I was in love with Istanbul, once, and I used to love guidebooks too. Then, while Istanbul turned into a giant open air shopping mall, plundered by hordes of savage tourists, my love for travel guidebooks faded too. Most of them felt like street indications on already crowded roads, and…

I started following @DarthVaderKGB on Twitter after his real life parody namesake annexed Crimea. At first I thought that his tweets were amusing. Over the years, the Kremlin’s actions landed more and more often onto reluctant and then outraged headlines on western media, whose short memory makes them prone to…

I have to confess. Sometimes, in spite of all my sanctimonious rants about difference between voyagers and tourists, and the universal contempt for the latter, I indulge in activities that would put selfie-stick musketeers, pineapple pizza eaters or “I HEART Italy” hat wearers to shame. When in Turkey, it happens…

Most people outside Turkey have never heard of Sevan Nişanyan. They miss a lot, because he is a remarkable man, whose achievements in linguistics, architecture and tourism business will outlive him. Unfortunately, for some evil whim of fate, he has also lived as a focal point where all the tensions…

Akdeniz bölgesi feci orman yangınları tarafından harap olurken, Türkiye de bir zamanlar mükemmel bir yangın söndürme uçağı filosuna sahip olan bir ülkenin nasıl bu duruma düştüğü hakkındaki tartışmalarla kazan gibi kaynıyor. THK’nın çöküşü ve nedenleri hakkında çok şey söylendi, ancak basında ve sosyal medyada bu tür son derece belli bir…

The Mediterranean region is being ravaged by catastrophic wildfires and Turkey is also ravaged by controversy over the country’s once excellent firefighting aircraft fleet. Much has been said about the decline of THK and its reasons, but on the press and on social media there seems to be enormous confusion…

An insensitive remark by @diehimbeertonis triggered some old Bayram memory: https://twitter.com/diehimbeertonis/status/1289080002722631683 When i was living in Urla, near Izmir, Turkey, I happened to ride behind a truck loaded with goats and a happy family, returning from the temporary livestock market set up for the bayram. It was a pitiful sight…

The story of pizzeria Di Matteo in the tale of its owner, from humble origins to UNESCO tribute to Neapolitan pizzaioli. The “Antica Pizzeria e Friggitoria Di Matteo” is unimpressive from the outside. It looks like a typical workshop opening on a typical alley in Naples historical center, and it’s hard to believe that such a small place had given a huge contribution to the history of Neapolitan pizza.

Mütevazı köklerinden, UNESCO’nun övgüleriyle, Napoliten Pizzacılarının anısına, Di Matteo’nun pizzacısının hikayesi. “Antica Pizzeria e Friggitoria Di Matteo” (Tarihi Di Matteo Pizzacısı ve Tavacısı) dışarıdan sıradan bir dükkan gibi görünüyor önce. …