From new born babies to wise old grandparents, everyone in wears a nazar boncuğu, a blue bead evil eye in Turkey, at some stage in their lives. Turks believe that ill-wishers can cause harm just by looking malevolently at their victim. Wearing an evil eye protects against this. However, if an individual is unfortunate enough…
My family wasn’t religious, so when I was a little girl in primary school I was always slightly jealous of the other children at Easter. I’d see them emerge from scripture classes clutching Easter bonnets festooned with strips of paper, straw baskets filled with fluffy yellow cotton wool chickens and colourful pictures of the saints….
After Republic day in 2002, the main topic of conversation among my students was voting in Turkey due to the the upcoming Turkish elections. It was impossible to ignore them because every other day some party leader came to Kayseri to mount the hustings and win votes. Posters appeared everywhere advertising rallies in Cumhuriyet Meydan,…
Sanliurfa (Şanliurfa in Turkish) in south east Turkey is famous for three main things. Baliklı Göl, Urfa Kebab and Göbekli Tepe and I’ve been there four times. The first time I went to Sanliurfa in 2001, Göbekli Tepe wasn’t a tourist site. I hung around Baliklı Göl, talked with Turkish school kids eager to practice…
Destinations Turkey is a vast country with dramatic mountains towering over turquoise seas, surreal landscapes filled with fairy chimneys, arid plains containing ancients discoveries dating back millennia and more. Whether you just want to laze at the beach, get in touch with nature, or deep dive into the latest archaeological discoveries, you’ll find what you’re…
The two devastating earthquakes that struck south eastern Turkey in the early hours of Monday and again around midday, 6 February 2023 continue to effect the people of Gaziantep. However the city is once again welcoming visitors. Tourism dollars go some way to normalising life but there is still a lot to be done. If…
(This post was originally published before the earthquakes that struck in south east Turkey. Recovery is on ongoing, and if you want to help please read my Turkey Earthquake 2023 post.) In this post I introduce Gaziantep in south eastern Turkey and give everything you need to have a brilliant time. I’ve divided this guide…
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?…
For a Turkish person, not having enough food to eat is as unthinkable as not being able to breathe. So imagine Noah’s delight when the ark finally came to rest near Ararat in eastern Turkey after the great flood, in finding enough leftovers to create the gourmet delight known as aşure. Asure is also called…
In Turkey, when you a buy a fridge, they don’t tell you how many litres it holds. Instead, they tell you how much Turkish ice cream it can store. Not just any ice cream though. Called dondurma, literally meaning ‘freezing’ in Turkish, Turkish ice cream is made with two magic ingredients, mastic and sahlep, and…