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our-story

The Story of a Nest

Selma Bülbül, during her childhood years, with no intention to be a banker like her father, ends up in the banking sector for 25 years with a strong will and instinct to serve. Following a slow period of retirement from her banking career, Selma, unexpectedly, finds herself as the owner of the first lodging of an Aegean fishing town, Foca, that she loves very much and almost spends most of her summer vacations. Some questions cross Selma's mind: How can I get my hotel certified? What should I do to be useful to the local community? What are the ways to make it sure the guests enjoy their stay and remember it as unique and special?

Following these questions, she gets her sleeves up and builds a boutique hotel where her guests are pampered with an excellent service, only to be found in their dreams. She provides hospitality and team building training to the local people by using the experience of her earlier customer service roles. After living many years in a city with an acute sense of observation, Selma embraces her new environment by getting to know its flora and fauna. She continues to craft, produce and make.. Selma learns, with great joy, how to raise chickens to get eggs, to make her own "tarhana", to extract olive oil, formulate vinegar and make her own jam and jellies.

Joining her efforts with a local slow food movement group, she further develops her products into a brand of her own called, Bulbul.. One of the pleasures of owning a place like Bulbul Yuvasi is to meet great guests that eventually become Selma's best friends that she stays in touch in every occasion and even during holidays. They become part of her family. In national holidays, Selma and her staff join anniversary celebrations with their colourful shirts representing the flag of Turkey. Bulbul Yuvasi rooms are called after the colonies that early Phokaians had established in the past. Each room is furnished with a great style and taste to offer a wide range of options for the budgets and preferences of her guests.. For Selma, the best meal of the day is the breakfast. Even most of the early preparations are done in a separate kitchen, she makes it sure they are finally baked in house for her guests to wake up to the smells of her favorite recipes of childhood such as toast and egg, very special pastries and breads.

While shopping for vegetables in the farmers market, Selma gathers the bouquet of flowers that the local farmers display on their stand with great pride and place them on her guests tables to show the value of the local fauna and flora as well as to get them acquainted with regional herb and seed species such as anemone, hyacinth, sea bream flowers, thyme, buckwheat..

This is a wonderful adventure for Selma that she faces everyday with great hope, discovery and joy of making new friends…. Bulbul Yuvasi Boutique Hotel is a great place to celebrate the Aegean Coast and its offerings, to be happy and especially to be pampered by Selma… If you wish to take the diverse and rich smell of the Foca's beautiful nature with you, we will be always here and wait for you with open arms..