When I studied history at high school we learned about World War I from an Antipodean perspective. Heroic Australian Johnnies fought local Mehmets at Gallipoli, the Germans were eventually defeated and everyone went back home again. What we weren’t told about was what happened next, the Liberation of Istanbul and Turkey. Even before the war…
Key to enjoying a visit to the cultural capital of Turkey is knowing what to wear in Istanbul, especially in summer when it can be blisteringly hot and humid, but you still need to cover up when you visit religious sites. I’ve lived in Istanbul for over 15 years now and one thing I can…
Reams have been written about the Hagia Sophia, originally a Byzantine church, mosque, museum and now a mosque again, so I thought it was high time I wrote a post about it for Inside Out In Istanbul. The inspiration for this came not from a visit to the building itself, but from an exhibition of…
After the devastating earthquakes in south eastern Turkey in 2023, thousands of lives were lost and more changed, and innumerable damage done to individuals and places. It will take years for the people and the region to recover and one way you can help is by coming to visit the UNESCO World Heritage Sites Turkey….
At 9.05am on the 10th day of the 11th month of the year, everywhere in cities across Turkey people stop, some getting out of their cars to stand in silence for a minute, while others honk their horns in time with buses and ferry sirens, in remembrance of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk who died on this…
Some of my best days in Istanbul aren’t when I visit a famous tourist site but when I’m out and about trying to get things repaired. Like the time I had to find someone to reattach the handle of our cezve (Turkish coffee pot). My husband Kim has the habit of banging pots on the…
Like Pierre Loti Cafe, which probably wouldn’t still exist if a woman hadn’t got involved, much of the city was built by Istanbul women whose unofficial machinations made them more powerful than the sultans they married or the sons they birthed. Women who fought for their rights while helping to establish the Turkish Republic. Turkish…
Around once a month I travel by Marmaray and Metro to a small tekel (bottle shop) in Kurtuluş to buy wine. They have a good selection, the man who runs it is nice and even with the cost of my transport fares, their wines are cheaper than anywhere I’ve found so far in Kadikoy, near where I live…
Welcome to the second part of Sultanahmet – playing tourist in the city I call home. If you haven’t read part one already, here’s the link. The next morning we woke up ready to go out and play tourist again but to be honest, it was tempting to just stay put. We were staying in…
When I was invited to stay at the Empress Zoe Hotel in Sultanahmet after I wrote about it in my piece for the Guardian, I jumped at the chance. Being a travel writer most people imagine I spend my days wandering around Istanbul playing tourist and journeying to all points of the compass on endless…