18 November 2014

Time Travel to Istanbul in the Year 1902: Parma Apartment House

Bridging Ages (http://www.bridgingages.com/), an internationally acclaimed organization, aims to reenact certain time periods in history around the world and build bridges with the past via “Time Travel” projects through which young generations become better equipped with knowledge and understanding in history. Now is the time to host this wonderful event in Istanbul for the next two days (Tuesday and Wednesday) organized in collaboration with Building Bridges Venice, Italian Embassy in Ankara and Italian College. The era and the person to be reenacted alongside the period costumes and decor will be the Ottoman Palace tailor Paul Parma and his levantine family around Pera district of Istanbul. Mario Parma, grandchild of Paul Parma as well as other family members in Italy are expected to participate in the event. This event will take the players back to Istanbul in the year of 1902, a time period when people from different cultures lived together. This dream journey in time beginning at the Parma Apartment House, now also known as Armada Pera Hotel, will come to end with the reenactment at the Venetian Palace (The Pallacio di Venezia) in Istanbul.

29 May 2014

"Incesaz"in concert! Live from Armada Terrace!

As to celebrate the authentic Istanbul life style we strive to preserve and serve since 1994, we are officially opening the summer season of Armada Terrace with an exquisite folk music concert featuring a renowned Turkish band “Incesaz”. Prior to this musical feast, just unwind and enjoy the Turkish gourmet “Street Food Delicacies” from Armada Kitchen served over our traditional street vending carts as well as our special “the soup of the night’’ at the end of the concert.

Please join us and enjoy a wonderful summer evening at Armada Terrace alongside a magnificent view of Istanbul while embracing the enchanting sound of Istanbul from a band which portrays it the best.

Incesaz Armada Terrace Concert - Thursday, June 12nd 2014 
Istanbul Street Food Delicacies: 19.30
Incesaz Concert: 21.00
"Soup of the night" service following the concert
Price: 125 TL / per person (Unlimited local alcoholic drinks and soft drinks, including soda)

Contact and Reservation:
0212 455 44 71-72 / 455 44 55 | etkinlik@armadahotel.com.tr

26 April 2014

Treat Your Palate With Local Wine And Cheese Tasting At Armada Terrace

The friends of Armada would know better: When it comes to cheeses and wines, we’ve always been a passionate and proud advocate for serving our guests only the local ones. Well, the reason for that, of course, is not that we don’t appreciate those produced outside of Turkey. However, our desire has always become to present our guests, much to their surprise, the level of quality and variety local wines and cheeses have to offer. Moreover, being an avid supporter of local producers has been and will always be an absolute pleasure.

The good news is, starting from next Tuesday, we will continue to keep this tradition alive as “Local Wine and Cheese Tasting” evenings at Armada Terrace every Tuesday. We’ve handpicked these special wines and cheeses that are sought after not only locally but internationally and we are inviting you to savor these delicacies alongside the magnificent Istanbul view of Armada Terrace.

Cheese and Wine Tasting Evening – Every Tuesday

”Anatolian Cheese Platter” and a Bottle of Local Red Wine (70 cl.)

Anatolian Cheese Platter (5 Different varieties)
Old Kasseri Cheese – Trakya, Tulum Cheese (encased in skin)– İzmir, Smoked Circassian Cheese, Gruyere Cheese
– Kars, Tulum Cheese – Erzincan

Grenache Noir / Suvla 2012 – 2013 Grenache / Çanakkale
95 TL / 32 €
(for 2 persons)

Syrah / Egeo / Kavaklıdere 2011 – 2012 Syrah / Manisa
125 TL / 42 €
(for 2 persons)

25 April 2014

International Dance Day 2014 Message by Mourad Merzouki: "Push your luck... never stop dancing!"

Mourad Merzouki

International Dance Day 2014 message author is Mourad Merzouki!

The International Theatre Institute announced that following the footsteps of Merce Cunningham, Maurice Béjart, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Mourad Merzouki - the French choreographer, dancer, director of the Centre chorégraphique de Créteil et du Val de Marne and of Käfig’s company, and above all, the famous face of hip hop in France with Accrorap and Pôle Pik companies- will be giving the 2014 International Dance Day Message.

