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…
In a little known film set in Istanbul spanning the last century, Turkish seasonings play an important role. In Turkey herbs and spices represent the continuity of history as well as the diversity within cultures. After interviewing my baharatçı, my spice seller Ayhan Baloğlu, I can see why. Born in Gaziantep on the hot dusty plains…
Reams have been written about the Hagia Sophia, originally a Byzantine church, mosque, museum and now a mosque again, so I thought it was high time I wrote a post about it for Inside Out In Istanbul. The inspiration for this came not from a visit to the building itself, but from an exhibition of…
If you’ve been following my writing for a while, you’ll know I have a pretty good level of Turkish. I learnt a lot by tackling things like getting my resident permit, going to the hospital, dealing with banks and bureaucracy on my own. This involved the endless repetition of questions and words on my part,…
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…
I’ve been using public transport since forever. I have a driver’s licence but to be honest, the idea of driving in Istanbul scares the living daylights out of me. Besides, the traffic is so heavy I’d prefer to be on a bus, train or ferry, free to chat, read or look out the window, rather…
If you’ve ever walked along the waterfront from Üsküdar to Salacak, you’re likely to have passed the number 1453 in big bright red letters. It commemorates the Fall of Constantinople because that was the year Mehmet II laid siege to the city now known as Istanbul. Constantinople was founded by the Roman Emperor Constantine I…
When the original wooden St Stephen Church Istanbul was erected on the shores of the Golden Horn in the early 19th century, the Bulgarian Church was trying to break away from the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Istanbul. At that time the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople controlled all the religious affairs of Orthodox congregations throughout the entire…
Istanbul is world famous for glorious historical sites in the old city of Sultanahmet, like the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, Haghia Sophia and the Grand Bazaar, but there’s so much more to see. To make the most of this Istanbul itinerary 2 days, Taksim is a good base for exploring other parts of Istanbul. Be…
What type of music each person likes is an individual thing, usually based on where you grew up, the people you hung out with, and your life experiences. Whenever I play Turkish music for my friends who don’t know much about the country, they’re always surprised by the number of different styles and personalities that…