Travelog for: Tedi

Hi, mom!
Today I want to describe you amazing Mediterranean Sea. To swim there is a real pleasure. Water is very warm, sun is hot, people are polite and pleasant 
The best pastime - to lie, sunbathe, get a tan and drink cocktails!
I like to build sand castles, there are many shells for an ornament on a beach   
Mother of my host helps me to float on a rubber ring because I am very small and can fall in a hole 
Nearby in the sea there is a floating platform where it is possible to climb up, take a rest and sunbathe. And during a storm it's very cheerful to drive!
The fantastic pier is on a beach. There are trees, plank beds, mattresses and chairs on it.
So soft and convenient! 
Also there are lifebuoys - if somebody needs help. Don't worry, while I am here, everybody are in safety 
And surely flags - Turkish one, hotel's one and the guarding organization's one
If you got hungry - there is a small and free cafe with a buffet on a beach. Can you imagine, it is possible to sit and admire the sea and eat a lunch! But  I will tell you about food next time, this subject simply can't be passed! 

Let’s speak about food. Really, I can’t count how many times we could eat during a day. 
First of all - a breakfast. It passes in the central restaurant with a buffet. Here something easy is served - cheeses, salads, eggs, sausages. For children there is a pizza. It’s really funny that when you choose a piece of cheese – there are no names on cards (like Camembert, Roquefort, Blue). They are called round, square, rectangular – by the way they were sliced. 







Closer to the noon we went to drink coffee in a small coffee house. There is a conditioner; it is pleasant to sit in a cool. It is possible to take liqueur or a cake with coffee, to read the book in silence. 

It’s still the whole hour till a dinner, so it is time to have a bite! Especially it’s important for children - they shouldn't start to complain! Here is a decision - a hamburger with a potato in the open dining room.

It is possible to have dinner at the central restaurant and at restaurant on a beach. But I’ve already wrote about it, so I pass to snacks.
I understood that I adore Gözleme - a savoury traditional Turkish handmade and hand-rolled (right behind you) pastry. Fresh pastry is rolled out, filled and sealed, then cooked over a griddle.
The name derives from the Turkish word göz meaning eye. Traditionally, this is done on a sac. Gözleme varieties in this hotel include: spinach, minced meat, cheese, potatoes and sugar. And from drinks ayran best of all approaches with it. Ayran or laban is a cold beverage of yogurt mixed with cold water and sometimes salt.

The next snack before a dinner - a doner kebab or shawarma, as my host called it. Shawarma is a meat preparation, where lamb, chicken, beef or mixed meats are placed on a spit (commonly a vertical spit), and may be grilled for as long as a day. Shavings are cut off the block of meat for serving, and the remainder of the block of meat is kept heated on the rotating spit.

Hurrah, the dinner began! In time, because I just got hungry!  Let’s go in the central restaurant!


There is usually an entertaining show for children near a bar in the evening. I am not the big fan of such shows but what prevents me to have a bite of candyfloss? 
It’s absolutely dark already therefore we go on a reception to drink cocktail. What a beautiful place! And how it is possible not to give tip to such a charming waiter? Have a good night! 

Hi, mom!
Today I want to tell you about the most amazing part of our hotel, that I like most of all. But firstly, let me remember you, where we are.
It is obvious that this sign is created in order that everybody will take photo. Hardly imagine that you wake up in the morning and can't remember, where you are; then go to walk, see this sign and tell yourself: wow, I’m in Megasaray! 

Here is a hotel plan. As you can see, there is the central multistoried building and many small bungalows. We live in the central building; there is a very convenient road from there to a beach.

Plus, so lovely pictures are hanged on walls. Aren’t they sweet?

But I distracted. The most beautiful things in our hotel are pools! You saw on the plan, there are a lot of them and they are absolutely different!

The first and the biggest one - central. It consists of several parts. It is possible to swim here quietly. We came at sunrise, when there are no people and I can swim for a while on a rubber circle with my pleasure. So peaceful, I like to dream... 

The water park with three tubes is in other part. It is dangerously to float here – you should look, that somebody could fell down on you the head! 

And long connecting channels. Children adore floating here - much more interesting, than to move forward and back on the common pool. And the bridges standing on these channels are so beautiful! 

