Turkish Wine of the Week - Sava Calkarasi Merlot

It's December and yesterday was the first Sunday of Advent which means that it's officially time to start playing Christmas movies and music and, more importantly, start drinking Gluehwein! Which for me means that it no longer matters that Turkish wine generally isn't good.

Also luckily, good wine is neither needed nor recommended for Gluehwein (and in case you need a good recipe for it check out Lauren's old post!) so for the first time I bought a bottle of the cheapest wine (10 TL / 5 USD) on offer here: Sava. And while I meant it from the beginning for Gluehwein, it is Monday so I thought I'd make a proper tasting of it.

Everything has at least one good point, right? So that's where we'll begin. The Sava 2013 Calkarasi/Merlot is a really pretty color-a jewel garnet red that glows a bit when held up to the light. Glows in a good way; not a possibly toxic way. The nose was actually fairly decent as well; full of red fruits and spice.


Then I tasted it and that's when it's true nature kicked in. It seemed to have a fairly high level of acidity with medium tannins. The flavor was tart verging on sour, so much so that it took me a little while to establish the flavors around the tartness. Unsurprisingly, when I thought about it, the main flavor I got was that of sour cherries with black pepper in the back. THIS is what a Merlot tastes like. A 10TL Turkish Merlot. Comparatively, even the 2013 standard Suvla Merlot was like ambrosia up against this bad boy.

I can't recommend a Sava for actual drinking (unless you give it to someone you really don't like or have no taste buds) but it made a pretty great Gluehwein. Although with twice as much sugar as the recipe calls for.

Speaking of things you should probably stay away from...I was grocery shopping the other day and came across this:

A jar of goat's milk caramel. Of course I had to buy it. I'm not entirely sure I know how to describe it. It's the darkest caramel I've ever seen. It doesn't smell overtly goaty...but it really tastes like it. I like, nay, I LOVE goat cheese. I make goat cheese cheese cake and ice cream. I eat soft goat cheese, hard goat cheese, and every other kind of goat cheese that exists.

But this...the first time I tried it I felt like I got kicked in the mouth by a goat. I had a cheese once in Sarajevo that was possibly the only goat cheese I have tried and not liked. It tasted like licking an actual goat. That's kind of how the caramel tasted. However I put it in the refrigerator anyway rather than throwing it away and today I decided to get it out again today and give it another try.

It's still undeniably goaty but now I'm more intrigued by it instead of repulsed. I need to get some chocolate or a make a cheesecake or brownies and try the caramel on those. I feel like I wouldn't be going wrong to dip pretzels in it either. Future testing will tell!

Prague and the Christmas Market

So Prague. I don't really even know where to begin! Prague has been on my travel wish list since high school and it was just so exciting to be able to visit. Especially at Christmas!  But before we get to the Christmas market we must first explore Prague itself. Because any city that randomly has water gnomes hanging out in its rivers is entirely worthy of exploration.

The Astronomical Clock in Old Town Square is one of Prague's most well known sights. Every hour crowds gather to watch Death ring out the time accompanied by a parade of the Twelve Apostles at the top of the tower.

Crowds gathering to watch Death ring the hour

Death ringing the hour

The clock is not Old Town Square's only site though. The large Hussite church of Saint Nicholas takes up one corner of the square.

While the spires of the Church of Our Lady before Tyn dominate the center of it. The square is rung with shops, hotels, and restaurants housed in beautiful, colorful buildings.

Prague was once one of the most important cities in Europe and was large and bustling while London and Paris were still villages. Because finding one's way could be very confusing, house signs were added to a lot of old buildings to make finding an address easier. Among the house signs we saw were: a trio of violins (3 generations of violin makers), a unicorn that looked more like a mutant sheep, a mermaid, and my favorite adorns the wall of the first Cubist house; the Black Madonna.

I tried to prepare for the cold in Prague. The week before I left Istanbul was enjoying a pretty balmy November with temperatures as high as 17C/63F. Thanksgiving was pretty chilly at 7C/45F but I hadn't even taken my winter coat out of storage before getting ready for Prague.

You can see everyone's wrapped up!

