Every year Muslims around the world take part in Ramadan when for thirty days they allow no food or drink to pass their lips in daylight hours. True believers are also required to abstain from sex. Doing without is a personal statement of faith and shows solidarity with those who have very little all the…
As soon as I saw a photo of the Odunpazari Modern Museum, I knew I wanted to see it in person. The building was conjured up by Japanese architecture firm Kengo Kuma and Associates, known for designs featuring natural materials such as timber, stone and paper. They aim to amalgamate nature and architecture to create…
I remember when I first came to Turkey as a tourist (more than a few years ago now I’ll admit) the one thing I found hard to take and then actually annoying, was the way sales people persisted in trying to sell me things. Of course it’s their job but when you’re new to a…
The present day Pierre Loti Café, overlooking the Bahariye Islands and the Golden Horn was built over the site of the original coffee house where French novelist Pierre Loti used to come to admire the view. Loti, real name Louis Marie-Julien Viaud, was a French naval officer and novelist born in 1850. He wrote tales…
I’m neither a mad dog nor an Englishman and I never go out in the midday sun in summer, but this year the temperature in Istanbul from June through to August was set on high no matter the time of day. Nonetheless I still went out exploring, but tried to plan outings involving air-conditioned transport…
I do a lot of research before going out exploring Istanbul and other parts of Turkey and also for writing these posts. More and more these days I reference websites written in Turkish. There are a couple of great ones run by Turks who travel independently all over the country and I use them a…
Istanbul is always bursting at the seams with things to see and do, but come winter wandering the streets in search of history can be challenging, to say the least. However I was born in July on the opposite side of the world in Australia, so the combination of cold weather and the lure of…
Summers in Istanbul are hot and humid so when I have to be out and about I always try to combine errands with a bit of exploring. I was a winter baby so heat and I don’t get on. This year summer started early so when I headed to Üsküdar in the last week of…
Turkey’s first female Olympic competitor, archaeologist and patriot Halet Cambel (Çambel in Turkish) was the first female Turkish athlete ever to compete in the Olympic Games. This remarkable woman represented Turkey in fencing, helped decipher Hittite hieroglyphics and founded Turkey’s first open-air museum. Halet Cambel was born in Berlin in 1916. Her father Ibrahim Hakkı…
Kurban Bayram, known as Eid el-Adha in Arabic, is the most important Islamic festival of the year in the Muslim world. It falls about seventy days after Ramazan and the start dates for each are determined by the Muslim calendar, thus changing every year. Traditionally, all Muslims are expected to mark this occasion by sacrificing…