Born in İstanbul in 1850, the prolific architect Alexandre Vallaury was the son of a renowned pastry cook almost certainly of French…
Born in Italy in 1857, architect Raimondo d’Aronco arrived in İstanbul in 1893 to work on designs for a planned İstanbul exhibition of…
Osman Hamdi was born in İstanbul in 1842, the son of İbrahim Erdhem Pasa, a man important enough to have briefly held the…
The elder brother of opera composer Gaetano Donizetti, Italian-born Guiseppe Donizetti (1788-1856) came to Istanbul to help Sultan Mahmud II’s new professional army…
In 2013 work began on the renovation of Taksim Square. The most controversial part of the plan envisaged the rebuilding of the giant…
The Ionians were Greeks who seem to have migrated to the coast of Anatolia (Asia Minor) in the 12th century BC, displacing the…
Visitors to Turkey are often familiar with the Hittites and Phrygians. Far less well known are the Urartians who, from around the middle…
Is Turkey a difficult country for women travellers? This is a valid question given that the country is both Muslim and partially Mediterranean…
Is it difficult to travel in Turkey on your own? The simple answer if you’re a man is certainly not. If you’re a…
Homosexuality is not illegal in Turkey and few LGBTQ+ travellers report any problems during their stay. It’s as well to be aware, though,…