Archiv für September 2013
Perfect Dinner in Istanbul
There are a lot of perfect restaurants where you can enjoy delicious and modern cuisine that fuses east and west. Beside them there are cafes or just bistros where you can enjoy a break during your sightseeing tour.
La Mouette is a restaurant with unique view over the old city. However, the more important information is that there are two chefs who are doing stellar work using locally- sourced ingredients..
Lokanta Maya is actually a casual neighbourhood bistro where the mucver and zucchini frifters are so popular that the chef has written the recipe of them on a mirror in the dining room so customers stop asking for it.
If you fancy for kebap, then the best choice is the Siirt Seref Buryan Kebap Salonu which specialises in buryan kebab. A side of a small lamb is slowly cooked over coals in a deep hole in the ground which results in exceptionally tender meat covered in a thin layer of crackling, crunchy fat.
Tarihi Karakoy Balikcisi is excellent restaurant with a long history as it has been opened since 1923 which is a reliable supply of extremely fresh fish. It is a place for gourmands from all over Istanbul.
In case you want to just stop for a coffee and watch the city to by, then visit Eminonu ferry docks. The main draw here is the fried fish sandwich which is prepared on colourful illuminated boats that rock steadily on the water.
Galata Konak Café has a great view of the Bosporus and Golden Horn on one side and the marvellous medieval Galata Tower on the other. It is on the top floor of a three-storey historic building where you will find velvet armchairs, chandeliers and gramophones or simple terrace with wooden tables and wicker chairs.
Warsaw – The Palace on Water
This is the second name for the Lazienki Palace. In the past in was a bathhouse which was built on an islet in the middle of a lake for powerful aristocrat Stanislaw Hraklisz Lubomirski. I was fully remodelled between 1764 and 1795 to fulfil need of Stanislaw August Poniatowski for a private residence where he wanted to relax. He was a patron of the arts, so the interior of the palace hides a really great collection of arts which luckily survived.
As the palace is in the middle of a lake, the lake is divided into two parts, northern lake and southern lake connected by two Ionic colonnaded bridges to the rest of the park.
On the ground floor there is the Bacchus Room which is decorated with 17th century Dutch blue tiles and paintings from Jacob Jordaens. There is also the Dining Room where the famous Thursday dinners took place where the most important and notable members from the era of Enlightenment in Poland were invited. In the central part of the palace, the Rotunda can be find that was designed by Domenico Merlini and shows figures of the Polish kings. This part is one of the most important examples of neoclassical decoration in the palace. From this place you can come to the Bath Room where the Dutch blue tiles from 17th century can be found as well as China vases and the stucco ornaments from the Baroque era.
There were a lot of balls, formal dinners and masquerades which were held in the Ballroom.
The first floor is where the royal apartments, upper picture gallery, the balcony room, the king’s cabinet, the royal bed chambers, the cloakroom and the officer’s room can be found.