Hidden ruins by Trabzon
On Friday the 21st, we reached Trabzon and saw the mid 13th-century Byzantine church of Aya Sofya, whose frescos are shockingly lurid for the period… Read More »Hidden ruins by Trabzon
Brian Felsen
A criminal adulterer on the Black Sea coast
We set out heading east from Istanbul along the Black Sea coast with Elif’s mom Dilek and her judge boyfriend Co?. Co? is married, but… Read More »A criminal adulterer on the Black Sea coast
Heybeliada – life on an island without cars
Apartment-hunting in Turkey remains a slow process, as is just about everything else – not because of bureaucracy or shortages, but because of their way… Read More »Heybeliada – life on an island without cars
The 637th annual Kirkpinar
We just returned from Edirne, a town bordering both Greece and Bulgaria, where we attended the 637th-annual Kirkpinar – the olive-oil-wrestling competition. People aged 5… Read More »The 637th annual Kirkpinar
The real way to get an extended-stay visa
We had been wanting to live in Turkey ever since we sold our business, the Philadelphia Music Conference, in February of 1997, but moving there… Read More »The real way to get an extended-stay visa
The ghosts call you back
Elif and I went to visit her father Kadri, her stepmother Isik (who is twenty years younger than Kadri and looks startlingly like Elif), and… Read More »The ghosts call you back
Getting engaged
In the morning of our second-to-last day in Istanbul, we take the boat in the morning and walk to the Egyptian Spice Bazaar. An 8-year-old… Read More »Getting engaged
Asia minor
Although I’d driven a manual transmission across America, Elif’s family was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to handle the stress of operating a stick… Read More »Asia minor
What the Coffee Grounds Said
Outside of Elif’s grandmother’s apartment, we run into a woman named Firdevs, who looks like she is 140 years old but is really only about… Read More »What the Coffee Grounds Said
Istanbul
Breakfast is cheese and jams and fresh bread and eggs and pastirma – pepperoni so spicy, its stink comes out in your sweat. We board… Read More »Istanbul