We had a wonderful time at les arts turcs, we took part in the traditional Turkish printing... read more
We had a wonderful time at les arts turcs, we took part in the traditional Turkish printing... read more
I have wanted to try paper marbling for a long time, and tonight we got to at Les Arts Turcs! We... read more
What a wonderful company. I was lucky enough to go on the Dervish Whirling event which was amazing and such a one of a kind experience.
I also went back the next day to get henna done, I brought in pictures of what I wanted and Sibel was excellent and copied it exactly onto my hands. She is such a talented artist!
I would highly recommend organising tours or events with Les Art Turcs!
Ms Dibel the henna tattoo artist was very talented! Due to my restricted mobility everything was organized perfectly. The artist came to do the henna for me at the hotrl, which was great. The staff at Les Arts Turks are amazing and very hospitable, and will go the extra mile or teo for customer's satisfaction and well bring. Absolutely amazing! The henna used is of very high quslity, organic henna with no chemicals or anything extra added. Once henna is done, need to let it dry for half an hour or so. Then scrub or clean it off, the next day it will have a very beautiful, darkef brown reddish colour. Very high quality! I will take part in this henna workshop again once I am back in Istanbul. I warmly recommend this workshop yo anyone who is, or is not, interested, definitely worth it.
Attended the Whirling Dervishes show. Service was easy and friendly. Transportation to and from monastery was provided and a light snack. This is a full religious event from start to finish including speech and chanting -- you observe from the side. Fascinating insight into a unique piece of Turksish culture. Explanation/history of the ceremony and the religious sect were okay but left some to be desired.
On my list of my bucket list trip to Istanbul, was to see whirling dervishes. So I booked eagerly with the company my hotel recommended. And I went, and I was sad because it was a theater production akin to medieval times dinners in the US.
In contrast, THIS- this ceremony was the real thing. First of all, the people at Les Arts Turcs are brilliant, and they gave an interesting and informative talk and q&a time before we left for the monastery. They then drove us out to the monastery and we had seats around the room for the services. And it was a very real service. Kind of like if your place of worship had an area on the sides for people to sit and observe... so there's the community, and they have their prayers and what I believe was likely a sermon and singing, and one young man whirled in plain clothes. And then they broke for light refreshments and chatting with each other. And then the second half of the services was the whirling dervishes in the amazing outfits and a full band playing in the balcony.
I feel incredibly lucky to have been able to have observed their service. The imam seems like a nice person too- he's very smiley and his congregation seem to adore him. The whole thing was fantastic.
Since a child I have been fascinated by this exotic and mysterious thing! Last night, I was one of a few people to sit in awe of this spiritual and moving ritual. Thanks to Les Arts for organizing this intimate tour, focusing n the culture of Istanbul rather than mass market tours. This was, for a photographer, a dream come true.
Thanks a lot :) Hope to see you again in istanbul
I did the Turkish tile painting class through this company on May 9, 2017. Sema and Alp were great at providing instruction and demonstration. I selected a traditional Izknik design (they had many to choose from), charcoal smudged the design onto the tile from the stencil, outlined the design, and painted it. I now have a wonderful souvenir from my trip!