Although now part of the hustle and bustle of the greater city of Istanbul, once upon a time Eyup was a sleepy backwater, a small village famous for containing the final resting place of Eyup (Job) Ansari, standard bearer to the Prophet Muhammed. For this reason Eyup is considered the third holiest site after Mecca…
I’m very persistent when it comes to exploring neighbourhoods in Istanbul if it means finding the remains of an old mosque or hamam I’ve read about but never seen. I’ll happily walk up and down the same street numerous times and ask for directions in my not-quite-perfect Turkish from anyone who looks like they can…
On a clear sunny winter’s day in Istanbul I paid a visit to the Yahya Efendi tomb, located halfway up a really steep hill in Besiktas. Born in Trabzon in 1495, Yahya Efendi was a famous scholar of the 16th century. His year of birth coincided with that of Kanuni Sultan Süleyman, whose mother also…
On the 4th of January 2021 a new tramway line that runs the length of the Golden Horn opened. In Turkish Golden Horn translates as Haliç, meaning mouth or inlet. It’s named for the horn-like shape of this estuary which stretches approximately seven kilometres from the point where the Sea of Marmara and the Bosphorus…
In the mid-19th century the sultans moved from Islamic inspired Topkapı to European designed Dolmabahçe Palace. It was the start of a new era in Turkish history and Sultan Abdülmecid I led the way. The formerly tree covered parklands of the palace elite were named Teşvikiye, meaning ‘encouragement’ in Ottoman Turkish, spelled Tesvikiye in the English…
Turkey has long produced exquisite and practical Turkish homewares and objet d’art made from paper, stone and glass. Careful attention to detail and a focus on maintaining tradition, means many items are still being made using production methods dating back hundreds of years. Beautiful on their own merit, they conjure up images of distant lands…
The name Mustafa Kemal Ataturk is known the length and breadth of Turkey and beyond. There are statues, memorials and monuments in his honour all over the place and even a street named after him in Tunis, the capital of Tunisia. One of the first places I ever visited related to Ataturk was the huge…
Back in April this year I wrote a list of must try Turkish foods for CNN Travel. My aim in putting it together was to let people know there’s more to Turkish cuisine than kebab and baklava. I made a conscious decision not to include a famous dish called Adana Kebab because, well, it’s famous….
In an effort to improve my Turkish and learn what’s going on in my neighbourhood, I regularly check out the Kadikoy Council website. That’s how I discovered their initiative, Dukkan Kadikoy Council Waste Free Shop. It sells products and foods that are long-lasting, ecologically sustainable, produced from indigenous seeds, non-poisonous and seasonal, sourced from local…
A few years ago I spent a fun afternoon and early evening picnicking with a big group of friends in Yildiz Park. After a lunch that went on for hours we decided to play frisbee, not an easy task as the park cascades rather steeply down towards the Bosphorus. This was especially unfortunate for the…