Istanbul Travel Blog

I have been so far to three concerts from the Festival -the details of which you may find under the events on the live NileGuide site. Two of them were at the Hagia Eirene Church inside the Topkapi Palace grounds: Radu Lupu with the Istanbul State Orchestra and the trio of Gulsin Onay, Antonio Meneses...

Three clubs lining up along the shore of Bosphorus have been closed down since Wednesday. If you have meant to go and been turned down, that was why. The reason of the state is that the clubs have been accused of playing the music “too loud” after 1 AM over the last weekend -until 5 AM in...

A hectic weekend was over… No wonder to see Turkish drivers driving even more aggresively this weekend. They must have entered into the Grand Prix mode themselves… A funny ambiance was surely on the coastline road with cars zig-zagging around themselves and others along the way all day… The...

Merve getting ready for her next piece Merve Ünsal is an artist/writer based in New York. Native of Istanbul, Turkey, she has recently finished an Internet-based art project questioning the nature of airports and airport security. She is the co-editor of BoltArt.net and is currently working on various...

The 17th International Jazz Festival will be held between 1-20 July 2010 at various places in Istanbul, including the Archeology Museum, Aya Irene Church, İstinye Park Shopping Mall, Istanbul Modern Museum, Kabataş Port and more… Famous local musician "Fahir Atakoğlu" [Image courtesy...

This weeks “local picks” series features a 51 years old, former engineer, now a freelance career and life coach Burçin Gökçe. Ms. Gökçe is an engineer, who pursued an active and fulfilling career until her mid 40s. After 2005, she decided to take a respite from a life of 24/7 work and...

I’m starting a new series on Istanbul… Pretty much like the Gourmet Diaries series I had initiated weeks ago… This one is going to feature your thoughts… I’m picking people from different sectors (arts, finance, education, engineering…) to have a diverse variety of...

Lucca‘s bartenders are already worldwide famous for their talent and innovation and of course swiftness in serving customers and preparing cocktails. This summer they have introduced a new out-of-the-book, mouth smashing cocktail(s). The chili martini and the chili mojitos are what they talk about,...

I had started with concierge picks on a previous note. I am now moving on with different people from different sectors. Investment banker living around the hills of Arnavutköy, not willing to disclose their identity, kindly provided us with their picks in the city. 1. A friend of yours is visiting you...

Overlooking the Hotel courtyard and the Hagia Sophia Image courtesy of: Ottoman Hotel Imperial Handan Küçük from the Ottoman Hotel Imperial was kind enough to spare us some of her time and discuss what she likes about Istanbul and what she would recommend her visitors to do when in the city. Ottoman...