When Ilze and I first came here seven years ago it was just a stop over to compete in the Istanbul 5 Day Orienteering. I was prepared not to like it much and I now freely admit that I got it so very wrong. Many people still do. Lately I have become a student of […]

Whether you are a devout Muslim or not, each day starts an hour before sunrise, this morning at 4.30 am, with the first of five daily calls to prayer, broadcast very loudly from every minaret in Sultantahmet. One Mosque will start the process, and is joined one by one by all the others in the […]