Selected articles
Pilgrims to the Mountain
The carvings of gods and heroes that King Antiochus had commissioned to adorn this mountain have now been weathered by two thousand years of winter snow and the fierce heat of summer.
Gobekli-Tepe: The Oldest Temple on Earth?
So what was Gobekli-tepe? The stones have already been linked with aliens, refugees from the drowned island of Atlantis, Noah's flood, the lost paradise of Eden and more plausibly as places of astronomical observation.
“Prayer-Cushions of the Flesh” by Robert Irwin
... although it is seemingly set in 17th-century Istanbul, it actually portrays a never-land of the collective imagination
“Of Places in Turkey: A Pocket Grand Tour” by Francis Russell
Editing the glories of Anatolia down to just 83 entries is itself a labour of Hercules, but Russell quickly earns your respect by his eye for the telling detail, his love of nature, for taking the hard path ...
“Melchior Lorck” by Eric Fischer
… the heart of the matter is that Melchior Lorck deserves the five-volume treatment because he is the first famous Danish artist.
“The Grand Turk: Sultan Mehmet II – Conqueror of Constantinople, Master of an Empire and Lord of Two Seas” by John Freely
Whether Mehmet is to be assessed as a battlefield commander, a strategist, a diplomat or a monumental builder of cities, there are very few men who can equal his achievement.
“An Evil Eye, the 4th in the Yashim, Ottoman Detective series” by Jason Goodwin
… although the reader is utterly caught up in the devilish intricacies of the multi-layered plot, you are left with a complex picture of Istanbul and its deeply grained history.
Book review: “Meander: East to West along a Turkish River" by Jeremy Seal
At its simplest level, it is a burlesque adventure, where a well-meaning amateur English adventurer blunders his way through a totally impractical project
“The Fall of the Ottomans: The Great War in the Middle East, 1914-1920” by Eugene Rogan
A chronological tale of the First World War might be wearyingly familiar, but by telling it from the perspective of the Ottoman Empire, Eugene Rogan grabs the reader’s attention – as if we are hearing the Iliad from the Trojan battlements.
Book review: “The Carians - from Seafarers to City Builders”, edited by Olivier C. Henry and Ayse Belgin-Henry
Caria might look just a small province within the national frontiers of Turkey, but under this sort of close attention to detail it expands to become a cultural universe of its own.
Rough Journeys: George Bean and Terence Mitford
George Bean was a gentle giant, a somewhat unworldly figure whose towering 6 foot 6 inch frame only seemed to come alive on the golf course and tennis court.
A Goddess Clothed
'By Hercules' he exclaims, 'What slender hips! How delicately moulded the buttocks! How sweetly they smile!'
Houses of Bodrum
One of Sans's first laws is the retention of all existing trees. This immediately integrates the new houses in their landscape, respects the spirit of the place, provides vital summer shade and in springtime bathes the nascent buildings in the odoriferous blossom of mature citrus trees.
The Lycian Shore, the classical sites on the south-western coast of Turkey
When Rose joined me for dinner I was in a flurry of guilty excitement for I believed I had just ordered kestrel stew for two.
Between Goceck and Bodrum: the Southern Shore of Caria
Caunus is a magical site, opposite Dalyan, perched between the mountains and river and half-submerged in reedy marshland.
A double perspective and a lost rivalry: Busbecq and Lorck in Istanbul
The Turkish Letters have remained as fresh, as charming, funny and informative as the day they were first printed.
Shades of Green: An investigation into the Gardening tradition of Turkey
Regimented lines of cedar, palm and imported fruit trees provided shade while porticoed pavilions were placed to catch the aromatic breeze, scented by fragrant shrubs and grasses.
Travelling with Children: Turkey
If this had been England, there would have been frowns, but it was Turkey, a land where smartly dressed businessmen all wanted to pat and kiss the babies just as much as all the stewards and stewardesses did.
Night Train from Stamboul
One door of the station bar opens onto the platform – where the blue sleeper carriages silently await their passengers – while from a lower door you can look directly out over the waters of the Bosphorus.
The Turkish shore
All this meticulous advance preparation is entirely necessary while you are in England but melts away once you are afloat on Turkish waters.