Cultural & Social

Istanbul is a timeless city; a bridge between east and west and world class cultural and historical centre. Whenever I visit Turkiye I make sure to include time in Istanbul to see friends and family.  The only problem I face is usually having too little time when there is such a wealth of cultural attractions and things to see and do.

There are certain things I always make sure to do – such as crossing the Istanbul Bogazi (Bosphorous) by ferry boat in order to take in the fabulous river and city views,  stocking up on supplies of the highest quality coffee from Mehmet Efendi (trading since 1871 and specialising only in Turkish Coffee), visiting The Blue Mosque – and of course sampling my favorite Turkish foods.

Since it had been quite some time since I had visited the Grand Bazaar, on my most recent visit I went to see it – one side benefit being the cooler temperature inside its walls than outside! [Read more…] about A visit to The Grand Bazaar in Istanbul

I try to visit my home town Trabzon as often as possible. In my last visit (end of May, beginning of June) it was cross between spring to summer  time. The most beautiful time for countryside, sea side and mountains.

At this time of the year, everything in nature becomes alive again, many shades of green meets with crisp  shades of blue in the Black Sea. Flowers of all kinds are all over, smell of sea, various kinds of trees, flowers and grass has magical effects on us.  It is refreshing and soul healing to be with the nature at this time.

Trabzon changed beyond recognition within last decade. First it was a road which crossed the city, then followed by seaside main road. It has three big modern shopping centres, supermarkets and more or less everything that big cities have.

Trabzon has one of the biggest universities, Karadeniz Teknik Universitesi (Black Sea Technical University)in Turkey . I was told by my friend Dean of Education Faculty that only they had more then 10000 students in their campus which is separate from main university.

Last year Trabzon hosted European Youth Olympics Festival very successfully. This event itself gained the city many sports halls and venues of various types.

[Read more…] about Trabzon, The Beautiful City of North East Turkiye.