The Turkish town of Alaçatı offers a respite from the pressures of

Lifestyle
ESCAPE
As featured in
The CEO Magazine
ISSN 2201-876X
9 772201 876005
25
JULY 2015
$14.95 Incl. GST
BRANSON
Bey Evi Hotel
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Discover what happens when 30 change makers and forward thinkers
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T
Total relaxation on the Turkish Aegean coast.
here come times when
tiny villages are thrust
into the spotlight
and their appealing
settings and attractive
lifestyle become more widely
known to the public at large. The
best time to visit these special
places is just at the point of the
knowledge curve when everything
is in place for the perfect getaway
but the secret is not yet known to
the general public.
By Robert La Bua
Like Saint-Tropez in the south
of France, Carmel in California,
and Búzios up the coast from Rio
de Janeiro, the Turkish town of
Alaçatı offers a respite from the
pressures of urban living where
great food is enjoyed in a benign
climate and pretty surroundings.
Unlike these other places, though,
Alaçatı has yet to be discovered by
anyone other than sophisticated
insiders looking for the ideal
weekend retreat.
At the moment, the little village
located on the scenic Çeşme
Peninsula is a sybaritic hideaway
for chic residents of Istanbul and
Izmir, as well as a few international
visitors who happen upon Alaçatı
unexpectedly after touring the
magnificent site of Ephesus
90 minutes away by car.
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The CEO Magazine - July 2015 theceomagazine.com.au
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The Turkish
town of Alaçatı
offers a respite
from the
pressures of
urban living
where great
food is
enjoyed in a
benign climate
and pretty
surroundings.
In a region where ancient
archaeological sites are as
numerous as delicious meals,
foreigners who come to Alaçatı
(ah-LAH-cha-tuh) are glad to have
a place to rest between busy bouts
of sightseeing and to sit back to
enjoy a glass or three of
surprisingly good local Urla wine
before taking on the challenge of
deciding which eatery will fill them
with another excellent meal before
heading to bed in one of the
beautiful boutique hotels catering
to cosmopolitan travellers.
One such establishment is Bey Evi,
a special place for special people.
Bey Evi (which means ‘House of
the Nobleman’) is the domain of
one Celal Bayraktaroğlu, a former
The CEO Magazine - July 2015
171.
Alaçatı windmill
Hotel lobby
The Deluxe Room
high-flyer who gave up the
demands of corporate life at the top
for a more bucolic existence as the
owner of a small hotel where
elegance and panache have replaced
meetings and appointments for
both the owner and the guests,
many of whom are themselves
business people looking for an
escape from their reality, however
temporary. They make a good
choice in coming to Bey Evi, a pair
of traditional houses sharing a large
garden and pool area; the ensemble
of stylish indoor and outdoor
spaces provides ample room for
guests to enjoy the fine furniture,
antiques, artworks, and conviviality
of the owner, not to mention the
excellent pide and lahmacun
emanating from the wood-fired
oven on the back patio. The
explanation for the extraordinary
pleasure that comes from a bite of a
simple Turkish pizza at Bey Evi is
the expertise of cook Mehmet, who
has been preparing them for more
than 25 years.
Celal is not alone in his
transformation from high-level
172.
The CEO Magazine - July 2015 Despite the
simplicity of
Alaçatı’s
appearance,
there are things
to do besides
eat. The town’s
position at a
narrow neck
of the Çeşme
Peninsula
ensures that
the changing air
temperatures
over land and
sea provide
ideal conditions
for windsurfing
and sailing.
executive to small-business owner.
In fact, Alaçatı is one of those
places where people who came for
a holiday fell in love with the
village charms and slower pace and
stayed to establish new lives for
themselves. Another of these
highly educated entrepreneurs is
Cengiz Uziş, a successful architect
who somehow finds time between
projects to run one of Alaçatı’s
best restaurants. Deceptively rustic
in its appearance, Kuytu is a
thoroughly sophisticated dining
establishment where old recipes
from Turkey’s western Aegean
region are resuscitated in the
kitchen of Yaprak Uziş, a gifted
chef who together with her
husband gives life to exquisitely
nuanced dishes rarely found on a
modern Turkish menu.
