Lodger Travel

08/02/2023

For those of you who have been asking for a secure and credible place to make donations
We donated and will continue to donate via AHBAP, a non-govermental organization.
AHBAP has been actively and effectively helping people who have been affected by natural disasters in Turkey. It’s supported and trusted by the public. As previous experiences has shown, AHBAP is the fastest and the most secure organization when it comes to providing help to those in need.
You can donate via their webside “ahbap.org” by clicking on “Disaster Donate” on the top right.
Their bank account details are as follows:
For USD donations
Account Holder: AHBAP DERNEGI
Swift Code: ISBKTRIS
IBAN: TR32 0006 4000 0021 0212 1502 62
For EUR donations:
Account Holder: AHBAP DERNEGI
Swift Code: ISBKTRIS
IBAN: TR15 0006 4000 0021 0212 1502 77
For GBP donations:
Account Holder: AHBAP DERNEGI
Swift Code: ISBKTRIS
IBAN: TR37 0006 4000 0021 0212 2608 49

🇹🇷

27/06/2020

21/06/2020

Happy Father’s Day! ❤️

14/06/2020

It plans to reopen mid-June.

29/05/2020

As of June 1st, intercity travel restrictions will be lifted and restaurants, cafes, parks, beaches, archaeological sites as well as museums will reopen in Turkey!

Turkey will allow restaurants and cafes to reopen and lift restrictions on intercity travel on June 1, Erdoğan said. Curfew for those over 65 and under 18 years old will remain in place, he said.

24/05/2020

Eid mubarak to all of our friends who celebrate! ✨

📷 interior of the Süleymaniye Mosque, built by the famous architect Mimar Sinan between 1550 and 1558, on the order of Suleyman the Magnificent.

19/05/2020

Happy May 19th! 🇹🇷🇹🇷🇹🇷🇹🇷🇹🇷

18/05/2020

Our virtual tour suggestion for the day is Istanbul Toy Museum!

Opened in 2005 by Turkish poet and author Mr. Sunay Akın in a four-floor historical house at the Asian side of the city, Istanbul Toy Museum displays 4000 toys from all over the World. Mr. Sunay Akın says “Our museum tells the history of dreams and science with the language of toys. While the stories of toys present visitors a history of the world, it opens the doors leading back to their past.While entering the museum your child will hold one of your hands and when leaving, your childhood will be holding the other...”

https://istanbuloyuncakmuzesi.com/pages/360-tur

12/05/2020

For us, the month of Ramadan is also the time to enjoy the traditional flat bread called “Ramadan pide” 😋 Usually, bakeries all over Turkey sell pides hot and fresh about an hour before evening prayer while the tempting smell covers the streets 🎉 At the beginning of the isolation😷, just like the rest of the World 😂, we also bought tons of flour 🌾 and yeast, and rushed to our kitchens to bake bread 🥖🍞 When the Ramadan started a couple of weeks ago, unsurprisingly, we swiched from bread to pide, followed by filling our socail media feeds this time with home-made pide photos 😂😂😂
In case you also would like to try baking pide at home, here is the receipt ⬇️ We are sure you will like it as much as we do 💛
Ingredients:
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 (1/4-ounce) packet instant dry yeast
1 1/3 cups warm water
1/2 cup warm milk
1 tablespoon soft butter or margarine
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 large room-temperature egg yolk
1/2 cup plain room-temperature yogurt
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
1 tablespoon nigella seeds
📍Put the flour in a large mixing bowl. Add dry yeast on top.
📍Add warm water and milk gradually, while combining the ingredients lightly with a fork.
📍Add softened butter or margarine, olive oil, sugar and salt and coninue combining.
📍Knead the dough in the bowl for 15 minutes.( If you are using a mixer, process the dough for about 10 minutes using the dough kneading hook.)
📍Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for about five minutes more. The dough should be very soft. If it’s too firm, knead in another tablespoon of olive oil until smooth.
📍Transfer the dough to a warm place. Cover it with a damp cloth and let it rise for about two hours.
📍After two hours, the dough should be about double in size. Put it onto a floured surface and divide the dough into two pieces.
📍Shape your pide loaves using your fingers. Make each loaf flat and either oval or round, about 1/2 inch thick.
📍Place each loaf on a metal baking tray sprinkled with flour.
📍Using a sharp knife dipped in flour, first cut about 1 inch in from the edge to make a circle all the way around the loaf. Then, inside the circle, make diagonal cuts in opposite directions to make a diamond pattern. Do the same with the other loaf.
📍In a bowl, whisk together the yogurt and egg yolk. Using a pastry brush, coat the top of the loaves generously with the yogurt-egg mixture.
📍Sprinkle the sesame and nigella seeds evenly over the tops.
📍Bake in a heated oven at 430 F/225 C oven with a shallow tray of water placed at the bottom for about 30 minutes or until the top becomes deep, golden brown.

