Vienna with kids (toddlers!)

So very typical of me to write a blog entry with a 3 month delay. I wanted to run this one by you before the spring arrives...
Yeap Vienna.
Rated the Worlds Best Place to Live since 2009. (http://www.cnbc.com/id/100268473/page/12) I must say I'm not surprised.

We visited Vienna in October 2012. It was absolutely delighful and sooooo child friendly. After Istanbul it did miracles for us.The transport, all the facilities but mostly the greatest discovery of the Zoom Children's Museum....Can loved it!

What can be done  with a child I hear you asking already ? Well here are some suggestions...
Sightseeing:
1.  Schonbrunn Tiergarten. The Zoo!!!

We had a huge day of fun -even though the weather was freezing:) Really its a must go with the kids and well worth the trip where you pass some great gardens. 

2.Spaniche Hofreitschule (Spanish Horseriding). This is a classic sightseeing but children have a whole load of fun watching too.

3. Wiener Riesengrad :  64.75-metre tall Ferris wheel at the entrance of the Prater amusement park in Leopoldstadt.

4. Zoom Children's Museum : www.kindermuseum.at . The children's museum has 3-4 sessions for different age groups. For 2-3 hour slots and you should reserve beforehand. Can attended the Ocean slot and it was very hard to get him to leave. Oh but afterwards he slept so well...

5. Haus des Meeres http://www.haus-des-meeres.at/: For the acqua and terra option- smaller version of a zoor more focused on aquatic life.
6.Schmetterlinghaus - The Imperial Butterfly House. http://www.schmetterlinghaus.at
Perfect for a mini break of butterflies within the city. Here's a  smile from Can that day:

Art:

1. Albertina www.albertina.at

A very nice art museum located just across the street from Cafe Mozart, Bradgelina drop by when they are visiting Wien. Again I was there for the impressionists collection.(For more information on the permanent collection :

http://www.albertina.at/jart/prj3/albertina/main.jart?&rel=en&content-id=1202307119458&reserve-mode=active

2. Schloss Belvedere Museum: Visited the muesum for its exquisite collection of Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele. Also for its gardens and labirinths that are great for playing around with a child.

3. Hundertwasserhaus: An expressionists' manifesto and a must see for those who like art, architecture and bold colours.Here's us merrily jumping infront of it:

Shopping:

Mariahilfer Strasse ...all the shops are surrounding this main street. Which starts off with the amazing Opera House (didn't visit actually but I've been told  the ceiling, the acoustic and the architecture is wonderful). In all fairness I am not much  of an opera person.

Food:

1. Salm Braeu (Pub) http://www.salmbraeu.com/

2. Da Capo (Italian) www.dacapo.co.at
3. Oberlaa (Patisserie) www.oberlaa-wien.at

4. Sacher Torte www.sacher.com

Winter White: Hot Choclate & Cashmere

It's snowing in Istanbul. And as we enter the weekend the city has hidden under a white blanket.
I on the hand have twinkling Christmas lights, hot choclate, cashmere throws and a good book on my mind.



Here's to the weekend.

A great book "My Berlin Kitchen"

Twinkle twinkle little star...

And hot choclate ....

Crete: The Descendants

I know its almost winter when I write this entry. And I know some may have say that I had completely forgotten about my blog in the last 9 months. The truth of the matter is I didn't, I just put it to rest. But this is not our topic now.
Crete is.

Crete is an island like a turtle. It doesn't let time get to it. It sets its own pace of life.
We went to the island this summer for a wedding and had an overwhelming experience in just 72 hours. I had always been keen to go, my grandmother's family is originally from there and for some reason at some point your life you begin to want to understand what it was all about.

Us heading to Crete.