I can see one hundred plank beds near the pool. Perhaps, someone would like to lie on a grass near the pool instead of lying on sand near the sea. And it’s closer to the restaurant and the bar. But I definitely prefer a beach!

If you love outdoor activities near the pool, it is possible to play ping-pong. it is necessary to dive into water for catching a ball, but for the rest - it is excellent idea!

The second pool - the small round pool with a star. It’s smaller, isn't intended for active swimming. But it is possible to play with a ball here, to teach your child to swim.

The third pool is even smaller. There is no entrance for children, it is impossible to run and play noisy games. Only for adults, tired people who want silence and peace. Look, the remarkable umbrellas protect from the sun much better than the beach ones.

The fourth pool is for children. Here everything is clear. If you have a baby, it will have a lot of fun in this place. The main thing - you will be bored to death. 

And the last, but not on value - the covered pool. Probably, sometimes  there are rains in Turkey, and it is necessary to sit under a roof. Or you are afraid of an infection in more visited open pools. Or you want to swim absolutely alone. Honestly speaking, I don't see any "normal" reason to swim in this pool. And don't forget about the sea! Who swims in the pool, when there is a sea? 

Hi, mom!
Today I will finally describe you our hotel. The thing that impresses me so much is global gardening of that place. Can you imagine that each small stalk here is planted manually and is fed with water from tubes specially carried out underground! Palm trees, pines, bushes, flowers... It is impossible to present, how much work is made to transform this stony beach into the small paradise garden suitable for a relaxation.

Walls are twisted with ivy here; all paths are surrounded with bushes. If someone wants to walk in the evenings, instead of to sit in a bar, walking paths are fantastic!


Also I see a set of fruit-trees. Eh, it is a pity that now pomegranates and oranges aregreen. In late autumn, I think, it would be possible to walk and take a couple! 



And this beautiful stone pine that is native to the Mediterranean region. Do you know that stone pines have been used and cultivated for their edible pine nuts since prehistoric times? They are widespread in horticultural cultivation as ornamental trees, planted in gardens and parks around the world. The tree in height is about 20-30 meters, lives till 500 years.



Certainly, there should be palm trees on the seashore! Small ones and bigger ones and huge ones - they are absolutely everywhere. Also don't forget about figs!



To diversify the nature, a set of bright flowers grow here. On fences...

on bushes…

or simple on beds. Let's be photographed!


Here is our hotel. All buildings were grouped in the center…

left all other place for beautiful postcard views

Hi, mom! How are you doing? 
Do you remember tons of different food that I show you in this hotel? Well, can you believe that we want more? 
Owners of hotel provided very useful option for people who bothered to eat in the general dining room. You can choose restaurant a la card twice a week! There are a lot of them - a grill, fish, Arab, Japanese... As my host is a vegetarian - we chose Italian one. 

Look, a real menu! And linen napkins! And cloths! And the food is carried by the real waiters! I started to forget all this magnificence for a week of a food in buffet! And the best thing - visit of restaurant is included in accommodation cost! 

So, what will we take? I suggest beginning with salad with mushrooms. And on snack - toasts with garlic. And do not forget about the most tasty olives! 

And the most delicious and popular Italian dish… pasta!
Which one do you prefer? Creamy Pasta with Shrimp (non-vegeterian) or Pasta Arabiata (translated as angry pasta)? 

Owners really tried to bring a spirit of Italy in this restaurant! When you think about this country, what best-known photo comes to your mind? Certainly, I Hold the Tower of Pisa! Well... We tried to fix it together... But nothing helps!

Ah-ah-ah! It seems that falling, we broke the well-known Italian amphora! What a pity that wine wasn't in, because that end of day would be ideal! 

Anyway, when we went out of doors, it was very dark, therefore illumination was turned on for a fountain. It blinked white, yellow, red, green, blue... Sometimes it is pleasant to simply stand and look at a beautiful view at few minutes... Especially, if your stomach is full of a yum-yum! 

It is our last day in Turkey therefore we decided to do something interesting. What can be more exciting than an excursion? After all, we arrived to another country; we don’t want to lie on a beach! 
So, we choose a journey to one of the most famous sights of Antalia - The Ecological Natural Park. It covers the territory of 40 000 m2 and is the first flora and herpetofauna (plant, reptile and amphibian) park establishment in the world. Ekopark now is a shelter for many plants and reptiles that are under danger of extinction. 
Thus, professor Selami Tomruk created a new home for rare plants and reptiles and expose their unique beauty and importance to the public.  All in all Mr. Selami Tomruk devoted 36 years of his life to studying reptiles and amphibians. 

