It’s finally winter in Istanbul. The heating was on all day today, and even the window was closed for a good long time. Outside, the air feel properly wintery, whether or not the sun is out. The forecast says it might fall to -7 in the coming days, but I’m sceptical, as the forecast has […]
Boxes of chocolate
Today the GF and I distributed chocolates to all our future neighbours, with a card carefully written in Turkish (translated by a friend) apologising for inconvenience due to the noise and work going on in the flat. It was rather satisfying, even though we just left the box and card at each door instead of […]
Nasal outrage
Today I joined in the global trauma and got tested for the coronavirus. I hate having my nose touched at the best of times, and to be poked inside was truly a miserable experience. it was over an hour ago and the inside of my head still feels tender. Boo. Bring on the vaccine.
Bad egg
One of the eggs we bought from the farm yesterday was bad, so the poor GF had to redo all of lunch. Today we are both back to work, at least the GF is back to work and I never really stopped. Other than that, the only notable thing to report from today is that […]
Important people
In the morning we went off to the northern Bosphorus to visit a friend who has a house there at a rather pretty spot which opens up towards the Black Sea. We arrived in time for brunch and a TV show the friend had been awaiting, featuring an important person they knew. So they propped […]
Scutari to Chalcedon
We took the ferry to Uskudar today, after some hemming and hawing and backing and forthing about what to do, where to go, etc etc. Eventually we went to Uskudar, Scutari as was, partly because of a relative of mine who often sings a Turkish song that goes Üsküdar’a gider iken. As usual the ferry […]
Surrounded by history
During our stroll we spotted this in a han where they manufacture metal springs: a broken Byzantine column repurposed as a water pump.
Peran Christmas
We had our first Christmas in Galata, Pera as was. In the morning I dashed to finish some work, and managed just as the GF arose. We went off to bring a Turkish breakfast from a nearby cafe, along with a couple of glasses of freshly squeezed pomegranate juice. Since our dining room is dark […]
Deal done
I had a bad night last night, very anxious, and slept poorly. At some point during the night I became convinced that a piece of paint was going to fall off from ceiling onto the GF’s head, so when he came to bed I warned him anxiously. Then, I worried about why our visas are […]
Galataport
A brief lockdown excursion today, just to investigate the Galataport, which we’ve never really walked around. Most of it is shut off of course, but the mosque, which was under scaffolding for restoration and the installation of a public convenience, was now visible (though shut) and some of the other buildings, like the art gallery […]