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…
Once again I’m receiving messages from people asking is it safe to travel to Turkey. Once again it’s with a sad heart I am updating this post I originally published in 2016 and updated last year. First, to put things in perspective when it comes to the question is it safe to travel to Turkey,…
I’ve often said Istanbul isn’t so much a metropolis as a series of small interconnected villages and a set of coincidences I experienced when I went to Hatay and Gaziantep has really confirmed this belief. One day I was looking for a Whatsapp chat I’d had with someone at an animal shelter on this side…
Like Pierre Loti Cafe, which probably wouldn’t still exist if a woman hadn’t got involved, much of the city was built by Istanbul women whose unofficial machinations made them more powerful than the sultans they married or the sons they birthed. Women who fought for their rights while helping to establish the Turkish Republic. Turkish…
For this year’s birthday post I thought I’d tell you about my long horror hate relationship with kelle paça, sheep head soup for the uninitiated. My intense dislike of offal started long before I moved to Turkey, although as a four year old I apparently loved the tongue soup my nana made, at least according…
Around once a month I travel by Marmaray and Metro to a small tekel (bottle shop) in Kurtuluş to buy wine. They have a good selection, the man who runs it is nice and even with the cost of my transport fares, their wines are cheaper than anywhere I’ve found so far in Kadikoy, near where I live…
The first time I went to Buyukada (Büyükada in Turkish) was in 1990. I was travelling solo and had met up with some English uni students spending their summer break in Istanbul and other parts of Turkey. I kept a diary at the time and here’s what I wrote. “It was the playing field of…
Welcome to the second part of Sultanahmet – playing tourist in the city I call home. If you haven’t read part one already, here’s the link . The next morning we woke up ready to go out and play tourist again but to be honest, it was tempting to just stay put. We were staying…
When I was invited to stay at the Empress Zoe Hotel in Sultanahmet after I wrote about it in my piece for the Guardian, I jumped at the chance. Being a travel writer most people imagine I spend my days wandering around Istanbul playing tourist and journeying to all points of the compass on endless…