For some reason, the first animal which we meet in the Ekopark is a chicken.  It’s a Silkie - a breed of chicken named for its atypically fluffy plumage, which is said to feel like silk. The breed has several other unusual qualities, such as dark blue flesh and bones, blue earlobes, and five toes on each foot (most chickens only have four). They are often exhibited in poultry shows, and come in several colors (red, gold, blue, black, white, and partridge).
In addition to their distinctive physical characteristics, Silkies are well known for their calm, friendly temperament.  Among the most docile of poultry, Silkies are considered an ideal pet. Hens are also exceptionally broody, and make good mothers.


Next animal is… a chicken again. Well, OK, it a turkey. Did you know that despite their weight, wild turkeys, unlike their domestic counterparts, are agile fliers?  Their ideal habitat is an open woodland or savanna, where they may fly beneath the canopy top and find perches. They usually fly close to the ground for no more than a quarter mile (400 m).


Ok, it's is going to be something interesting - a reptile! A giant snake, if you want to be clear. I think they are so dangerous!  Although pythons are typically afraid of people due to their high stature, and will generally avoid people, special care is still required when handling them. A three-meter long Burmese python can easily kill a child and a five-meter long (around 16.5 feet) Burmese python is certainly capable of overpowering and killing a fully grown adult. 


This one belongs to the same breed, but looks completely different! Its albino form is especially popular and is the most widely available morph.


And the next creature is even scarier – a cobra! Turks call it Naja. Although several genera share the common name, Naja species are the most recognized and most widespread group of snakes commonly known as cobras. All species in the genus Naja are capable of delivering a fatal bite to a human. Most species have strongly neurotoxic venom, which attacks the nervous system, causing paralysis, but many also have cytotoxic features which causes swelling and necrosis, and has a significant anticoagulant effect.  Some also have cardiotoxic components to their venom.


Who is as terrible as cobra? Crocodile! It’s so huge! What is the most famous and curious thing that you know about crocodiles? That they cry when eat their victims!  The expression comes from an ancient anecdote that crocodiles weep in order to lure their prey. An alternate explanation for the expression's origin is that crocodile tears cannot be authentic because crocodiles cannot cry; they lack tear ducts. Yet this is a myth: Crocodiles possess lacrimal glands which secrete a proteinaceous fluid, just like in humans, though tears will only be visible after a crocodile is out of the water for a prolonged period of time, and the eyes begin to dry out. However, while crocodiles can and do generate tears, they do not actually cry. 


And the last animal that gave me a chance to take a good photo is a green iguana! And what a great shot, don’t you think so? First I decided that it is really tamed and it doesn’t care about people and TV.  But then my host told me that if cornered by a threat, the green iguana will extend and display the dewlap under its neck, stiffen and puff up its body, hiss, and bob its head at the aggressor. If threat persists the Iguana can lash with its tail, bite and use its claws in defense. The wounded are more inclined to fight than uninjured prey. 


There is a small restaurant Near this Ekopark – Botanik. I think that its owners pay to excursion bureau, so each guide brings tourists here after Ekopark visiting. 


It looks so unusual! First of all, IT STANDS IN A RIVER!


If you have enough time and money, you can catch a trout in this river for yourself! The water is so clear you can literally see fish! 


But we don’t want to wait, so we prefer free salad and especial unleavened bread. Looks bright! 


Who else like bread? Geese! Oh, they look scary! I’d better give them everything. 


So, it was only first part of our excursion, we will see Tahtalı Mount with its height of 2365m which is the mountain closest to the sea on the southern coastline of Turkey! 

Hi mom!
Today my host has taught me, how to cook falafel - a deep fried patty made from ground chickpeas. She said that it’s a wonderful source of protein for vegetarians and that it’s a traditional dish for eaten throughout the Middle East. I tried to make as many photos as I could. 

First you must take ground chickpeas (near 150 gr.) and soak them in water over night the day before cooking. You can see, that they really change their size! I compare them with the dry ones. 

