Badem agacimiz bu aralar bembeyaz cicekler acmis/ Our only little almond tree in the garden have beautiful white blossoms these days...

The story behind buying this pile of rock

It was christmas 2010. We were exploring the northern part of the Aegean coast of Turkey. We visited Assos, the ancient greek town, where Aristotle started his own academy after leaving the Platonic Academy in Athens. We were planing to stay overnight and continue driving but ended up staying longer and spending the christmas night there; Diarmuid took over the kitchen and cooked the turkey, I took over the restaurant, made mulled wine in the fireplace of the fish restaurant Yildiz Saray, where we spent our week. We had a nice christmas dinner with the owner, the crew and the other guests. We like the area so much that we found ourselves looking at properties for sale. We were looking for a nice olive groove over looking at the Aegean sea and the Greek island Lesvos. The two places we fell in love with was already gone. I stayed in touch with the real estate company in the area. It was receiving calls about new places he found and at last I decided to drive there early summer to see if anything good for us. The place I looked were more than we could afford. I was just about to loose my hope when Fikret, the real estate guy, mentioned about this place. I went to see the place dragging my feet but when I see the view of the valley between the land and the sea, my eyes opened wide, I decided right away, we need to buy this place. Actually, Derm had no idea at that moment, he was in New York busy earning money, so that his wife can go and do property shopping :) It was not to hard to persuade my husband about buying this place because it is obviously a good investment. So we got it.
We have been discussing about the ideas, how to fix or re-build this place. We have been reading a lot. I have been on the net surfing for more ideas. We decided to go green; we want to build an ecological house; we will be recycling the stones from the old house, we want to make sure it will be energy efficient. We are hoping to start the project when I got back to Turkey, early march. Hoping to have an easy-going period with the construction. Happy to hear your opinions.

Avlu ve Tas Ocak/ Our charming hearth oven and the courtyard

Before;

After;

Evimizin hikayesi

2010 noel zamaniydi. Arabamiza atlayip Kuzey Ege'yi kiyi kiyi gezmeye karar vermistik. Ve bir geceligine ugradigimiz Asos'ta birkac gun kalip ruhumuzu dinlendirdik. Bolgeyi gezerken Asos'un batisinda kalan yerlesimlerin ne kadar bakir kaldigini, ne kadar huzurlu ve kendi haline oldugunu farkettik, ve henuz talan edilmemis oldugunu. Bizim huzur molamiz birden satilik zeytinlik bakinma gezisine donustu. Iki tane tam gonlumuze gore zeytinlik buldugumuzu sandik ki, maalesef ikisi icin de gec kalmisiz, halihazirda satilmis.
O geziyi bol bol Ege Denizine hakim doga fotograflari ile ama zeytinliksiz olarak tamamladik. Ama gonlumuz orada kaldi. Ben butun bir kisi internette satilik deniz manzarali zeytinlik arayarak gecirdik. Oradayken irtibat kurmus oldugumuz dostmuz Fikret Bey de (Asos Emlak/Bademli) bizim icin arastirmalara devam etti.
Derken yaz geldi ve beni taniyanlar bilir, yazin baglasalar tutamazlar, gezmeye, kesfetmeye hep bahanem vardir, ekibi toplayip Fikret Bey'in arayip bahsettigi zeytinlikleri gormeye gittik. Ekipte saglam bu arada; alfabetik sirayla gidecek olursak, gezginler ve aylaklar ekibinin kurucusu ve en eski uyesi Alper Genc, yolculukta her daim uyuyan ve ehliyetinin olmamasinin avantajini sonuna kadar kullanan sevgili can dostum Bahar Teke, cok sevdigim ve saydigim, kendimi yaninda guvende hissettigim sevgili buyugum Metin Danabay ve halaybasi bendeniz.
Evi bulmamiz oncesi ve sonrasi keyifli detaylari geciyorum; sanirim bunun icin ayri bir blog olusturmam gerekecek. Fikret Bey esliginde portfoyunde bulunan ancak paramizin yetmeyecegi zeytinlikleri gezip tam elim bos Istanbul'a donecegimi dusunurken en son istegigim formatta olmayan bu yeri "Buraya kadar gelmisiz, e gorelim bari..." seklinde nazla niyazla gorduk ve bayildik.
Kucuk, mutevazi bir koyun eteginde, batida denize hakim muhtesem bir manzara, altinizda Ege Denizine kadar akip giden hos bir vadi ve yaz sicagina ragmen saclarinizi oksayan hos bir esinti. Koca bir kayaya yaslanmis arazi, icinde yasanmislik barindiran kucuk bir avlu, avluda tas bir ocak...
Tamam, kabul ediyorum, ev biraz harabe, buda benim isim, tamir etmek. Bu isi anlimin akiyla ve hayal ettigim gibi, keyifle bitirmeyi basarirsam, orasi benim icin dunyanin en guzel evi olacak. Ve en guzel avlusu.
Butun yazi projede beraber calisabilecegim ekibi biraraya getirmekle, kafamda projeyi olgunlastirmaya calismakla gecirdim. Ekip konusu pek kolay olmadi. Ekibi olusturamiyorsam ekibi olan birilerini bulmam gerektigine karar verdim. Suanda o sorunu asmis gibiyim. Proje uzerinde tartismalara basladik. Biraz daha calismamiz lazim, henuz detaylari oturtabilmis degiliz. Bu arada kac kitap okuduk, hangi farkli konulara daldik anlatamam. Bunlari sanirim farkli basliklar altinda ele almaliyim. En onemlisi "Yesil Ev". Kendi kendine yeten, dogayla uyumlu, mevcut malzemelerle yeniden ayaga kaldiracagimiz "Kucuk yesil bir ev", "Bizim kucuk yesil evimiz." Bakalim bu konuda ne kadar basarili olacagiz. Hep beraber, yardimlarinizla.

Our view

Our place is facing west, overlooking the Aegean through a beautiful valley; olive groves at the bottom, pine forests on the sides. Very green in winter and spring, yellow tones during summer and fall...

Our pile of stone

A group of old stone houses dated a century ago. We are excited with the potential of the place. 

This place has million dollar views over looking to the Aegean with magnificent sunsets.

It will be our sancturary; I feel it...