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…
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…
I’m neither a mad dog nor an Englishman and I never go out in the midday sun in summer, but these days the temperature in Istanbul from June through to August is set on high no matter the time of day. Nonetheless I still go out exploring, but try to plan outings involving air-conditioned transport…
I’m pleased to announce the release of my latest book, Longing for Istanbul: The Words I Haven’t Said Yet. In the last two years while the world as we know it has turned upside down, I’ve worked hard to share my life in Istanbul through my blog and Facebook posts, Instagram pictures and tweets. The feedback…
On a recent trip I visited the Eskisehir Museum of Independence. Housed in an early example of Turkish first national architecture built in 1915, the museum celebrates Atatürk and the Turkish Republic through hundreds of photos, paintings and collages. It includes displays of events such as the battles of Gallipoli, Sakarya and Dumlupınar, models of…
A lot of women marry the man of their dreams, set up house, have kids, and settle down to the happily ever after until one day, when everything they wanted has happened, they realise what they’ve got isn’t really what they want. Not so Australian Olivia Russo of Pomegranates and Olive fame. At the first…
Back in 2013 I started a blog to share my experiences of the everyday extraordinary of life in modern Istanbul, but my passion for Turkey started long before that. I first set foot on Turkish soil in 1990 and since then have travelled all over the country and met hundreds of people. I’ve exchanged passing…
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…
George Dearlsey and I have been acquainted for a few years through our interactions in Facebook groups and via private messaging so when he told me he was writing his memoirs called Twelve Camels for Your Wife I was really pleased. Most of our conversations were about practical matters of life in Turkey, so I…
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…