Tea Time in Turkey

 It's always tea time in Turkey!  Nothing gets done without a little tulip shaped glass of Turkish Tea. Since I love tea, this was just fine with me. Here's my morning glass on the balcony of our apartment in Bodrum. But you also have tea at cafes, on boats, by the pool, in stores and it is always drunk out of one of these little glasses - too cute, right?

There's a pretty elaborate set up for making tea and keeping it warm. See that samovar below? Well, it has a charcoal brazier under the pot and a silver urn to keep the water warm. A special tea waiter will come to your table, lite the coals, wait till everything is just right, make your tea and then put it on top of the samovar. You then add hot water from the urn to your taste - WOW, such work. But tea is serious business here.

If your tea is not prepared for you at your table. It is brought on these wonderful little birdcage style trays. Sometimes you will see waiters walking across four lanes of traffic or wading through acres of beach chairs swinging a little tray of tea glasses.


Of course you don't have to drink tea. Here is Kirk having coffee in the Grand Bazaar. It's also an elaborate service with really thick Turkish Coffee, a small pitcher of hot water, a small pitcher of almond syrup, and then a small bud vase. Enough to keep him occupied while I went shopping!!      

   Turkey also has a boutique wine industry. One of the most famous places for wine is the island of Bozcada. We took a ferry boat over and spent the day on the beach and wandering the charming cobblestone streets but of course we also had to taste the wine so we sat under periwinkle colored umbrellas between the ancient fortress and the sea and enjoyed the glasses of wine that you see below. I was in heaven....

                                     Have you ever had Turkish Tea?? If not,, you should try it!