On Turkish national public holidays, banks, post offices, schools, government departments and many private businesses are closed. If the weather’s good it feels like everyone is on the road, headed somewhere, and waterfront walks and breakfast places are jampacked with mums, dads and kids plus all their relatives. During two of the longest breaks in…
Now that you’ve booked your trip to Istanbul in winter, you’ll want to learn where to have a drink in Istanbul to enjoy some festive cheer, alcoholic of course, accompanied by some tasty Turkish delights. Luckily for us, Turkish wine expert Andrea Lemieux aka The Quirky Cork took some time out of her busy schedule…
You’d think the chances of crossing paths with someone who only lives a few blocks away from you in real life in Istanbul (pop 16 million and counting) via a Facebook group started by American writers would be pretty slim. Especially when you’re me, a woman from Australia and the other person is Pinar Tarhan,…
HISTORY The Sabiha Gokcen airport has been in operation over on my side of town since 2003. It is named after Sabiha Gokçen, one of the adopted daughters of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the modern Turkish republic. Gokcen is famous in her own right because she was the first ever female combat pilot…
If you’ve been following my writing for a while, you’ll know I have a pretty good level of Turkish. I learnt a lot by tackling things like getting my resident permit, going to the hospital, dealing with banks and bureaucracy on my own. This involved the endless repetition of questions and words on my part,…
Even though the Turkey earthquakes of 2023 have largely moved off the front page of the news, that doesn’t mean the people affected by them are doing OK. If anything, their needs are greater, especially in south east Turkey and Syria where more than 50,000 people were killed, hundreds of thousands injured and people went…
Once again I am receiving messages from people asking is it safe to travel to Turkey. Once again it’s with a sad heart I am updating this post I originally published in 2016 and updated last year. First, to put things in perspective, Jerusalem is nearly 1800km distance by road from Istanbul, where I live….
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 remember when I first came to Turkey as a tourist (more than a few years ago now I’ll admit) the one thing I found hard to take and then actually annoying, was the way sales people persisted in trying to sell me things. Of course it’s their job but when you’re new to a…
Why I try to buy gifts that give back My parents came from working class families and became middle class through a lot of hard work after winning university scholarships that lead to good jobs and comfortable incomes. However they were both born at the beginning of the Great Depression, and it marked their attitudes…