04/05/2020

Istanbul under quarantine…

We are all going through a strange and difficult period of time for sure, but we are also confident that our daily lifes will be back to "normal" soon and travel will resume eventually. We will hit the roads again, enjoying and appreciating our travels even more than we used to.

We can’t wait to welcome you back to Turkey! Be well!



📷 by Getty and AA

24/01/2020

What you need to know about the coronavirus if travelling!
"The reality is that the experts say that the precautions you take against getting a cold or the flu when travelling look to also be good against this new kind of disease."

The mysterious coronavirus has begun to spread, with travel to Wuhan not advised and passengers in some airports being screened on arrival. John Walton explains what travellers need to know.

03/12/2019

“I think that a lot of Boomers aren’t as tech-savvy and they tend to take the Internet at face value. Millennials grew up with the internet, and they know what’s shown there isn’t always exactly as it appears to be. In that regard, they’re more aware of the need to question and confirm the details of potential travel deals than their predecessors."
“Travel advisors provide an element of personalization that can’t be offered via an online travel service.”
“As travel advisors, we have the experience and ability to carefully review options and personally build package offers that maximize value while saving money,”

Having grown up in a world dominated by technology, why, as adults, are Millennials opting for person-to-person contact?

19/11/2019

Rather than a galaxy far, far away, Istanbul's Grand Bazaar is very firmly on planet earth. But visitors could be forgiven for thinking otherwise.

12/06/2019

There's a Lavender-filled Village in Turkey, and It's Just as Magical as You're Imagining!
Though photos of the lavender fields look like a postcard from Provence, the fragrant village is actually located in Turkey’s Isparta Province. This hamlet is called Kuyucak, and it’s a hidden gem tucked away in the Turkish Lakes Region.
While throngs of tourists continue to flock to Cappadocia and Istanbul, Kuyucak has slowly begun attracting more visitors. The lush purple fields are a postcard-perfect backdrop, making it an ideal stop for Instagrammers. But the village still remains well off the beaten path for many first-time Turkey travelers, so you’ll be able to steer clear of the crowds.
Kuyucak is conveniently located in Turkey’s lake region, which is home to historic cities and breathtaking natural beauty. The village is just two hours drive from Lake Salda, which some describe as Turkey’s Maldives. It’s also two hours from Termessos, one of the best-preserved ancient cities in Turkey.
(via T+L)

10/06/2019

Istanbul's new airport is truly massive; with 500 check-in desks, 143 land bridges and 52,000 sq m dedicated to duty-free shopping.

21/05/2019

Pamukkale's breathtaking hot springs are a natural wonder, and have been used as thermal baths since Roman times. Ready to take a dip? Plan your trip with Lonely Planet’s guide to Turkey.

01/05/2019

The statues at the top of Mount Nemrut, a 2,134-metre-high mountain in southeastern Turkey, are from the 1st century BC and represent the royal tomb of King Antiochus I of Commagene. The gigantic statues of gods, each weighing 6 tons and 10 metres tall, indicate what kind of super-human effort was spent on the construction of the tomb.
Happy to you all 🌟🌟🌟

22/04/2019

The first 15 days of the “new” Istanbul Airport have passed. Beginning of a new era for our city…
Please feel free to contact us whenever you have questions or need assistance about travelling to and from the Istanbul Airport.

