The Evil Eye
The belief in the powers of the "nazar boncuk" or "evil eye bead" is found throughout the Mediterranean and Aegean, spreading from Turkey as Far East as the Turkic Republics. No one really knows how,...
View ArticleTopkapı Sarayı: From Palace to Museum
One of the world’s most fabulous palaces is undoubtedly the Topkapı Sarayı, the residential and administrative headquarters of the Ottoman Empire for four centuries. The palace, actually a small...
View ArticleFal: Fortune-telling a la Turca
How To Make Turkish Coffee:• Fill the fincan (the delicate Turkish coffee cup) with water and pour it into the cezve (a bell-shaped copper pot)• For each serving, add one teaspoon of coffee. Add sugar...
View ArticleTraditional Turkish Motifs
In British author A.S. Byatt’s best-selling collection of fables, the title story, The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye, takes its inspiration from the Turkish glass known as çeşme bülbül,...
View ArticleMuseum Break: Cool Museums To Beat The Summer Heat
In Istanbul the summers are hot and the tourists are plentiful but here are two places you can go to take a break from the crowds and the temperatures while enjoying some of the best sights the city...
View ArticleThe Grand Bazaar
The Grand Baazar is very high on most tourists’ itineraries, and with good reason. This enormous site is the largest still-existing covered market in the world, spanning an area of tens of thousands...
View ArticleHürrem Sultan
Ottoman sultans were renowned for their patronage of art and architecture, one rarely equaled by the rulers of other great empires. It was the duty and prerogative of a sultan to commission monumental...
View ArticleTurkish Islam: An Exceptional Story
Compared to Arabs, Turks were latecomers to the Muslim faith. The former were politically and intellectually more advanced until the 13th century, when the Arabs’ brilliant civilization was nearly...
View ArticlePrivate Practice
Behind our fascination with the imperial harem lies a curious question: how could such a private place have played such a public role in Ottoman history? From the moment you enter the gates of the...
View ArticleSirkeci Train Station: Where West Meets East
The Sirkeci Train Station’s biggest claim to fame is the fact that it is the last stop in Europe, and, in its heyday, it was also the last stop of the famous Orient Express, the famous long-distance...
View ArticleChurches on Istiklal Caddesi
Istiklal Caddesi, the queen of Istanbul’s avenues, overflows with a number of internationally-renowned landmarks. Royal consulates, venerable mosques, and world-class shops all compete for attention...
View ArticleRamazan Celebrations À La Turca
While most Turks know it as Şeker or Ramazan Bayramı, to Muslims around the world it is known as Eid ul-Fitir, the holiday that marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan. Eid means festivity in...
View ArticleSinan: Architect of the Empire
Every great architect is – necessarily – a great poet. He must be a great original interpreter of his time, his day, his age,” proclaimed the famed 20th-century American architect Frank Lloyd Wright....
View ArticleWaterfront Legacy
While Istanbul's storied waterfront mansions (yalı), may arguably be some of the most sought-after real estate in the world, their appeal, at least to visitors, lies more in their history than in the...
View ArticleHistory of Karaköy
Karaköy is one of Istanbul’s most historical areas, a part of town that was once at the heart of the city’s economy. Yet despite its historical importance, today this area is relatively overlooked,...
View ArticleHistory of Kuzguncuk
While Kuzguncuk is one of the many small neighborhoods on the Asian shore of the Bosphorus, the role it plays in Istanbulites’ collective consciousness is far greater than its actual size. Kuzguncuk...
View ArticleHistory of Samatya
The neighborhood of Samatya, located just a few train stops away from the central tourist areas of Sultanahmet and Eminönü, is one of Istanbul’s forgotten treasures. Although it has been through some...
View ArticleRooms with a View: Istanbul’s Historic Cinemas
Cinema in Istanbul has had a long history which dates back to the 19th Century. With the emergence of a more urban way of life in the late 19th century, however, it was Pera, or Beyoğlu, which became...
View ArticleKemal Derviş's AFT Atatürk Lecture
On November 13, 2012, Kemal Derviş gave a speech at the Turkish Embassy in Washington, D.C., about Turkey in the present, Turkish identity, and steps needed to ensure that Turkey in 2023 (the 100th...
View ArticleFunny Turkish Traditions
There are varying degrees of culture shock that one must digest before settling into the rhythm of another culture. There are of course ways to make the transition more salubrious, and humor is our...
View ArticleFunny Turkish Traditions (Part II)
Turkey has some of the best traditions, and we take pride in all of them. The feedback we received from “Funny Turkish Traditions” was so great that we decided to do another one, to add on to the...
View ArticleFasıl Music in Istanbul: The What and Where
Experiencing local music is one of the best ways to understand a culture, and here are some tips to do so in Istanbul. Popular music tastes in Istanbul are heading more and more towards European and...
View ArticleHidden Churches of Istanbul
It is a common occurrence to come upon an inspiring structure while wandering the streets of a city that has been home to many cultural and religious communities throughout the unrelenting fabric of...
View ArticleThe Historic Fountains of Istanbul
As you’re roaming the innumerable historic sights of İstanbul, you’ll undoubtedly pass a few of it’s unsung heroes: fountains. Fountains in Ottoman İstanbul were built contiguously with mosques, part...
View ArticleIstanbul's Old City Walls
People have long visited Istanbul with a romanticized notion of finding the fabled and forever clichéd city of clashing cultures, where Orient meets Occident, East meets West, and visitors meet...
View ArticleYenikapı Excavation: Tales From Under The Sea
Earlier this summer we were wondering what stories we might here if Istanbul’s land walls could talk. Now we’re being regaled by stories from the sea. Tales of shipwrecks, merchants, sailors, and...
