Grass Routes - Green Lifestyle Blog

One day we visited an alternative beach resort nearby. Between the olive trees, small holiday houses lead you to the beach. In between there is small pieces of land where all kinds of vegetables are grown organic. Just before the beach there is a bicycle with a car battery, when you bike for some time there is enough for the beach lamp to glow.

Here we met the two artists who were supposed to decorate the Dedetepe farm instead of us. They were decorating the place and painting mandalas on the small houses. They had a lot of troubles with their bus (imagine a big, old Mercedes van without handbrake or fourth gear, driving through the mountains…) and had to work for their fuel to be bale to drive, we hope they find their way to Italy as well!

Last day in Turkey we spent in a village nearby, our hosts bringing olive oil to make soap with on a fire, Cecilia to paint flowers on a balcony of one of the villagers. Meanwhile Gaya and Frans spent the time on the stairs of the soapmakers house, where the women where baking börek in the outdoor fire oven, and playing with Gaya all the time. The soap is made from olvieoil, which is put on a hot fire, some natural ingredients are added, then this is stirred and heated for a few hours, and then put into the frames to become stif. Wait a few days and you have natural oliveoil based soap!

On the way back from soap making we visited the centre of the environmental organization Bugday, which is still under construction. They choose a great spot for this centre: up in the mountains, with a fantastic view over the olive fields and the sea. The building is half round, but with the terraces it is going to be built in a circle. The building is made with natural materials, with help of old stone masters; as concrete there is used stone pulp and for the roof soil and shells. When it is finished we are sure it will be a very wonderful place for making people more aware of the preciousness of nature.