It’s a story that has become set in stone. It goes something like this. In 2008 sculptor Mehmet Aksoy started work on a…
“The most complete cycle of frescoes this side of Ani,” said my copy of the Rough Guide to Turkey which was enough to…
The köy arabası (village van) is a real phenomenon, the beaten-up, broken-down last link in the long chain of Turkey’s fantastic public transport…
Dear Turkish hotelier, As a result of my work I spend far too many nights sleeping in hotels and I can certainly vouch…
At the entrance to what was once the Byzantine church of…
Once upon a time there was an Ottoman princess. Or rather there was a queen mother (valide sultan) who was just as important.…
There I was in a newly opened museum in Konya that was entirely bereft of other visitors, no doubt in part because it…
“Berbat, çok berbat (awful, really awful).” Despite the appalling weather I’d managed to make it to the kar güreşi (snow wrestling) in Veliköy,…
“Berbat, çok berbat (awful, really awful).” Believe me, these are not the words you want to hear when attempting to cross the Çam…
I’d come to Ardeşen, due east of Rize, in search of its famous hawkers but alas I’d come too late. In the local…