Then chop and blend ground chickpeas in a food processor until the beans are the consistency of fine bread crumbs.

Chop the green and slice the onion.



Put everything in large bowl.

Mold the falafel mixture into small patty on the spoon and drop into oil to fry to keep the color an even brown on all sides.



When they are a medium brown color, remove the balls and drain on a paper towel for a minute. Serve warm and fresh!

Hi, mom!

Today we decided to visit one of the most well-known church of Russia - Cathedral of Christ the Saviour! With an overall height of 105 metres (344 ft), it is the tallest Orthodox church in the world. 

When Napoleon Bonaparte retreated from Moscow, Emperor Alexander I signed a manifest, 25 December 1812, declaring his intention to build a cathedral in honor of Christ the Saviour "to signify Our gratitude to Divine Providence for saving Russia from the doom that overshadowed Her" and as a memorial to the sacrifices of the Russian people. 

The cathedral took many years to build and did not emerge from its scaffolding until 1860. The painting were overseen by Evgraf Sorokin and thereafter some of the best Russian painters continued to embellish the interior for another twenty years. The cathedral was consecrated on the very day Alexander III was crowned, 26 May 1883.



After the Revolution and, more specifically, the death of Lenin, the prominent site of the cathedral was chosen by the Soviets as the site for a monument to socialism known as the Palace of the Soviets. This monument was to rise in modernistic, buttressed tiers to support a gigantic statue of Lenin perched on top of a dome with his arm raised in the air.
On December 5th 1931, the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour was dynamited and reduced to rubble. It took more than a year to clear the debris from the site. Some of the marble from the walls and marble benches from the cathedral were used in nearby Moscow Metro stations. For a long time, these were the only reminders of the largest Orthodox church ever built. 
The construction of the Palace of Soviets was interrupted owing to a lack of funds, problems with flooding from the nearby Moskva River, and the outbreak of war. The flooded foundation hole remained on the site until, under Lucy Khrushchev, it was transformed into the world's largest open air swimming pool, named Moskva Pool.
Finally, in February 1990, the Russian Orthodox Church received permission from the Soviet Government to rebuild the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. The restorer Aleksey Denisov was called upon to design a replica of extraordinary accuracy.
A construction fund was initiated in 1992 and funds began to pour in from ordinary citizens in the autumn of 1994. In this year the pool was demolished and the cathedral reconstruction commenced. About one million Muscovites donated money for the project. 



The monument is located in the city center therefore you can enjoy such beautiful views of the old, not reconstructed quarters of Moscow around! 

Especially I like this bridge - very popular place for wedding ceremonies and simply walks. 

On the right you can see one of the chocolate factories oldest in Moscow, and also Peter the Great notorious statue on a ship. So many people consider that it is ugly, but it can't be demolished. The designer Zurab Tsereteli is known as a friend and favorite of Moscow's former Mayor, Yury Luzhkov, and the artist has received many municipal art commissions in recent years, such as the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.
The Peter the Great Statue in Moscow was designed by the Georgian designer Zurab Tsereteli to commemorate 300 years of the Russian Navy, which was started by Peter I of Russia. At 94 metres, it is the eighth tallest statue in the world.

And at the left - a view which is often printed on postcards - the Kremlin ashore. Do I need to say anything else? Fantastic!

And the monument to emperor Alexander II the Liberator of Russia from a serfdom, in fact, from slavery, is located near the temple. Alexander is represented in a military uniform and with an imperial cloak.
The five-meter bronze figure is placed on a stone pedestal with a graceful colonnade. Behind the back of the emperor two bronze lions sit. They, as a plan of author Alexander Rukavishnikov, symbolize old traditional Russia.

Hello, mummy!
Today my host suggested me to visit a place where it works. It is a huge complex of the buildings, called the Moscow City. I will show it to you next time, and today we will concentrate on a collection of huge nested dolls which is on the top floors of one of skyscrapers.
The exposition represented this country at the Russian national exhibition in Paris in 2010.  All exhibits were made manually, all nested doll were worked by 15 masters. To achieve exact bends and rotundities, they had to use ancient equipment of a soaking of a tree.
This great panorama opens from an entrance on a platform where nested dolls registered. In the foreground - Gzhel (at the left) and the Vologda lace (on the right).

