event | five senses of turkey

last tuesday night was a memorable one, for a few reasons. not least of all because i got to meet my number one blogger-crush, but because it was the first talented talkers event of the year. thanks to thomas cook airlines, we were able to invite fifty of london's best travel bloggers to paradise by way of kensal rise to experience first hand the five senses of turkey for themselves. short of taking them all to the beautiful country, we figured it was easier to bring some of the best bits to them..

long-serving cabin tca crew member michelle was on board (ha) on the night to keep the festivities flying high (ha ha), while the rest of us put our five senses to the test. to get our taste buds tingling, there were some delicious turkish wines to sample - one pink, one white and one red, as well as some tasty turkish delights (ha) in the form of tiny tapas morsels of prawn and carrot puree, bite sized koftas, and other such fresh yummies - all gone far too quickly, but isn't that always the way!

for our visual pleasure there was a sweet stash of turkish fashion accessories and hats to keep us all snap happy, and keep our instagram followers guessing as to what on earth we were playing at. with a competition for the fiercest turkish-inspired fashionista on the night, it was fez's at dawn, and a battle of the "who wore it best" when it came to the metallic wings and coin-decorated skirts available. as with any competition though, there must always be a winner - congrats to the boys over at hand luggage only who came away victorious that night!

to get our fingers playing with the interesting textures of turkey, the wonderful naz of the midas touch crafts was there to help us make our own rose water or coffee body scrubs. totally edible and earth-friendly, these scrubs were ours to take away with us, and were a fab way to remember the night - not to mention give us all a great base for handmade scrubs to make at home!

for the sniffy part of the experimental event there was a wee turkish apothecary set up by the bar where a very well-informed scentarian (new word) stood by and regaled us with the history of rose water, and sandlewood, and myrrh. very interesting what you can do with a simple dash of rose oil, let me tell you - not to be sniffed at! (haaa, sorry)

and finally, to round out the five senses of turkey, there was a traditional band on hand for our aural pleasure. while we listened to the beautiful music of the ancient country, and as we stood drinking the delicious turkish delight and mint and pomegranate flavoured cocktails from the bar, it was certainly quite hard to imagine ourselves anywhere else than in turkey.

the whole night was an eye-opening introduction to the magic of turkey, and just some of the interesting and wonderful things the country has to offer. i've had a trip to istanbul booked for a couple of months now, but with the coastal towns of dalaman and antalya so bloody affordable to get to from both london and manchester, i am almost positive another coastal trip is going to be on the cards in the new year - but which?!

have you been to turkey; which has been your favourite destination?