Advice & Info

Nowadays Istanbul is known for its mosques, but prior to 1453, Constantinople was a completely Christian city replete with churches. Many of them exist to this day:...

When I first came to Turkey six years ago for a vacation, one of the first things that enamored me was the food. The...

Turkey is one of the few countries in the world where the rate of HIV/AIDS cases has been increasing in the past decade. Despite...

Going on weekend getaways is one of the perks of living in Istanbul. The Mediterranean sun is just a hop, skip and a jump...

Editor's Note: With NYE around the corner, most of us are still trying to plan this year's celebrations. We thought Meredith's post from 2014 (still as...

Emilie Varlet and Gabrielle Reeves began exploring Istanbul's hans in the summer of 2014, when they first started their sketching adventures in the city. They have...

Now if you have watched Dan Brown’s Inferno, the movie with Tom Hanks, and have been a diligent tourist in Istanbul, you’d recognize the...

First Encounter, September, 1964 I arrived at Sirkeci Station on the Orient Express — the real Orient Express, a train that was anything but express...

Unpredictable Spring showers can put a real dampener (pun intended) on one's social calendar. But even if you have exhausted the city’s museums and...

To-morrow is Saint Valentine's day, All in the morning betime, And I a maid at your window, To be your Valentine. Then up he...

If you or a loved one are thinking of quitting smoking this summer, and you've got a basic handle on Turkish (or want to...

We live in a great time to be stuck in traffic! Especially if you live in Istanbul, you’ve been given the greatest gifts of...

The first time I met Sally McDonald of Foodie Frolics I asked her what had brought her to Istanbul. I'm always curious about what...

My wife and I have something called “The List.” It started in Washington, D.C., when my then-fiancée and I had recently finished graduate business...

During my first few months in Istanbul I wasn’t exactly bowled over by the place. I thought it was pushy, crowded, ugly and disorganised....

Being an expat is difficult. You need courage to leave not only your comfort zone and sense of security behind, but also your lifestyle,...

Before Orhan Pamuk came to prominence in the West and launched Turkey once more into the international literary scene, Yaşar Kemal was Turkey’s best-known...

Istanbul beats Paris any day when it comes to experiencing romantic moments, as far as I am convinced. Even logistically it is superior to...

As a foreigner in Istanbul, the search for good bread is an ongoing quest. According to Turkish friends who originate from smaller cities or...

Yıldız Technical University (Yıldız Teknik Üniversitesi) commonly shortened as YTU or Yıldız, is one of the top public technical universities in Turkey. It was...

Phoenix Ancient City near present day Taşlıca lies far from the touristic bustle of Marmaris. This semi-isolated site is a treasure trove of archaic...

Çay is the traditional black tea of Turkey... and one of my favorite things about day-to-day life in this country.  Even if you are more...

As you walk down the streets of Istanbul, the air swirls with color and unfamiliar smells. Occasionally, you stop and peer into shop windows,...

Boğaziçi University, commonly shortened to BU, was founded in 1863 as Robert College and is the first American higher education institution founded outside of the...