One of the best reasons to travel to Turkey now is that it’s an absolute bargain. Turkey has always been a very affordable and great value travel destination, but with the Turkish lira having reached a record low, it’s cheaper than ever. I’d travel to...
Latest Articles
New Turkish Cuisine in Australia had been intriguing me for some time and then I spotted the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival event called ‘Mehmet Gürs and The Young Turks at Lezzet – an Anatolian Discovery’. We signed up immediately. Sampling New Turkish Cuisine in...
The worlds best food tours and culinary walks have provided us with some of our most unforgettable food memories, from inhaling fresh herbs and fragrant spices at local markets to savouring street food treats at smoky roadside stalls and traditional eateries. We may have set...
Ramadan, the Islamic holy month, will begin soon so we thought we’d provide a little guide to Ramadan and the experience of Ramadan around the world for those of you travelling in Islamic countries during the period. Ramadan Around The World — Our Guide to Travelling During...
I’ve played stringed musical instruments since I was old enough to hold a guitar. Almost everyone in my family studied music theory, piano, and at least one other stringed instrument. When we moved to the Middle East in 1998, I took a few of my...
We’ve spent a lot of time during our two weeks in Istanbul simply ambling around the backstreets of Beyoğlu, exploring our neighbourhood. We get a kick out of taking in the atmosphere and seeing how people live their lives, and if we stumble across a...
Eating out in Istanbul is a real delight, with some of the most delicious food you’ll find at this fascinating crossroads between Europe and the Middle East. Expect everything from inventive and elegant fine dining restaurants, such as Mikla, to buzzy breakfast cafes, neon-lit pide...
Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar, or Kapalı Çarşı in Turkish, at Beyazit, near Sultanahmet, is undoubtedly touristy, so it’s going to have to be my guilty pleasure on this ‘living like locals’ grand tour of ours. Because as much as I love the brilliant shops at Beyoğlu,...
In my Istanbul edition of The Dish, I shared my recipe for lamb chops with bulgur that I made here in the tiny kitchen of our apartment near Taksim Square. Today I’m doing scrambled eggs with sucuk sausage. So it’s not a traditional Turkish dish, but...
A few years ago we spent a lot of time in Turkey. Not running around doing the tourist trail — we’d done that years before — but settling in for a couple of months. We spent four weeks at our friends’ lovely holiday house in Kaş on...
In every place we’ve stayed so far this year, we’ve interviewed someone for our Local Knowledge series who we thought would offer great local insight and a special perspective on the place. In Istanbul, we sought insider tips from designer Ayşe Bali. Often our Local Knowledge candidates have...
No matter how well you know a destination, there’s always something to be gained by experiencing things with locals – which is how we came to do an Istanbul market tour with a local food writer. We’ve strolled through Istanbul’s markets countless times on trips...