With the many tempting dishes
that are part of contemporary
Turkish cuisine, it is
understandable that some of the
ones from the past have been cast
aside; in Turkey, there is simply no
way to eat every delicious food
every day and still maintain any
semblance of control over an
increasing girth. That said, the
Uzişes work hard to perpetuate
awareness of traditional recipes
in a country where dining well is
not a special occasion but a daily
occurrence. Cengiz Uziş is the
president of Alaçatı’s Vanishing
Tastes Festival, an annual event
taking place each October meant
to remind both locals and
visitors of the rich culinary history
of this region where the nuances
of Ottoman, Turkish, Greek, and
Jewish influences in food still
make for a highly satisfactory
meal even in our fast-paced,
modern world.
Kuytu is one of several places in
town providing memorable meals.
Among Alaçatı’s other enjoyable
dining establishments is Antioche,
where the cuisine of south-eastern
Turkey so revered by Turks
themselves is brought to life and
the table by the affable Mehmetali
Sönmez, who moved to Alaçatı for
love and stayed for his passion―the
culinary wonders of his place of
origin. Fresh fish from the Aegean
is served in splendidly rustic
fashion at Karina, yet another
establishment owned by a refugee
from the urban corporate life.
The maritime decor of the
restaurant, whose name means
‘keel’ in Turkish, reflects the
importance of the sea and its
bounty in this part of the country
where the national reputation for
attentive hospitality is at its peak in
these restaurants and others, such
as the atmospheric Tuval where
servers with kind smiles and
attentive eyes are intent on bring
happy experiences to their
customers’ tables.
It is normal in Turkish culture for
people to move on to pastry shops
specialising in sweets for postdinner dessert. The cookies,
pastries, and puddings of Imren
are as excellent as the semolina
halwa for which this Alaçatı
institution is most famous. Many
of the puddings have an
exceptionally thick, smooth texture
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Local cafe culture
thanks to the use of the flavourful
resin from the local mastic trees,
which is the same special
ingredient that gives Turkish ice
cream its taffy-like consistency.
Despite the simplicity of Alaçatı’s
appearance, there are things to do
besides eat. The town’s position at
a narrow neck of the Çeşme
Peninsula ensures that the
changing air temperatures over
land and sea provide ideal
conditions for windsurfing and
sailing. The Alaçatı Fishing
Tournament attracts anglers from
all over the world. Small boutiques
and antiques shops sell a variety of
interesting items atypical of
holiday villages; one of the most
interesting is the ceramics studio
of acclaimed artist Serap Yurdaer,
whose works are commissioned by
galleries and museums in Turkey
and beyond. Celal can easily
organise a private visit to the Urla
winery, where tastings of the
unexpectedly flavourful products
of the vines can be enjoyed in
high style.
As always, Australians are ahead of
the curve in discovering the next
big thing in travel. The occasional,
well-informed Australian traveller
is already seen on the village’s
narrow lanes lined with stone
houses centuries old, best enjoyed
outside the peak summer season
theceomagazine.com.au
after the hordes of tourists have
gone home. An inquiry about
Alaçatı to an Australian tour
operator supposedly specialising
in Turkey as a destination
elicited the response that Alaçatı
“is just a small place for rich
people from Istanbul to spend
the weekend; not many Australians
go there”. Thanks for the
perfect recommendation.
Turkish Airlines is Turkey’s
excellent national airline flying to
more countries than any other
airline in the world. With
numerous gateways in Asia and
North America, it is easy for
travellers to Turkey to enjoy the
very spacious business-class seats
and refined service on board
Turkish by connecting with Star
Alliance partners Singapore
Airlines, THAI, and United.
Travellers with direct connections
to Izmir will love the Turkish
Airlines domestic lounge at
Istanbul Airport, where security
procedures are conducted inside
the lounge and boarding for
flights begins in the lounge via a
private van service for transport
directly to the aircraft. When
flying on board Turkish Airlines,
expect to experience niceties that
have disappeared from (or never
existed on) other airlines; little
pleasures such as fresh flower
displays, authentic Turkish delight
Kuytu Restaurant
made the real way, and dinner by
(electric) candlelight are
thoughtful touches that serve as
harbingers of the enjoyment in
living the simple life in a little
Turkish town where the only
concern in the world is what to
order for dinner.
turkishairlines.com
beyevi.com.tr/eng
serapyurdaer.com
The CEO Magazine - July 2015
173.