Profile information
Host rating
100 %
Last replied
28 Jun 2025
Reply rate
90.2 %
Usually responds within 5 days
Feedback
64
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Badges (4)
Details
Description
We are a big family running a family busines of a small hotel&food in the beautiful village, Zeytinada, in Antalya along the Mediterranean coast. Our hotel is expected to be busy in the summer, but for other seasons we hardly work with it. I am a language teacher in the town of Gazipaşa and I live there. My parents and my brother live in the village and one storey if the hotel is the house of my parents. My brother has a small farm with cows, hens and hoats. He handles the works in the farm and orchards, but we also help them when needed. We don't employ people, but in the highs season sfron time to time my mom hires some ladies from the village.
We have a quite big land with a lot of olive trees, avocados, pomegranates, almonds and various tropical fruits. We grow our vegetables and fruits with zero chemical intervention, so we need expertise and help in bio farming at any period of year.
We are aiming to promote clear food and healthy lifestyle for everybody, and trying to prove that it can be sustainable.
We love to hear people's ideas and experiences from all over the world about sustainable agriculture and tourism. Our overall project aims to achieve this goal. We hope our volunteers learn a lot from us too.
Me and my wife can speak Turkish, English, Hungarian, Spanish, German and Russian, but we don't live in the village all the time. When we are not around we can help you online, if you need any help in communication, but as always say: language is a tool to communicate, not a barrier.
So it would be nice to use Google translate or something similar to communicate with my old parents and by brother's family.
As I said, we are a big family, and we do, produce, consume everything together. We would be more than happy, if you feel yourself part of this big family during and after your stay in Zeytinada.
Types of help and learning opportunities
Art Projects
Language practice
Help with Eco Projects
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Farmstay help
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Help around the house
Hospitality/Tourism
General Maintenance
UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
- You will be able to benefit from the perfect air and environment of the Mediterranean coasts when you learn how to make our special gözleme, a Turkish pastry stuffed with various cheese and herbs and baked on an iron disc on open fire.
- Turkish cousin is very rich, and my mom is a very good cook. You can learn a lot from her.
- You can learn how to make decorations with cracked tiles on the walls and in the tables
- You will have a lot of opportunity to practice Turkish, or start learning Turkish.
- Above all you are going to be a part an incredibly lovely family who put all their effort to make a world a better and more livable place...
Help
Depending on the seasons you can give a hand in many areas to our family. These can vary from cleaning around to painting, decorating walls, collectong cones and wood from the forest, cooking for the family, building, renovating, harvesting fruits and vegetables, feeding the animals, cleaning the branches from the orchards, making jams, taking photos and making videos, providing interesting ideas, talking with us and with our guests, helping us by correcting our mistakes, etc.
I can provide detailed information about what we are on, when you intend to visit us, because what help you can provide varies depending on the season and on what we are currently busy with :)
Do remember to learn as much as possible from us while you are giving a hand: learn how to make delicious jams, stuffed flat bread ( gözleme), wall decorations from cracked tiles, vertical farming, and much more.
We generally prefer long-term volunteers. The longer, the better, however we have one-week trial/probation period for all volunteers, and if everybody is happy about the scheme, you can stay as long as you feel happy to stay :)
Languages
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Hungarian: Fluent
Turkish: Fluent
Spanish: IntermediateThis host offers a language exchange
This host has indicated that they are interested in sharing their own language or learning a new language.
You can contact them directly for more information.
Accommodation
- LATE SPRING, SUMMER AND EARLY AUTUMN
For these hot seasons your accomodation will be on the terrace under the roof where we wash and dry our linens and cloths. İt's a some 120 square metres of terrace with a storage where you can keep your belongings. There are one bunk bed and a single bed in two open air "rooms" that are separated by curtains. This area is the place where the volunteers can use all day, socialise and take rest. You will have mosquito nets around your beds. The toilets and showers are not at the same place, unfortunately, you need to use the shared ones 2 floors down.
-LATE AUTUMN, WINTER AND EARLY SPRING
for these cooler/colder seasons you'll have one of the hotel rooms with shared bathroom and air-condition. You are expected to keep the bathrooms very clean after every use, as they could be used by some customers too.
What else ...
You are not expected to work with time-table at all. You can make your own, and plan your days, hours and day-offs according to your needs. The most important thing for us that you feel yourself part of this family and respect what we are doing.
When you don't help you can visit the beautiful surrounding cities of Gazipaşa Alanya and Anamur. You can trek in the mountains covered with pine trees. We love to look for mushrooms in late autumn and winter in those forests.