I was glad that I'd not only got out my winter coat but also packed silk long underwear, two pairs of of leggings, two pairs of gloves, a scarf, and enough socks to keep my feet warm because it was a chill 2-4C/35-39F in Prague! Thank goodness for a sensible city with no open container laws and stands every couple feet selling mulled wine and hot chocolate! I think our favorite mulled wine stand was one near the Charles Bridge where you could garnish the wine to your own taste with sugar and various fruits. Once I feel like making a trek out into the thundersnow Istanbul is currently experiencing to pick up some wine I'll start my own gluhwein production!

And despite the cold I also walked around my last day with several pints of the most delicious (hard) cider I've ever had. I really wish I could get Kingswood cider in Istanbul! Even if not for the bargain price of $2 per pint.

I loved the small square just before the Charles Bridge. The Catholic churches of Saint Francis of Assisi with it's pink and green dome and Holy Savior with all its statues, statue of Charles IV in the foreground, and the Torture Museum off to the right...I think I took about 20 pictures of this square alone. I took a ridiculous number of pictures of the Charles Bridge which gets its own post.

The Prague Castle, i.e. that entire complex on the hill, is the largest castle compound in the world. It contains several palaces, outbuildings, museums, and two churches. Dominating the hill is the Cathedral of Saint Vitus, which also gets its own post because I took something like 260 pictures of it. Only about five are worth anything but it still gets its own post.

View of the Vltava River from the Charles Bridge

Crossing the Charles Bridge gets you to Lesser Town which, kind of ironically, is now the more expensive part of the city. And Lesser Town, much like Mykonos, has its own Little Venice. This water way, now the home of the jaunty water gnome at the top of the post, used to power mills.

They're big fans of John Lennon here. Not only was there a John Lennon pub just after crossing over the waterway, there's also a wall, which actually belongs to a Catholic monastery, that has been covered with messages and art dedicated to him.

The first time we trudged up to the Prague Castle I was feeling pretty ungracious about hills and having to walk up them. In my defense, we were at the tail end of a four hour walking tour and we had already done some pretty serious walking. I went up again a few days later to visit the Cathedral of St. Vitus again and the hill seemed quite innocuous that time.

It's at least a pretty climb. the buildings lining the hill, a couple of them embassies (this the flags) were lovely. And the view of the street down was alone worth the small climb.

Back in Staro Mesto (Old Town) I was completely disturbed to be confronted by an entire theatre devoted to puppets. I may not have full on automatonphobia (fear of puppets) but the freaking creep me the hell out. Marionettes, which you can buy EVERYWHERE here, are only slightly less scary. But if I'm going to see Don Giovanni I'd rather see it sung by opera singers and not acted out by creeptastic marionettes, thank you very much.

Along that vein though, Prague had concerts galore! I'm not sure if that's specific to Christmas market season or not, but we could have attended two-three a day if we really wanted to. In the end I only went to two. I went with my friends to a fantastic concert in the Spanish Synagogue. The Spanish Synagogue was absolutely stunning. Done, apparently, in the Moorish revival style, it was an amazing setting for a string quintet sometimes accompanied by a really good soprano. I also went to a concert at the Saint Michael the Archangel Monastery. While the musicians were equally as good the soprano was a disappointment and had me cringing during her Ave Marie. *Shudder*

Prague State Opera House

One of my favorite sites in Prague was the State Opera House. One of my favorite movies growing up, and still actually, is Amadeus. Which was shot in Prague. It was the first American movie filmed in Prague actually while Czechoslovakia was still under Communist rule. Not only was it shot in Prague, many scenes were filmed in the State Opera House where Mozart's Don Giovanni originally premiered. It was a very geeky excitement I was feeling.

The 'Powder' Tower

What was the main reason for meeting two of my friends in Prague for a long weekend? The Christmas Market! For the last couple years my friend Sarah has visited a Christmas market somewhere in Europe and now that I'm ever so much closer to Europe than I used to be, I met her in Prague for this one.

Mostly we wandered around the market set up in Old Town Square but stalls could be found in just about all the squares around the city. I lusted after a lot of the ornaments but thought better of bringing them home. My cat Sherlock's second favorite activity is to knock anything and everything off tables, shelves, beds, chairs, etc. I can't count how many times I've yelled "Sherlock, you leave the Virgin Mary/Jesus (statues) alone!" So putting out delicate, handmade Christmas decorations was pretty much off the table. Pun intended.