I was overwhelmed by the hospitality, the familiarity of the smells and relations.
One product that is a part of our kitchen ever since my dear friends Christina & Thaleia introduced to me in my university years is "Dakos". It is dried barley rusk bread.In Greece it is used to make bruscetta like mezes etc.
At home, I love to make it a part of the salad as it soaks up the tomato and salad dressing of olive oil,salt, lemon juice and pomengranate syrup and makes an amazing composition.

Here is my recommendation:
Salad ingredients: All to be mixed up.
2-3 tomatoes (peeled and diced)
2-3 cucumbers (peeled and diced)
1 red onion (peeled and diced)
2 slices of white cheese of your preference
2 dakos'
some olives
a sprinkle of  fresh oregano,parsley, salt

For the dressing: Place all of these in an empty bottle and mix up.
Juice of 2 lemons
3 table spoons of olive oil
1 table spoon of pomengranate juice

Ta taaa....(well it looks something like this :) )

You will need a car or scooter, something with wheels to get across the island which is suprisingly more about the mountains than the sea- or at least that was my impression. We visited Crete with a 1,5 year old restless boy so my recommendations will also be more child friendly.

Sightseeing recommendations:
Beaches :

• Elafonisi... a very nice beach.

• Vai beach, near the ancient town of Hamos .
• The deserted island of Spinalonga. Which is located very close to the town of Agios Nikolaos is a name you may remember from Victoria Hislop's novel "The Island". It is the island where the leper treatment was done. These days however it is a nice location to swin, just across from Spinalonga there are nice many swimming spots on Elounda.

Towns:

• Streets of Chania

Streets of Chania



• Iraklio to drink Greek coffee for hours and watch people go by like a true Aegean person.

Morosini Fountain at Iraklion.

Archeology& Historical sites:

• Knossos
• Church of Agios Nikolaos. Very nice frescoes.

Let me add that there many many more, but these are the only ones I have recognized.Open to all additions and recommendations!

Food:

• First up "bougatsa" at Kipkop. Very nice. This fluffy pastry is filled with cream like goat cheese and reaches perfection with subtle sprinkle of cinnamon!

• Thalassino Ayeri at Chania (Vivlaki 35, Halepa) is a local seafood taverna spot highly recommended by the NY Times post on Crete.
• As is I strenatou Bloumosifis at Vamos.
• For ice cream Yiannarakis at Iraklion is recommended.
• Spinalonga, where Kyra-Maria the cook will tell you tales of the island
• At Chania, Pigadi tou Tourkou- aubergine balls are a classic dish, across the street Vineria is supposed to have the best pannacotta in town.For afternoon coffee (of course!)  Palace Hotel is recommended.

Rustic treats:

• Pefki village. In all frankness it took us a while to get there-top of the mountain. For us it wasnt that exciting because it was very similiar to most of the Turkish villages. However, it may prove to be interesting for visitors that are not from this part of the world. When we arrived at the village we learned from the signs that there was one taverna in town.Found a parking spot, which was kind of awkward as well and asked the people in the car next to us how the taverna was, would the recommend it? The answer is "very drunk".Since we were starving we entered anyway which turned out to be very calm and easy going place with good simple food. I've shared pics below. 
• Vineyards of Sitia. I did not go personally but it was in my list of places to see if time had permitted.

                                                           View of Pefki Village

Remembering `Funny Face`

I won`t say much and let the pictures do the talking. I should have lived in the 1950`s...

Some of my favourite clothes from Audrey Hepburn`s film Funny Face (which were incidentally designed by Hubert de Givenchy):

Childrens Books

Which books are your favourite reads to your kids?

Apart from the more traditional my very first words, fruits (and the likes) types of books Can and the whole family is into pop-up books. My husband wasnt very into them in the beginning but I think he likes them now too :)

Our favourites:
1)`Little Penguins` by Jovilet/Fromental (gift by Auntie Selen)

2)`Moomins:Most magical pop-up book` (gift by Auntie Selen)

3) `A Very Hungry Caterpillar` by Eric Carle


4) `A walk down Sesame Street: pop-up book`