Taş Otel, Alaçati, Turkey

At the tender age of 14 years, Ms Zeynep Öziş, now the owner of the Taş Otel in Alaçati, was designing houses.

"It's just something I had to do," she says.

Luckily her father, a civil engineer, was able to supply her with books and plans that helped her to match her dreams of architecture and design with the real world.

When she discovered Alaçatı, a charming old village on the Çeşme peninsula 70 km (43 miles) west of İzmir, she knew her fate was sealed. She bought an old stone mansion and designed her dream inn, an eight-room boutique hotel perfect in its beauty, charm and atmosphere.

She went on to design dozens of other buildings (mostly private houses) in Alaçatı, and has become one of the leading figures in Alaçatı preservation efforts.

The Taş Otel (TAHSH oh-tehl, "Stone Hotel") is no chic glitterati status destination, but a refuge of beauty for discerning real-world travelers, a mixture of cultured local and international visitors.

The eight high-ceilinged guest rooms are light and spacious, with a pleasant understated, authentic decor and modern private bathrooms. Wifi Internet is available throughout the hotel, but the guest rooms do not have TVs, minibars or phones—which is exactly what her guests prefer.

Travelers don't come to Alaçatı to watch TV. They swim in the Tas Otel's pretty swimming pool (illuminated at night), sit in the shade of palm trees and bougainvillea, sip tea, coffee or a homemade minted lemonade and chat, read, doze....

They step outside the Taş Otel to find themselves right next to Alaçatı's many excellent cafes, restaurants and boutiques. On Saturday, the local weekly market makes the village even more lively.

At least some of the guests come to windsurf, as Alaçatı's reliable steady winds and wave-less sea make this a heaven for the sport.

Zeynep Hanım speaks perfect English (she got a head start on the language as an AFS high school exchange student in the USA), and Italian, some German and French. She is almost always present at the hotel (she lives next door to the hotel in another house she designed), welcoming guests, chatting and helping them to make plans, or introducing guests to her favorite pets.

If you're looking for a beautiful, low-key, high-quality, rich-atmosphere getaway hideout for a few days of beach time, quiet reading, windsurfing, shopping, cafe life, romance,...this is it! You've found it. You're home.

When you contact Taş Otel, please mention TTP. Here's why.

Alaçatı Taş Otel
Kemalpaşa Caddesi No. 132
Alaçatı, Çeşme, İzmir, Turkey
zeynep@tasotel.com
www.tasotel.com
Tel +90 (232) 716 7772
Fax +90 (232) 716 8517