I was able to at least honor the food vendors though! In addition to the cider, mulled wine, and hot chocolate there was barrel bread, sausages, and roasted pork to be enjoyed!

Trdlo-barrel bread

I'm afraid I may have over enjoyed the abundance of pork though. It's not exactly on every street corner in Turkey so when it was literally on every street corner (either in a restaurant or street stall) in Prague I went a little...hog wild shall we say?

That's us in the Christmas bulb!

Prague really turns it out for Christmas too! Not only were the squares done up for Christmas, but so were hotels, restaurants, and streets. There were random Christmas trees everywhere but Old Town Square housed the mother of them all.

You can't really tell from the picture but it was decorated with a clock theme to match the nearby Astronomical Clock!

After having this city on my travel wish list for so long I am happy that it did not disappoint! It's a pretty walking friendly city which I always appreciate but there is a metro and plenty of trams for easy access. People were super friendly and while they speak better English than many of the native speakers I knew growing up, they always seemed pleased when you could break out a 'thanks' or díky in Czech.
I will definitely visit again, regardless of season.

Greetings From Vienna?

On Thursday night I called my boss to tell him that the American Embassy was being burned down. Several hours later, after midnight for me, he called to tell me that they felt it would be better were I elsewhere for the weekend and to please check my email in the morning to find out where I was going. I am now a refugee in Vienna. As refugeeing goes I could be in a worse place.


(Goethe)

I’ve been to Vienna, once, seven years ago, but at least I have a better chance of communicating here once I dust off my rusty German. Provided that is, I can get around the funky Austrian accent. I got here Friday evening and actually think I saw more on the taxi ride from the airport than I did the few days I was here in 2000. I arrived on a one-way ticket with all of my luggage (for which there was a €70 overage fee) and no idea when or even if I would be returning to Belgrade. I was left with only enough time on Friday to eat, be shocked at the outrageous €3,80 I was being charged for a small bottle of San Pellegrino, notice that my hotel was around the corner from Saint Stephan’s, and go to bed.

It is now 11:00 AM (or at least it was when I wrote this long hand) and I am standing in front of the Rathaus drinking a Glühwein (hot spiced wine). I got an early start today and have been wandering around the city with my Stadtplan taking pictures of everything. I must say that I’m not really paying attention to what I’m doing with my camera…I’m pretty much relying on point and click today. I’m also not turning everything black and white. I have the tendency to black and white the bejeesus out of my photographs but, personally I think that a great deal of the charm of some cities, Vienna included, is the array of color in the buildings and roofs and ornamentations. Anyway I’m off topic; I was talking about how it’s 11 AM and I’m already drinking…but I actually have to rewind a bit first.

I started my wanderings at the opera house. I would love to see an opera here but I’m sure the tickets are even more outrageously priced than they are in DC. Until I manage to marry that really wealthy man I’m looking for or I get a raise (both of which are equally unlikely) I’m out of luck and will simply admire its façade.





I them moved onto the Hofburg Palace which I am sure is lovely in the spring when the park is in bloom. I seem to not have had the patience to get any really good shots today.



Part of the Hofburg Palace is the famous Spanish Riding School where the Lipizzaner horses are trained. I have seen this place on television many times and when I was a horse-mad 13 year old (because aren’t all girls horse-mad at that age?) my mom took me to a show. I think when I saw that was when I truly started to enjoy myself. I realized that despite being February the weather was sunny and in the 50s and I was back in western Europe. Hurrah.





A lot more walking finally got me to the Rathaus where I discovered the Wiener Eistraum. I have no idea if this is an annual event or if the city was just disgusted by the unseasonably warm weather but they constructed a myriad of skating rinks in front of the Rathaus!





Included in all this were a variety of refreshment stands which I noticed all sold Glühwein. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to have Glühwein in a Germanic country, plus I knew Lauren would be disappointed if I didn’t so, despite the early hour, I had myself a nice mug of the warm spicy wine. It was then that I noticed the stands also sold Absinthepunsch. Warm punch made out of absinthe and God knows what else. I was tempted, but the combination of the wine on a stomach that had seen breakfast over three hours earlier and my arch nemesis cobblestone streets made me decide to save that treat for tomorrow.





I actually did a heck of a lot more than this, but I've only just now finished typing this and it's already almost midnight my time and I'm tired. More tomorrow!