You can visit Cristal clear beaches, rocky or sandy. True, mostly it's difficult to get there, but this is the reason why they are so untouched.
Check out these places to visit before you arrive :
Delik Deniz / kral koyu
Antiochia ad cragum
Doğal havuzlar, Gazipaşa
Selinus kalesi
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Space for parking camper vans
This host can provide space for campervans.
How many Workawayers can stay?
Two
My animals / pets
Feedback (37)
The gave us hand to clean the rooms, public toilets and sometimes the kitchen. He tried his best to keep everything clean and tidy. He was mainly alone in the village with my parents, and we saw him at the weekends when we didn't work in the town.
Ytsen is a very reliable helper who is… read more
During my stay I've learned so much about Turkish food, gardening/farming, Turkish history and culture, and I'm sure I could have learned a lot more still.
The work/free time balance is really… read more
Photos
Feedback
These are extra optional ratings when members leave feedback. The average rating left for each option is displayed.
Accuracy of profile:
(4.9)
Cultural exchange:
(5.0)
Communication:
(4.8)
The gave us hand to clean the rooms, public toilets and sometimes the kitchen. He tried his best to keep everything clean and tidy. He was mainly alone in the village with my parents, and we saw him at the weekends when we didn't work in the town.
Ytsen is a very reliable helper who is… read more
During my stay I've learned so much about Turkish food, gardening/farming, Turkish history and culture, and I'm sure I could have learned a lot more still.
The work/free time balance is really… read more
He is a strong man with construction skills, but he needs clear instructions and constant checks some time as his English sometimes fails him to understand them hundred percent. I… read more
I stayed in Zeytinada for almost one month with Bülent (the host) and his lovely family. Being with them felt like being at home with my own family.
Bülent was truly kind, friendly and attentive. I learned a lot… read more
Spending those two weeks mostly helping in collecting olives, (due to the season) with an amazing view over the sea.
We wish we could have stay longer but perhaps we'll going back at some point.
100% recommend this place.
Teşekkür… read more
The time which I spent in… read more
She helped us to clean the rooms, toilets and empty the bins. When she had time she helped decorating the wall with cracked tiles, and it seemed she loved it!
She was always very tidy, precise, ready to help, to learn. She observed our family very well, and well adjusted herself… read more
Bülent is a wonderful man, I have learned a lot from him, he definitely loves what he does because he has spent many years improving and developing this… read more
The COVID caused some delays in her trip, but finally she could make it and joined us… read more
The you topped up us everyday with your endless energy! Your hunger to explore arts and physical activities was amazing. You could hardly stop yourself from doing… read more
I spent about 1,5 weeks in Zeytinada, and that time passed too quickly. From the first moment, I was greeted very warmly and got into the circle of this wonderful, big family (in fact they've already had so many volunteers before!..). Full of joys, different characters and their different habits. I met also some… read more
Food: Delicious and prepared. You just eat.
Transportation: Public transport is available from/to Gazipasa airport.
Work: Mostly simple farm work, sometimes a little bit heavy.
Internet: You need a Turkish SIM card.
Atmosphere: Amazing, far from urban life.
Family: The best part of… read more
They helped us for almost two weeks in the fields, Andrés helped many friends with his magical talents in biomagnetismo, Carlos was marvellous with electrical… read more
Hope to see you again soon.
Wishing you guys the best of luck
My task consisted of helping with the small restaurant either in waitressing or cleaning the rooms. It was an interesting experience to serve clients in another language than your own ( with a little bit of Turkish), I tried my… read more
They made me feel like a part of the family and i defenatly can say this was a great expirience.
Zeytinada is a beautiful small village and the people who live their make the place feel like home.
The work i had to do was for example helping serving breakfast or salad and making thea. And for the rest try to… read more
I helped about take care of olive trees mainly. It was February, there is not many job that… read more
We spent so wonderful 3 weeks together that at the end everyone was almost crying when she left Zeytinada. She loved the village and it's people, she found the best connections and vibes in everyone she got in touch with. She worked from the heart, read and told the fortunes of everybody around and she picked a lot of… read more
İ spent the most magical 3 weeks of my life here here. I had the pleasure of meeting and sharing with Bülent ,A extremely gracious host, travel guide, and excellent teacher!!(seriously!) and his lovely family and fellow neighbors. Work was easy and I always felt I could have been doing… read more
The views from where you'll be staying and from the area in general are astoundingly beautiful, as the Taurus mountains rise… read more
Fatoş and Barış and their two sons are the kindest, loveliest people and made me feel like part of they're family. They will… read more