The nested doll on the right is executed in style of the Russian imperial porcelain available only to crowned and very wealthy persons. Zhostovo's ornament (in the center) arose at the beginning of the 19th century, at the same time with emergence of many workshops on production of the painted varnished products from a papier-mache in Moscow area. Modern Zhostovo exists as well in the form of a list on metal. The Dymkovsky toy (at the left) exists on the lands near the Vyatka-river more than 400 years. Each toy is unique since from a molding and to a list it is step by step created by one master. For production local red clay and river sand is used. 

Hokhloma (at the left) arose in the second half of the 17th century in the north of the Nizhny Novgorod province near the settlement of the same name, and still remains to most known of types of the Russian list on a tree.
Roots of the Mezensky list (on the right) leave far to those centuries when Slavic tribes only started being formed, and reached popularity peak in the middle of the 19th century.

And here art of varnish painting of Mster arose at all so long ago - in 1932 in Mster's settlement of the Vladimir region the former icon painters created it, relying on traditions of an iconography, but having shown and innovation.

Here you can see art of varnish painting of Fedoskino, arisen at the end of the 18th eyelid. Among fedoskinsky miniatures of 19-20 centuries there are many carefully executed copies of pictures of the Russian artists in which masters brought also characteristic fedoskino features. 

Palekh miniature — the national trade which has developed in the settlement Palekh of the Ivanovo region. The varnish miniature is executed by distemper on a papier-mache. Usually caskets, jugs, brooches, a panel, ashtrays, hairpins for a tie, needle cases etc. are undersigned. Typical plots of a palekhsky miniature are borrowed from an everyday life, literary works of classics, fairy tales, and songs. Works are usually performed on a black background and undersign gold.

How do you like exhibition of nested dolls? I like it very much! But the host says that it is not real nested dolls, because all dolls have to own faces! 

Hi, mom! My host promised that she’ll show me something surprising this weekend! She told me that Moscow is well-known as an “old” city with ancient buildings such as the Kremlin or The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour.  Meanwhile, there is one of the most modern and futuristic buildings in the World - Moscow International Business Center – it’s is a commercial district of central Moscow and combine business activity, living space and entertainment in one single development. An estimated 250,000 – 300,000 people will be working, living, or visiting the complex at any given time, when it is finished. There are some towers that are built right now, for example this one, known as Evolution Tower. Each floor of it will be twisted 3° in relation to the preceding one, totaling 135°.

Now it contains 7 towers with such names as Mercury Tower or Federation Tower and many smaller buildings with Expocenter and Terminal.

Naberezhnaya Tower is an office complex consisting of 3 individual office buildings underconnected to each other via a common basement totalling approximately 150,000 square metres of rentable area of office and retail space. Block C was completed in 2007. At 268.4 meters, this 59-story tower remained the tallest skyscraper in Europe until the City of Capitals was completed in 2009.

My host works in The City of Capitals. It is a multifunctional complex, including twin tower skyscrapers, located on plot 9 in the International Business Center Moscow City in Moscow. The City of Capitals, symbolising Moscow and St. Petersburg, was completed in 2009. The "Moscow Tower" is taller than Naberezhnaya Tower and was the tallest in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and in Europe with a height of 301.60 metres, until the construction of the The Shard in London, England, exceeded this height on 17 January 2012.
More than half of the top floors are taken up by an entertainment complex, office suites, and large apartments. The Сity of Capitals consists of two towers - the 76-level "Moscow Tower" and the 65-level "St. Petersburg Tower". Floors 17 and 18 of both towers are offices. The entire complex sits on a main lobby consisting of 6 underground floors and 4 aboveground floors of public space. The upper floors of the base structure contain shops, a fitness center, presentation halls, and restaurants.

The height of towers is simply unimaginable, it exceeds 300 meters  for some of them. You can see the Bagration pedestrian bridge that connect two part of this quarter. What a fantastic view!

Hi! How are you?