View ArticleKüçüksu Palace: Abode of Reprieve
We escaped the noise of Istanbul’s European side one rainy afternoon and found ourselves wandering from Kandilli onward, catching a glimpse of the sea from the wrought iron gates of opulent waterfront...
View ArticlePeace Perfect Peace* The Haydarpaşa Cemetery
For a history lesson on British-Turkish/Ottoman relations, personalized and tinged with a hint of melancholy, there’s no better place to visit than the Haydarpaşa Cemetery . Located on a hill...
View ArticleAn Introduction to Football in Turkey
Understanding Turkish culture requires an understanding of the love that Turkish people have for football. This sport moves people’s passions to the point of delirium. Turkish football fans not just...
View ArticleEarly 20th Century Turkish Art Movements
Istanbul is now rightly regarded as an international hub of contemporary art. In order to reach this point, the art scene here has changed beyond recognition over the past 100 years. It was only from...
View ArticleFrom Pastures To Palaces: Turkish Food History
Many visitors come to Turkey thinking they have a handle on Turkish cuisine, and that this handle is skewer shaped, impaling delicately seasoned, char-grilled meat. By the time they leave, some of the...
View ArticleA World of Difference: Turkish Regional Cuisine
“Turkish food is different in every corner of the country and it is very typical to find certain ingredients and cooking techniques to be capsulated in their homeland (ingredients grown and consumed in...
View ArticleSancaklar Mosque: Whisper of Place
There has been much controversy in Turkey over plans to build new showpiece mosques that tower over Istanbul’s panoramas, making bold statements to the rest of the world and competing to be the...
View ArticleThe Hidden School: Ruhban Okulu
It’s been so long since someone stepped into this classroom that the floorboards creak in protest. The chalkboard, presumed to once have been a forest green, is now almost white with a dry frost of...
View ArticlePekmez: Sweet Sustenance
The fertile lands of Anatolia offer an abundance of fresh produce, and as the summer hits its peak, the weekly markets of Istanbul overflow with gleaming aubergines, succulent cucumbers and vibrant...
View ArticleCelebrate Turkey’s Republic Day With A View
UPDATE: THE FIREWORKS HAVE BEEN CANCELLED OUT OF RESPECT FOR THOSE AFFECTED BY YESTERDAYS MINING TRAGEDY IN ERMENEK. At 1pm on October 28, Turkish citizens begin to celebrate Mustafa Kemal Ataturk’s...
View ArticleThrough the Looking Glass: Istanbul's Meyhanes (Part 1)
If there is one social space that epitomizes the true Istanbul experience in this city, it is the meyhane. Most commonly referred to as just a Turkish version of a tavern, for many decades, the...
View ArticleThrough the Looking Glass: Istanbul's Meyhanes (Part 2)
Towards The Modern Times with Meze The majority of the so-called ‘traditional’ meyhanes that we know of and frequent today in Istanbul are but shadows of those which once were the heartbeat of...
View ArticleThrough the Looking Glass: Istanbul's Meyhanes (Part 3)
The Revival Nowadays, the new generation of Istanbul is recognizing that the wealth of this vast city lay in its cosmopolitanism, in the beautiful mosaic that was formed by the people who once lived...
View ArticleTexts of time: Istanbul's living libraries
One of the earliest inventions of civilization is the written word itself, as well as buildings designed to house such important documents. Over time, the value of learning became so great for ancient...
View ArticleAn Interview with Philip Mansel
Philip Mansel, author of several acclaimed books on the Ottoman Empire and revolutionary France, is also a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, the Royal Society of Literature, and the Royal...
View ArticleGone But Not Forgotten: Anatolia's Lost Heritage
Some of the oldest civilizations in the world emerged from what we know as current-day Turkey. From Assos to Zeugma, to early settlements in the caves at Cappadocia, Turkey is a land rich with ancient...
View ArticleThe Garden of Istanbul
Upon entering Istanbul University’s Botanical Garden one immediately understands why developers and real estate magnates are itching to get their hands on the plot of land. However, if this spot were...
View ArticleTraces of Archaeological Explorations
An ongoing project seeks to position Turkey as the “world’s largest museum,” based on the staggering wealth of archaeological and historical sites to be found here. Anyone that’s ever road tripped...
View ArticleIstanbul's Cinemas: Movie Stars and Crescents
Turkish cinema has come a long way from its origins in the first Turkish film, ‘The Demolition of the Russian Monument at Ayastefanos’ in 1914. From 1950 to 1970, there was the Yeşilçam heyday of...
View ArticleHıdırellez: The Darling Gods of May
The streets are filled with birdsong and the scent of budding blooms, but in the traditions of a large swathe of land from India to the Balkans, spring only really begins with the festival of...
View ArticleVisiting Istanbul during Ramadan - everything you need to know
It’s not everyone’s idea of a festival, but the end of the holy month of Ramadan is arguably one of the biggest celebrations in the Muslim calendar. This year, the religious holiday known in Turkey as...
View ArticleA guide to spending Kurban Bayramı in Istanbul
Kurban Bayramı , the Feast of Sacrifice, is celebrated by Muslims worldwide and is more often known globally as Eid al-Adha. Taking place 70 days after Ramadan, the holiday period starts in the...
View ArticleThe Turkish Gothic tour: Istanbul’s most haunted mansions
In Istanbul, fragments of history are revealed by the slightest scratch in the earth. The city’s skyline is the shadow of past civilizations. Seagulls’ cries recall battles whose names are lost to...
View ArticleNovember 10: commemorating Atatürk
Every year on the 10th of November at exactly 9:05am, traffic stops throughout Istanbul, people stand still for a moment, and sirens blare. The occasion is the anniversary of the death of the...
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