“Middle Village” Market day: Sunday One of İstanbul’s liveliest and trendiest Bosphorus suburbs, Ortaköy boasts a rather odd name which means “Middle Village”…
“Marker Stone” I’ll be honest and admit that Nişantaşı is not my favourite part of İstanbul. It’s not that it doesn’t have some…
“Ancillary Village” Market: Saturday (organic produce), Sunday (antiques) Designed by the Swiss Bomonti brothers in 1890 with a distinctive peaked tower, the Bomonti…
Stadium for chariot races Other name: Atmeydanı (Turkish) Festival: Post-iftar stalls and celebrations during Ramazan Once the venue for hotly contested Byzantine chariot…
“Life-Saver” Market: Wednesday (beside Sphendone) Many hotels in İstanbul which are labelled as being in Sultanahmet are technically in the neighbourhood called Cankurtaran which…
Running west from Sultanahmet Meydanı across the tramlines is Yerebatan Caddesi with, just downhill, the entrance to the Yerebatan Sarnıçı (Underground or Basilica…
When I first started travelling around Turkey I was completely mystified by local bed-making habits. There it was, this otherwise clean and welcoming…
Turks are especially fond of meatballs (köfte) which come in a variety of forms. The most basic type of meatball is ızgara köfte (grilled…
The origins of the Carians, the people who at least partially displaced the Ionians around İzmir and who occupied the southwestern corner of…
Population (Sapanca Town): 34,500 Due east of İstanbul and İzmit/Kocaeli, the 16km-long Sapanca Gölü is a popular weekend retreat and day-trip destination for…