Istanbul in summer can be very hot. We couldn’t always go away on holidays so spent our Sundays in Fenerbahce Park. Here’s how we’d typically spend the day. “… To reach the water we have to walk past tables occupied by Turkish families. Most of them turn and stare at our mixed groups of foreigners…
Come explore the Asian side of Istanbul! One day it’s business as usual at the local market, and the next day life’s a party with singing and dancing in the streets. Welcome to my neighbourhood, welcome to Goztepe Istanbul … Planning to come to Istanbul or Turkey? Here are my helpful tips for planning your…
Getting a Turkish residence permit has always been complicated. As a resident of Istanbul I’ve lived through the days of queuing all day for a ticket (to get another ticket) to the new online appointment system. However the system is configured, there are always hoops to jump through, making it a nervewracking experience. “I walk through…
Istanbul is well-known for its many beautiful mosques as well as architectural marvels from the Ottoman Empire. Under their reign, peoples from many different ethnicities and religions flourished in Istanbul. Pockets of this diverse past remain in richly decorated Istanbul churches and other religious buildings still in use today. There are hundreds of Armenian churches…
There are many beautiful Istanbul waterfront views. Here are just a few. Sunday in Ortaköy, 2000 The German designed Haydarpaşa Railway as seen from Kadikoy, May 2011 Drinking tea in Üsküdar, April 2012 One of the iconic Istanbul waterfront views, fishermen and boats at Eminönü, November 2000 Kadikoy waterfront, May 2013 Kadikoy waterfront, March 2001…
A look at the Turkish public health system Back in 2000 my husband and I worked at an English college on Bağdat Street, run by a money hungry former military man with good connections but bad intentions. Thanks to him we had the dubious pleasure of visiting one of Istanbul’s many Turkish public hospitals as…
Living in Istanbul … “Each day certain sounds can be heard echoing down my street. Early in the morning I hear the eskici come through. These buyers of old wares and junk roam the streets dragging or pushing two-wheeled, flat barrow carts, calling out “eskici, eskici”, buying old books, lamps, bric-a-brac and knickknacks. The items…
Here are some of my favourite Istanbul neighbourhood parks on the Asian side of the city. Istanbul is a densely populated city sprawling over both banks of the Bosphorus Strait. It is a metropolis full of high rise apartments and office blocks. Nonetheless, Istanbullu (people who live in Istanbul) value their green spaces and make…
Imagine the time – almost 35 years ago. Imagine the place – Istanbul, Eminönü and the old Galata Bridge over the Golden Horn. “Up on the terrace of the hostel, the six of us ploughed our way through three bottles of reasonable red wine and one or two bottles of remarkably cheap Black Sea cognac,…
Despite the heat of summer I decided to prowl the backstreets of Rasimpasa Kadikoy. This neighbourhood sits between the popular and well known centre of Kadikoy, and the now very hipster Yeldegirmeni neighbourhood. Foundation stones like this one are living proof of one of the many minority groups that lived in Rasimpasa Kadikoy in the…