides

Christmas Markets

by gezielciniz December 21, 2015

written by gezielciniz

Christmas Market visiting is an old tradition of Europe. Especially Germany, France and UK is famous for it but many European cities have their own Christmas markets. Generally speaking ones in Germany are more popular. It really is a popular attraction and every year many tourists make trips just to visit Christmas markets.

This year I planned such a trip to visit Christmas markets in Frankfurt and Heidelberg in Germany and France city Strasbourg also known as “Capital of Christmas”

Soon more detailed guides for each city will came up but as a general Christmas market guide here are my impressions;

First of all let me start with describing you a typical Christmas market scene. You will only see this starting in December and until Christmas day (24^th December). During these times, in certain areas of cities portable small shops opens side by side and usually surrounding area and of course these shops are all decorated in high Christmas spirit! you will see all kinds of Christmas decorations; snowflakes, Santa Clause figures, reindeers, angels, teddy bears, toys, flowers, shiny balls, and gift packages! There will be at least one big Christmas tree and one merry go round for children!

You will see many kinds of shops selling food, drinks, cute decorations, candles, local products, handcrafted items, special soaps..etc.

Most popular and common foods are Glühwein (hot wine or mulled wine), crepes, chocolate and fruit screwer sellers and sausage sellers. You will probably came across local delicacies depending on your visit location and one or two different street food seller but you are guaranteed to find these!

Decorations will be everywhere so they will certainly get you into Christmas mood, and it will look so beautiful. But at the same time it will be increadibly crowded especially at night time!

Frankfurt Weihnachtsmarkt –>Weihnacht means Christmas in German and markt is market so all of Weihnachtsmarkt is the word you will be hearing in Germany.

I would like to start with the foods in these market! Very surprising for me I know 😀 You can expect to find lots of Glühwein here, of course it is a delight in cold weather. Each year the cup has a different print so if you want you can keep the cup as a sourvenir of that year’s Christmas market. You pay 3 euro for the cup when you first buy the drink so if you want to keep the cup you already paid for it! But if you don’t want the cup you can return it to where you bought and they will return your 3 euro. Wine itself is sold at 3 euro as well.

In Frankfurt Christmas markets of course “Frankfurter” sausages is a must try. You can find different flavoured sausages like curry or barbeque version or you can also get a steak or schnitzel between bread instead of sausage. But I would suggest getting it from big round barbeque shops, not normal cooking shops. Price is around 3,5-5 euros depending on your choice.

Creps with Nutella is another favorite in Frankfurt’s Noel markets but if you want desserts keep your eyes open for chocolate dipped fruit skewers, Christmas cookies and another German classic roasted sweet almonds. And since you are in Germany you will also see pretzel shops as well. I saw some soup sellers as well and it really looked like a good idea in cold weather!

Once you satisfied your hunger like me, you will probably enjoy more other shops which sells little ornaments, handcrafted gift items, candles, candle holders, soaps etc…

Heidelberg: Heidelberg is a popular Christmas market tour location. It is a small city but it has very nice views, a castle and old houses that looks fantastic! There is a huge, I mean really really huge beer barrel in the Castle which is a popular attraction as well.

As for the Christmas market here, along with the typical things such as shops, decorations, glühwein, Christmas trees, merry go rounds I spotted couple of not usual food and product stands here.

There are two Christmas markets in Heidelberg, one is in the center and one is in the castle. Castle area was bigger. I thing Heidelbergers love their food more than Frankfurters because they has stands for not so easy and pratic street foods! Such as a big fire barbeque for somon and another big oven like thing to roast pigs!

Also I saw the most fantastic barbeque sold in one of the shops and it took me sometime to realize they are not selling the food displayed but the huge barbeque itself!

Strasbourg: Strasbourg is known as capital of Christmas and rightfully so! City belonged to Germany before so it has both German and French characteristics.

Additional to the typical Noel market, all city becomes a hub for Christmas as not only Christmas market area but many streets are decorated! Even walls of building are covered, I spotted more than one Christmas trees in certain squares. Some streets are even decorated in a special theme like all white decorations!

Strasbourg is full of nice old houses, riverside view, parks, nice café and boutique filled streets so it is a nice place to visit even without Christmas time spirit. But you should definitely check this city in Christmas time to see how it becomes even more beautiful.

Also try hot orange juice here as a Christmas market specialty here. (it is way better than it sounds trust me :))

Last words, I didn’t get to see it this year but I heard Hamburg’s Christmas market is very good as well! Just so you know 😉

December 21, 2015 0 comment

Travel Guides

Strasbourg the Capital of Christmas!

by gezielciniz December 21, 2015

written by gezielciniz

As a Christmas time destination Strasbourg is one of the best choices. I think it is one of the most romantic and beautiful city in Europe and in Christmas time it gets even more beautiful!

Christmas Market visiting is an old tradition of Europe. Especially Germany, France and UK is famous for it but many European cities have their own Christmas markets. Generally speaking ones in Germany are more popular but France city Strasbourg has a special place because it is also known as “Capital of Christmas”. There is even a sign at one of the main entry points saying “Welcome to the Capital of Christmas” of course in little cute lights.

After seeing it with my own eyes I would say it is a well-deserved title because city really gets into Christmas mood! Normally you would see some action and decoration around Christmas markets area but in Strasbourg almost all streets were decorated in Noel spirit! Some streets are even decorated in a special theme like all white decorations!

Strasbourg is near German border of France and previously it was a German city. Therefore city has both French and German characteristics, I would say both good traits were passed 🙂 Strasbourg is full of nice old houses, riverside view, parks, nice café and boutique filled streets so it is very fun to walk around. Strasbourg is very photogenic as well. River provides a good view and also you can get on a river tour to enjoy more scenery. One of the attractions here is that on your boat tour there is a special place where they have to change the leverage of the water so the boat can go on. In good weather it is more fun to do the boat tour. Also you can do canoe in the river even in Christmas time.

Speaking of Christmas time you will see all kinds of Christmas decorations in this town! Snowflakes, Santa Clause, reindeers, angels, teddy bears, toys, flowers, shiny balls, and gift packages…Even walls of building will be covered in these! Of course streets will are covered in small lights and more than one Christmas trees in certain squares.

Most action occurs around the Cathedral as many Christmas market shops open in this area. Of course you will find many Glühwein (hot wine or mulled wine) here, you can choose red or white and another good drink choice here would be hot orange juice. This one is free of alcohol and despite how it sounds it really tastes good (believe me I was skeptic as well!) Like many Christmas markets cups are special each year and for additional price, like one euro, you can keep the cup as a souvenir. If you don’t want to keep it just return it to where you bought it and they will give you your money cup money back!

While you are browsing through cute shops in the Christmas market (or trying to make your way since it will be very crowded at night time), you can stop resisting crepe smells and buy a Nutella crepe usually around 3-5 euros. You can find sweet or cheese version. Another popular snack is bagettes and waffles. I would recommend leaving space for Christmas cookies or at least buy a package to eat later!

When you are not hungry maybe you can notice other Christmas market stands 😀 Most sells cute decorations, candles, local products, handcrafted items, special soaps..etc.

Cathedral area would be the most crowded place so it may be hard to navigate in the crowd but you will come across spontaneous little concerts, costumed Santa Clauses walking around and other small attractions.

In any case, Strasbourg is very nice place to visit whether it is Christmas time or not. I can suggest this city for anyone, to romantic trip planners, friend trips, solo trips and family trips. It doesn’t need to be e long trip though, just fo a small break. Also if you have an extra day I would highly recommend visiting nearby German city Heidelberg (100km).

December 21, 2015 0 comment

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