We spent more than a month in Turkey with Ece’s family finishing our thesis - which we finally achieved. Even though we were shaken - no pun intended - by the earthquake in the final days, we had a lovely time there. Gecmis olsun Turkiye!

Istanbul

Ece’s sister (Itir) and father (Taner) live in Istanbul. Therefore, we could spend lots of time with Atlas at Itir’s and stay in Tuzla at Taner’s with five cats indoors and numerous cats outdoors. We could also explore the town centre of Tuzla at the seaside, one of the only remaining traditional little towns in Istanbul.

Another one of those towns is Samatya. It is one of the oldest settlements in Istanbul (dating back to the 4th century). Mainly housed by Armenians and Greeks, Samatya has several quite old Armenian and orthodox churches. However, sadly all of them were under construction or closed. Thus, we couldn’t get inside them.

But another popularity of Samatya these days is its main square full of old-school meyhane’s (raki and meze locals)…

… with lovely cats ready to have some pieces of our food.

We also saw other cuties; here is Ece’s nephew, Atlas, in the new tent he received for his birthday!

Bodrum

Next, we went to Bodrum to stay with Ece’s mother - Esin. We took a bus both ways (it is about 10 hours from Istanbul). There was, of course, another cat there waiting for us at home. We joined some french cook & eat evening Esin was organizing and enjoyed the sunny weather of the south by having breakfast outside, …

… sitting by the sea with a beach toutou…

… and in the garden with Irmik the cat, playing with (or escaping from) the neighbour’s chickens.

On the other hand, the evening could get quite cold. Fortunately, we had a nice cast iron wood-burning stove to warm us and our chestnuts.

During these times, we would have a nice dinner prepared by Esin. Sometimes, the table would be shared with Irmik!

And more kitties!

We conclude this blog post with more cats that everyone can enjoy while waiting for our upcoming post on our next adventures in Malaysia!