Turkey has long produced exquisite and practical Turkish homewares and objet d’art made from paper, stone and glass. Careful attention to detail and a focus on maintaining tradition, means many items are still being made using production methods dating back hundreds of years. Beautiful on their own merit, they conjure up images of distant lands…
The name Mustafa Kemal Ataturk is known the length and breadth of Turkey and beyond. There are statues, memorials and monuments in his honour all over the place and even a street named after him in Tunis, the capital of Tunisia. One of the first places I ever visited related to Ataturk was the huge…
Back in April this year I wrote a list of must try Turkish foods for CNN Travel. My aim in putting it together was to let people know there’s more to Turkish cuisine than kebab and baklava. I made a conscious decision not to include a famous dish called Adana Kebab because, well, it’s famous….
A few years ago I spent a fun afternoon and early evening picnicking with a big group of friends in Yildiz Park. After a lunch that went on for hours we decided to play frisbee, not an easy task as the park cascades rather steeply down towards the Bosphorus. This was especially unfortunate for the…
A few years ago, when the Coronavirus pandemic was ramping up I marked my birthday by sharing a selection of my favourite images from Istanbul mosques. I’m a Leo so I usually go large on birthdays with celebrations lasting at least a week and sometimes as long as a month. In the past I’ve enjoyed…
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…
About Me I’m Lisa Morrow. I’m Lisa Morrow, a sociologist, author and travel writer originally from a quiet leafy suburb in Sydney, Australia. Istanbul has been my home now for more than 13 years but my journey here was anything but direct. After finishing high school I went straight to university where I failed to…
Just before the December rains set in I took advantage of Istanbul’s blue sunny skies to go exploring. My aim was to find works by Raimondo D’Aronco, an Italian architect responsible for bringing Art Nouveau architecture to the city. Raimondo D’Aronco was born in Gemona del Friuli (by coincidence part of the district where my…
When Atatürk uttered the words “Ne mutlu Türküm diyene!” meaning “How happy is the one who calls themselves a Turk!” to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Turkish Republic in 1933, he wanted to promote unity. Although the majority of Turks are and have always been Sunni Muslims, they can also be Alevi, Bektaşi or…
Galata Tower and those in Genoa share a lot of similarities. They’re both set in hilly locations and have famous towers and funiculars. Like Istanbul, Genoa is built on a series of steep hills and dates back centuries. The old city centre is made up of tiny streets and narrow alleys called caruggi, with numerous…