18/02/2019

Last weekend’s Business Development Trip to Bursa was very productive and it was a lot of fun, too! ✨🏆
Organized by Tursab (Association of Turkish Travel Agencies), agency representatives from Istanbul (including us 😊) visited Bursa (the first capital of the Ottoman Empire) and its popular towns like Tirilye, Kumyaka, Mudanya, Orhangazi as well as the city of Iznik. In addition to having productive meetings with local agencies, we also had the chance to make important hotel inspections 🛎 to be able to serve our upcoming guests better 🌟

04/02/2019

One of the best EMITT’s ever!

The 24th East Mediterranean International Tourism & Travel Exhibition in Istanbul was a true success this year with wonderful networking opportunities for travel professionals. We were able to get together with our existing partners and make new friends from all over the world. The fair was also a perfect source to discover new trends shaping the travel industry.

25/01/2019

Travellers visiting a Turkish resort town will now get a colourful view as they arrive in port after it was given a stunning rainbow makeover!

Our passion for paint is helping to transform homes and lives in a picturesque part of Turkey. More than 400 homes are being revitalized in the town of Kuşad...

25/12/2018

To all of our friends around the world ❣️ We wish you a marvelous new year 🎉🌟

03/10/2018

“Every year, Mastercard puts together its Global Destination Cities Index, which ranks more than 160 cities based on how popular they are with tourists. The survey not only culls visitor numbers and travel spending data—think airline ticket purchases, souvenir buying—but also predicts where people will be visiting within the next year. The company just released its most recent index, with the places on track to be 2018's most visited cities. Of all the cities studied in this survey, Mastercard expects current year’s #9 Istanbul to see the largest uptick in visitors over the next year (a whopping 19.7 percent increase).”
(Hagia Sophia Photo by Mark Read)

26/09/2018

“Istanbul, famously, is a city that straddles two continents. And it’s clearly the European side of the Bosporus that attracts the bulk of the city’s tourism — in part because it’s home to the ancient city’s big league attractions, like the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque. But the Asian side of the strait, oft overlooked by visitors, is worth exploring in its own right…”

The Asian side of the Turkish city, oft overlooked by travelers, provides plenty of charms — and a better chance to get maximum enjoyment from a minimal amount of lira.

11/09/2018

The findings came from a 40-year study conducted by the University of Helsinki:
People who take less than three weeks off work every year were 37% more likely to die young than those who gave greater priority to their vacation time.

“Don’t think having an otherwise healthy lifestyle will compensate for working too hard and not taking holidays.”

10/09/2018

A 2000-year-old mosaic of the snake-haired Greek mythological monster Medusa has officially been opened to visitors in Turkey's southwestern province of Burdur two months ago. Located around 100 kilometers out of Burdur city center, the Medusa mosaic is at the heart of the Odeon, an ancient concert hall, in the ancient city of Kibyra. The Medusa mosaic which is estimated to have been built around 1st century A.D. is 95 percent original with only five percent of it reconstructed. Sitting in the middle of the Odeon, the Medusa mosaic attracts visitors with its unique thin marble plaques. The Odeon itself which has a capacity of 3,600 people is believed to have served as a court, a theater and a parliament.

07/09/2018

"We like to think we have control over our bodies, but the opposite is often true. Such is the case with circadian desynchrony, commonly known as jet lag. Exhaustion. Gastrointestinal discomfort. Headaches. Difficulty concentrating. Trouble falling asleep or staying asleep. These common jet lag symptoms have the power to put a damper on a dream vacation or ambitious business trip. Unless you figure out how to game your own system."

While you can't banish the effects of jet lag completely, scientists and physicians agree that there are things you can do to help adjust more quickly.

29/08/2018

International Aspendos Opera and Ballet Festival kicks off! The festival starts with Giacomo Puccini's most popular opera "Turandot" in the 2000-year-old ancient Aspendos Theater. The work will be performed by the Ankara State Opera and Ballet on Sept. 4.

The Aspendos Opera and Ballet Festival was established in 1994, acquired international status in 1998 and was accepted as a member of the European Festivals Association in 2003, taking its prestigious place among other world festivals. The festival unites the unique history and wondeful acoustic of the 2000-year-old Aspendos Ancient Theatre with Antalya’s natural beauty and the power of art to reach beyond boundaries of language, religion and race. Indeed, 70% of the audience come from overseas.