Postcards from abroad
We returned to Istanbul yesterday and endured nearly two hours in the car to get to the hotel. We think the traffic was worse than usual because Istanbul celebrates the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople on 29 May (it took place in 1453 on that date). So what more fitting thing to do than head up… Continue reading Farewell from Istanbul
Behind Trabzon lie the most beautiful mountains where, at the start of the Byzantine era, a large number of monasteries were established. The most important was Sumela which hangs off the face of a mountain at 1200 metres in a beautiful but very misty situation. There’s almost always cloud and rain as we found out… Continue reading Sumela Monastery
Another stunning drive, this time through wooded vertiginous mountains, brought us down to the unromantic Black Sea coast with a four-lane highway rushing past the port - once the most important on the Black Sea in Turkey - and the uncharming city centre of Trabzon comprising gold shops, chain stores and over-priced nut purveyors: Trabzon’s… Continue reading The Black Sea, cute animals and more frescoes
The food has been lovely and quite varied although alcohol is in short supply (we travel with our own raki supply for our pre-dinner drinks). In the south-east, there’s been more chilli; as we’ve moved further north and east, much less so. I filmed one of our breakfasts for you - they’re all more or… Continue reading The food blog!
We arrived in Erzurum, a modern, conservative and very cold city (in the winter, not now) to discover that the mountain, very popular for skiing in the winter, was just behind our hotel. So of course we had to drive up as far as we could go this morning and go for a walk. The… Continue reading Erzurum and the mountain