Reading Carla Grissman’s memoir Dinner of Herbs took me back to my first long stay in Turkey in 1990. I was in Göreme, still a small village back then with a population of 2000 and a nascent tourism sector. Most Göremeli still grew their own vegetables on plots of land wedged between fairy chimneys, ate…
Make 2019 the year you spend eight days exploring the off-the-beaten-track parts of the Gallipoli battlefields and meeting the locals who have made it their home, with the added bonus of tasting some great Turkish wines and honing your painting skills. The Gallipoli Art, Wine & War Tour starts in Istanbul with a fully guided…
UPDATED 24.4.25: In part two of my interview with fellow Australian Craig Roach, he shares his love of Gallipoli and suggests which places should go on your ‘must visit’ list for Turkey. If you missed part one you can read it here. Craig, what might readers be surprised to learn if they take one of your…
I’m pleased to welcome fellow Australian Craig Roach. Like me he’s passionate about Turkey and has a lot to share about his life and adventures in the country over the last thirty years. Here’s part one of his exclusive interview with Inside Out In Istanbul (updated April 2023). What first brought you to Turkey Craig?…
“Kaş has the high mountains and sparse covering of undersized scrub that impressed me when I first saw the Turkish coastline back in 1990. Unlike then I am not afraid when I look up at the distinctive rock formation known as the ‘Sleeping Giant’ that lies across the range, encircling the town. Instead I marvel…
It’s still dark when I arrive and make my way slowly up a steep path on Mount Nemrut. Although I can hear voices it feels like I’m an intrepid explorer on the edge of an enormous discovery. Once I reach the top I stop to catch my breath. All I can see are murky, shadowy…
Normally I’m too busy trying to make sense of the things I see, do and experience in Turkey, to write about places. However, after a wonderful holiday in Selimiye, in the Marmaris region of Turkey, I couldn’t resist putting pen, and photos, to paper. Well beyond the pink and white assault of English and Russian…
Read on to find out what happened on my Eastern Turkey tour with 52 students who sang, danced and ate the whole time. There was very little sleep to be had! …We were headed for Harran, a small town in famous for its beehive shaped houses made from dried mud. Disappointingly, when we arrived I…
Turkish shoe shine men are only one of what I call my little men, the service providers essential in my life, no matter where I live. In Kayseri, where I worked as a teacher for two years, the Turkish shoe shine men were easy to spot, just not where you might expect. Read on to…
Back in 2004 I worked at Erciyes University in central Turkey. When some of the final year students approached me to be a chaperone on a four day three night trip touring Eastern Turkey I jumped at the chance. This is an excerpt from a longer complete story. “As instructed, we arrived at the faculty…