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…
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…
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…
The very first time I went to Kas Antalya was in 1990. I remember going for a swim at Küçük Çakıl beach. At that time there was only a ramshackle tea house on the cliffs above the little inlet and the eucalypt lined council run tea gardens down the hill did a steady trade in…
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…
In many countries around the world it’s traditional to give a key as a present when someone turns 21. It’s a sign they’ve reached maturity and are now an adult. Famous people like sportsmen, film stars and successful residents are sometimes also given the ‘keys to the city’ to acknowledge their contributions to a particular…
On the 12th of March, 2021, Turkey’s national anthem the Istiklal March – the Independence March – turned one hundred years old. The Istiklal March is performed frequently in Turkey, at state and military events, on assorted national holidays and in all Turkish schools. If you’ve spent any time here at all you’ll have no…
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…
TURKEY EARTHQUAKE 2023 – How to help Turkey has a long and rich history easily seen in thousands of mosques, fountains, palaces and graveyards throughout the country. Library shelves groan under the weight of academic studies and research papers while internet sites and tourist guides abound, providing large swathes of information explaining important events and…