This is the first blog post that I have put online working from an office. It was weird this morning, after my morning run: I showered, got completely dressed, put my computer in a bag along with the files of stories I’m working on at the moment, and closed the door of my apartment behind me.
I’ve been working from home …
It’s the beginning of the end for Istanbul’s famous night life, some say. The municipality has announced that they want to reduce the noise pollution that night clubs alongside the Bosporus create, and make them turn off all the music after midnight. You see, the Bosporus has two sides when it comes to music and dance. One: it offers a …
Short skirt, high heels? Décolleté, modest or deep? Bare shoulders? Or is it better to choose long dresses with sleeves, long trousers, up-to-the-neck shirts? Choosing the right clothes in Istanbul isn’t easy. Or is it?
Last week the patriarch of the Greek Ecumenical Church in Istanbul complained about ‘naked women’ on the street in the neighbourhood where the patriarchate is located, …
I lasted one month in the sports school in a basement in downtown Üsküdar, the Istanbul district where I live. It smelled of sweat, it was noisy with bad music, and most of all: it was not in the open air. You can run on the street too, right?
So I bought running shoes, running socks and a new sports bra, …
I remember I just couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw Ataşehir for the first time. I passed it in a long-distance bus leaving Istanbul, and I turned on my seat because I just couldn’t take my eyes off it. Even now, every time I pass this part of the city, I’m amazed and overwhelmed. To …
Imagine, Istanbul is hit by a major earth quake, magnitude 7.0 or higher. Then imagine that not only do people turn out to have been prepared, but they also know how they can help the rescue efforts effectively and save themselves and their fellow Istanbullers. Result: the number of casualties will be as low as possible. If the big earth …
It was quite a shock, I have to say: my neighbourhood in the Istanbul suburb of Üsküdar is an area in danger of demolition and ‘forced eviction’. I learned about it when visiting an exhibition on urbanisation in Istanbul which showed a map of all areas that were in some stage of radical change, so to …
Prefab houses and tents are being sent to Elazig, the area in the east of Turkey that was hit by an earthquake early yesterday morning. And in the coming months, the people affected by the earthquake will have better houses than they had before. Not built of sun dried mud bricks like before, but of solid concrete.
In all the stories …
Pictures, people want me to take pictures of Istanbul in the snow. It’s been snowing rather heavily for a few days now, and I guess the people who request pictures imagine the most beautiful views: mosques covered with snow, the old city turned white, narrow streets with snow flakes coming down.
But that version of Istanbul in winter doesn’t exist. At …
There they are in Radikal newspaper: three boys aged seven, nine and eleven. The arms of the kaymakam, a local governor, is wrapped around them as he says: ‘These kids will read’.
The kids have been in the news for days now. It started with the news that a five year old boy, Bedrettin, was found beaten almost to death: he …
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