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 I was really pleased. Most of our conversations were about practical matters of life in Turkey, so I only had a vague idea about…
With the Games of the XXXII Olympiad originally scheduled for 2020 taking place in Tokyo this year despite much controversy, I decided to write a post about Halet Çambel, 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…
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…
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…
Kim Hewett and I met in Newtown, a suburb in Sydney, Australia where we both lived for many years. We danced around each other for a long time but both of us had significant others and the timing was never right. However a few weeks after I returned from my first trip to Europe and…