Scenes From My Beloved Village

I have been spending almost every weekend of this summer at my village, at this beautiful southern village, Deirmimas, existing on a hill, surrounded by nature, green and great mountains, overlooking at the Litani river. And this village is known for the production of good-quality olives and olive oil, its delicious figs, grapes and pomegranates. I toured the narrow alleys of the village, I love walking around those old, picturesque houses, enjoying strong breeze, beautiful scenes, and being close to nature and I took few pictures and posted them here. Hope you enjoy them.

Our Growing Garden

Tomatoes

In a previous post I posted few photos of our garden at the home village. The plants that were growing, the fruits and vegetables that were blooming. They were still little plants and small fruits. Now they’re much bigger and close to be ripened and ready to be eaten.

Big Watermelon

I won’t say much, I’ll just post some pictures and you enjoy the beauty of the nature.

Young corn cobs

A ripe cucumber

A plump cucumber

A cucumber enjoying the sun

A bunch of dried spring onions

Parsley

A rosemary bush

A close up shot of rosemary

A beautiful basil

Ripe & ripening blackberries on a bush

Red figs, first of the season. Crunchy, sweet & sourish at the same time.

Yummi delicious figs

A huge cucumber, this kind has a lighter green color and differs slightly in taste.

Swami enjoying the nature

In Our Garden…

Small Plum Tomatoes

Tomatoes Plant

Many beautiful things are happening in our home garden at the village. Trees are growing, plants are developing, flowers are blooming, and us enjoying the nature.

Blackberries Blooming

My parents spend the summer at the village away from the hotness of the city, they take care of the new plants and trees we have in the backyard. The garden is quite large, not all the space is used because it needs some organization that requires a certain budget, time and effort.

Unripe Prickly Pears

Figs Tree

I’ll share with you some photos of the Cactus Fruit and the Figs when they are ripe and ready to be eaten. The season should start in August. As well as for the Grapes.

Watermelons Growing

Yellow Watermelon

 The plantations are enough to be taking care of properly by mom and dad; and enough for us to enjoy eating them. We have planted different kind of basic vegetables in our garden. Tomatoes, cucumbers, parsley, coriander, mint, basil, corn cobs, watermelons, spring onions, avocado tree (still young). And many fruit trees, wild and domesticated.

Young Pomegranates (the season is due in Autumn)

Wild Pear Tree

 Every weekend I go to the village, first of all, because it’s quiet, peacefull, clean, away from the chaos and the pollution of the city. And because I love being close to nature. And because I enjoy working in the garden. Watering the plants and trees, cultivating some ripe fruits and vegetables and sometimes participating and helping my parents in planting a new plant. Digging, and preparing the soil to receive a new member.

Grapes in a tender stage

The most enjoyable time we spend is when we, the family, are all gathered in the backyard, sitting in the garden enjoying some comfort food. Or doing some barbecue. Or just hanging out and relaxing. Enjoy the photos.

We use the Sumac mixed with dried thyme and roasted sesame to form a paste called "Zaatar". We also mix it with olive oil.

Basil Plant - Not Edible. It gives a great smell when you shake it.

Edible Basil Plant

To end this post by this beautiful rose and this cedar that I planted 3 years ago; it was a small baby cedar and now it is growing and flourishing… Its name is Tina.

A Rose

Tina The Cedar - 3 years old

Trip to Istanbul: Food

I will start this post by telling you about the food market on the asian side, the Anatolian side of Istanbul, located east of Bosphorus. We took the bus from Besiktas to Kadiköy and on the way back we took a ferry. It is a main zone for shopping. This is the first time i’ve been to a food market and i just loved it, so beautiful, shop owners inviting you to come inside their shops. 

A big area with small streets and narrow corners enriched with people, food, shoppers, tourists. It was great, I was so pleased and happy mingling in these streets. 

The shops offer a wide variety of fruits, fresh and dried, vegetables, fish, bakeries. And of course the restaurants, bars and ice cream stands. 

variety of vegetables

olives

Continue for more photos…. 

Trip to Istanbul: Bazaars

Every street you walk in, on each side, you see different kind of restaurants, coffee shops, sweets shops. And all the vitrines are loaded with appetizing food, presented and displayed in a very beautiful way that you must stop and have a look and of course go inside and pick something. It’s mouthwatering.

The two places you have to visit when you go to Istanbul are the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Bazaar. The streets are loaded with tourists.

The Grand Bazaar is one of the largest covered markets in the world with 5,000 shops and 60 streets. It is well known for its jewelry, hand-painted ceramics, carpets, embroideries, spices and antique shops. And once you enter the Bazaar, you are lost. You never go out from the same door you get in to the Bazaar. It’s like a labyrinthe there. So exciting. You keep saying, Oooh, look at that, look at this!! Woow.

Hand painted porcelains

Souvenirs

 Continue for more photos…

 

Trip To Istanbul: Sightseeing

I’m going for a five days trip to Istanbul. I heard it’s a beautiful city with all its historical sites and its delicious food.

I’ll be posting pictures from there, about food, scenes, streets of Istanbul.

Here i am back from a 5 days vacation to Istanbul exhausted from walking all day long yet fascinated by the beauty of the city. The fact that you can see the asian side while being on the european side is amazing. The weather was sunny, just great, clear blue sky. The hotel where we stayed was in Taksim square; it’s a huge square full of people, day and night, buses, cars, noises, restaurants, cafés; Istanbul is full of life, people are so energetic, so alive. 

You just can’t be bored in Istanbul. I just loved it.

The pictures below were taken from the Galata Tower that affords a panoramic view of Istanbul.

Bosphorus Bridge

Topkapi Palace

More photos inside…