Visitors to Turkey often stumble across colourful Turkish weddings in small towns and villages. They are great fun to attend. But what about the legally required civil ceremony part of modern Turkish weddings, do you know what goes on there? Find out in this extract from my memoir Istanbul Dreams: Waiting for the Tulips to…
Living in Turkey for many years I’ve learned about a lot of different Turkish wedding traditions. Here are just a few. “Some years ago I lived in central Turkey. It was at the beginning of the 21st century and Kayseri, the regional capital of Cappadocia, was equipped with all the modern conveniences you would expect…
Unlike popular stereotypes about women, I am not a great fan of shopping. True, I will go to great lengths to track down the perfect shoe or boot, but when it comes to other items of apparel, I am far less interested. Particularly when it comes to buying an outfit for a special occasion. It’s…
What type of music each person likes is an individual thing, usually based on where you grew up, the people you hung out with, and your life experiences. Whenever I play Turkish music for my friends who don’t know much about the country, they’re always surprised by the number of different styles and personalities that…
In these days of films on demand, streaming and Bluetooth, it’s easy to forget just how important the film industry once was. It took a while for Turks to become producers and directors, but once they embraced the idea, there was no stopping them from making Turkish films. Less than a year after the Lumier…
Living in Turkey for more than fifteen years, I’ve had a lot of opportunities to watch and adopt Turkish cultural practices. I’m fascinated by what I see and always want to learn more. I read everything I can get my hands on and pepper my Turkish friends with numerous questions so often they say I’m…
“A few months ago, Lisa Morrow, an experienced travel writer living in Istanbul, contacted me. She had just released a book, Exploring Turkish Landscapes, about Turkish culture and asked if she could send a copy, for a published review. I said yes and a week later, received a 162-page book via cargo. Since I am…
There are many things I love about my life in Istanbul, in particular the way the locals prepare for traditional Turkish celebrations. Whether the special event is a wedding, Christmas, New Year’s Eve or Ramazan, they approach it in their own truly unique style. Here are some photos I’ve taken over the years that give…
FETHIYE HISTORY Telmessos, modern day Fethiye, was once the most important port city on the border of ancient Lycia. A theatre of the same name high up in the hills is one of the major sites left from the original settlement. According to a legend from the Lycian period, the god Apollo fell in love…
With a few notable exceptions such as Orhan Pamuk and Elif Şafak, many portrayals of Turkey and particularly the life of women here are projected through the lens of Western perceptions of the Middle East – dangerous, mono-cultural, male-dominated and archaic. However Turkey is not an Arabic country, and Turkish people are extremely diverse. They…