Today we visited one of my host’s the most favorite places in Moscow - the Novodevichy Convent! Its name, sometimes translated as the New Maidens' Monastery, was devised to differ from an ancient maidens' convent within the Moscow Kremlin. Unlike other Moscow cloisters, it has remained virtually intact since the 17th century. In 2004, it was proclaimed a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 
The Novodevichy Convent was founded in 1524 by Grand Prince Vasili III in commemoration of the conquest of Smolensk in 1514. It was built as a fortress at a curve of the Moskva River and became an important part of the southern defensive belt of the capital, which had already included a number of other monasteries. The Novodevichy Convent was known to have sheltered many ladies from the Russian royal families and boyar clans, who had been forced to become nuns. 

The Preobrazhenskiy church is constructed over a northern entrance of the monastery. It is well visible from the neighboring area.

We can get a bird's eye view of a monastery at the beginning of excursion.

The oldest structure in the convent is the six-pillared five-domed cathedral, dedicated to the icon Our Lady of Smolensk. Extant documents date its construction to 1524–1525; yet its lofty ground floor, magisterial proportions, and projecting central gable are typical of monastery cathedrals built at the behest of Ivan the Terrible. Most scholars agree that the cathedral was rebuilt in the 1550s or 1560s; it was formerly ringed by four smaller chapels, in an arrangement reminiscent of the Annunciation Cathedral in the Kremlin. Its frescos are among the finest in Moscow.



The cathedral may be a focal point of the convent, but there are many other churches. Most date from the 1680s, when the convent was thoroughly renovated at the behest of the regent Sophia Alexeyevna (who, ironically, would be incarcerated there later). The blood-red walls and crown-towers, two lofty over-the-gates churches, a refectory, and residential quarters were all designed in the Muscovite Baroque style, supposedly by a certain Peter Potapov. In the old cathedral, a new bowl for holy water and gilded carved iconostasis were installed in 1685.

An arresting slender belltower, also commissioned by Sophia, was built in six tiers to a height of 72 metres (236 ft), making it the tallest structure in 18th-century Moscow (after the Ivan the Great Bell Tower in the Kremlin). This light octagonal column seems to unite all major elements of the ensemble into one harmonious whole.

Especially interesting story is connected with this tower. After Peter I dethroned his elder sister, tsarevna Sofia, and forced her to the nun in 1689, she lived in this Naprudna tower. The kind brother decided to entertain his sister, and hanged out dead soldiers and her guards on trees under windows of her cell. 
But you cannot hang everybody. Even having become nun, Sofia found possibility to leave a wall of the dungeon for the purpose of love adventures. Today it is considered that the tower (or spirit of tsarevna Sofia) can grant the desires connected with love! It is enough to write it on a wall, to enclose a note between bricks or simply ask very strongly. Do you believe in it? 

Like other Moscow monasteries (notably the Danilov and the Donskoy) the New Maidens' Monastery was coveted by the Russian nobility as a place of burial.  The Napoleonic hero Denis Davydov is also buried in the grounds. In 1898, the so-called Novodevichy Cemetery was opened without monastery walls. Anton Chekhov was one of the first notables to be interred at the new necropolis, and Nikolai Gogol was later reburied there too. During the Soviet epoch, it was turned into the most high-profile cemetery in the Soviet Union, with the likes of Peter Kropotkin, Nikita Khrushchev, Sergei Prokofiev, Dmitri Shostakovich, Konstantin Stanislavski, Boris Yeltsin, and Mstislav Rostropovich being interred there.

Especially I like figures of angels - often it is female graves,  the inconsolable spouse gave them a statue 



Now we left the monastery constructed 500 years ago. At once behind a local pond the modern city begins - skyscrapers are seen on the horizon. Two different worlds incorporate here. Hey! Can you see a duck? 



Let's take a farewell look at monastery walls - how beautiful it is!

Monument "Let pass to ducklings" was established in Moscow, on the square avenue opposite to the Novodevichy Convent in 1991. It is an exact copy of a monument in Boston, in the USA. The sculptural composition was created by the architect, the sculptor and the restorer Nancey Shen. The plot is taken from the old fairy tale written for the American kids by writer Robert Makkloski many years ago. In it it is told about mother duck looking for a convenient and safe place for the family. On the way they meet many people. Someone treats them with a peanut, and policemen block off traffic to help ducklings quietly cross the road. In Moscow the monument appeared as a sign of friendship between the USA and the USSR. It was Barbara Bush a's gift to Raisa Maksimovna Gorbacheva.
Now the monument is adored by children - I hardly found second for a good photo!