Since its creation in 1982, the International Dance Day celebrated every year on the birthday of the creator of modern ballet Jean-Georges Noverre 29th April, is the occasion to give homage to dance and its universality, crossing all political, cultural and ethnic barriers.
The International Theatre Institute marks this global occasion each year by inviting an outstanding choreographer or dancer to write a message. This message is
2014 Program
translated into more than 20 languages and released throughout the ITI network (more than 70 ITI Centres and numerous Cooperating Members) and dance organizations worldwide.
ITI also seeks to promote national and worldwide activities celebrating International Dance Day. Special dance award ceremonies, charity performances for organizations, people or specific issues connected with dance, conferences, meetings with dancers, amongst others will be held and indexed on a worldwide map available on ITI’s website from 1st April onwards. ITI will celebrate International Dance Day at UNESCO in Paris on 29th April, with the presence of Mourad Merzouki.

Being an institution which fully supports the preservation of artistic and cultural events as an integral part of quintessential Istanbul lifestyle, such as "dance" performances, Armada Hotel sincerely stands behind this message…
Happy International Dance Day!

Here is the original text of the message:


Every artist takes pride in his art.
Every artist will always defend the art form whose encounter has changed his life.
For that which he has sought and lost and for that which he has the burning desire to share: be it the echo of a voice, the discovered word, the interpretation of a text for humanity, the music without which the universe will stop speaking to us, or the movement which opens the doors to grace.
I have, for dance, not only the pride of a dancer and choreographer, but profound gratitude. Dance gave me my lucky break. It has become my ethics by virtue of its discipline and provided the means through which I discover the world daily.
Closer to me than anything else, it gives me strength each day through the energy and generosity as only dance can. Its poetry comforts me.
Could I say that I wouldn’t exist without dance? Without the capacity for expression it has given me? Without the confidence I have found in it to overcome my fears, to avoid dead ends?
Thanks to dance, immersed in the beauty and complexity of the world, I have become a citizen. A peculiar citizen who reinvents the social codes in the course of his encounters, remaining true to the values of the hip-hop culture which transforms negative energy into a positive force.
I live and breathe dance daily as an honour. But I am living with this honour deeply concerned. I witness around me the loss of bearings and the inability of some of the youth from the working class, growing up in tension and frustration, to imagine their future. I am one of them; so are we all. I am driven, perhaps more than others, by setting an example, to help them fuel their lust for life. 
For isn’t society richer with the richness of each of us?
Culture, more than any discourse, unites. So have courage and take risks despite the obstacles and the hatred with which you will no doubt be confronted; the beauty of the world will always be by your side. Like dance has been for me. With its singular force to eliminate social and ethnic distinctions, leaving but the movement of bodies in their essence, of human beings returning to their pure expression, unique and shared.
I would like to end by quoting René Char whose words remind me daily to not let anyone confine us to scripted roles.
Push your luck, hold on tight to your good fortune, and take your risk. Watching you, they will get used to it.”
So try, fail, start all over again but above all, dance, never stop dancing!

Translation: Petya Hristova and Charlene Lim
Programme of 29th April celebration: 
-Reading of the international message 2014 by Mourad Merzouki ;
-Screening of video excerpts ;
-Dance performances: Company Käfig, Mourad Merzouki – excerpts from the company’s repertoire ; Company Massala, Fouad Boussouf – Transe ; Company XXe Tribu, François Lamargot – Akasha.

UNESCO, 125 av. de Suffren
Tuesday 29th april, 7.30 pm
Free entrance upon reservation
RSVP: +33 1 45 68 48 82 / info@iti-worldwide.org 
Contact information: Zoé Simard, Events & Communication Manager, ITI, z.simard@iti-worldwide.org 
With the support of the Permanent Delegation of France to UNESCO, and the Centre chorégraphique National de Créteil et du Val de Marne / Compagnie Käfig.