Istanbul holiday is a step back in time

I’ve always wanted to visit Turkey. With the country being at the intersection of East and West means that the history and culture is spectacularly amazing.  

After a long flight from Australia, my parents and I hit the ground running with visits to the Blue Mosque or otherwise known as the Sultanahmet Mosque. It was opened in 1616 originally compete with Hagia Sophia with 20,000 blue tiles and 260 windows plus 6 minarets. It is extraordinarily beautiful and guaranteed to take your breath away even if you are not Muslim.  

After a good night’s sleep we started our sightseeing properly. Mum and dad were keen to take day trips as they didn’t want to spend lots of time finding the places and, more importantly, hours queuing up to get in. The down side is that often we got taken to their “bother-in-law’s shop” to buy souvenirs but it was ok.

Our first full day included visiting Topkapi Palace which was once the royal residence but now is a museum and keeper of many beautiful historical objects such as Jewellery and gifts.

Next was Hagia Sophia and this site reflects Turkey’s place between east and west. Hagia Sophia or Aya Sophia was originally built as a Greek Orthodox church in 537 and continued to be used as such until1456 (except for a brief period between 1206 and 1261 where it was became a Roman Catholic Church) when it became a Mosque until it was made into a museum in 1935.             

What made it so special was Hagia Sophia’s age and how it has stood the passage of time considering that Istanbul suffers from earthquakes. Apparently, there have been several during its life but Hagia Sophia has only ever been partly damaged.

I loved looking at the steps as they looked so warn despite being made out of stone and I couldn’t help but wonder how many people have walked over them.

The Cisterns was a final stop of the morning and a sight that several people told me not to miss. Unfortunately it was too dark for my iphone to take any good photos but it was great to see this Roman underground reservoir that include fish. It is a little eerie but not in a bad way.

No trip to Istanbul could be without visits to the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Market. The key with any market is to be prepared to bargain (walking away works wonders) and to go early as well as to focus on the smaller places away from the main drag.

I almost brought a Turkish Carpet and brought the price down from $1500 to $300 but in the end the carpet didn’t really ‘speck to me’.  

Finally we squeezed in a visit to Istanbul’s Archaeological Museum. It is maybe not as swankyly presented as those in Australia or Britain but you still get to see some objects that are unbelievably old.

What trip to Turkey would be without trying Turkish Baths as well as Coffee. In between checking out the Mosques and Museums, Papa and I did a Turkish Coffee Tour which was so cool and left us feeling a little wired.

I also managed to visit a Turkish Bath which was like being a kid again. After stripping down and lying naked on this slab in this empty chamber which was kinda freaky as there was no one else there and there were all these strange noises. After what felt like ages a lady came out and scrubbed me like then slapped my fat and finally leading me to a fountain where she poured water over my head. Mum did after a full day’s play outside as a 6 year old.   

Istanbul is an amazing place to visit and has enough to keep you engaged for days. There are so many things to see, eat, drink and enjoy that one visit doesn’t seem to be enough so I’ll be back.             

La vie et belle at 35000 feet

Sometimes it is nice to do something that is completely out of the ordinary and could be considered “once-in-a-life-time”.

Luckily enough, it was my turn to enjoy flying business class to Istanbul.

No, I haven’t found a prince or a rich gentleman to pay for my flight but I was lucky enough to have the number of Qantas Frequent Flyer points required to score two business class tickets.

Since there was a family wedding in Switzerland, I thought it would be nice for my mum and dad to go over for it via Istanbul in a little bit of style.

We were not disappointed!

Our flight in Qatar Business Class was amazing and an experience that we will never forget.

From the moment my Dad and I (Mum began in economy and swapped in Doha) took our seats we felt like we had stepped into another world of opulence and privilege that we were not used to in our everyday lives.

The crew were very attentive and went out of their way to help us in any way they could.

The food was presented in a way that could have been in any fine dining restaurant. There was a great choice and was beautifully presented.

       

Our seats were super comfortable and ensured that we could get a good night’s sleep before exploring Turkey.

I don’t know if I’ll ever go on Business Class ever again but I am glad that I got just once in my life and that I got to sharing with my family.  

Fremantle’s most famous café, all icon but not so good on quality

Recently on one sunny Saturday, a friend and I visited Fremantle to for breakfast and since we were in the mood for people watching we chose Fremantle’s most iconic café Gino’s or more formally Gino’s Café and Tattoria.

Firstly, this is what I love about Gino’s – I love its familiarity, I love the location and its charm.

But what I didn’t like so much during my last visit was that the coffee was nothing special and the food was disappointing.

With Gino’s being such an iconic Fremantle café I would have thought that the coffee would have been visually perfect while full of flavour, but it can be only can be described as not bad.

The food wasn’t what I had hoped for either. I ordered a fruit salad with Greek yogurt but the kitchen staff hadn’t had time to take the green leaves off the strawberries and the yoghurt was a little sour. Since the strawberries and plums were not super ripe there was nothing but a few dates to make the overall dish sweeter. A drizzle of honey or vanilla yoghurt would have been a good choice to counteract the sourness of the fruit.

Besides, if you're going to pay for something you want to get something that has had a bit of preparation and effort put into it. I got the feeling that I could have put this dish together in half the time at the fraction of the cost and I'm not even a good cook.       

  

While I liked the handful of dried fruit (the dish could have done with a few more plus a few dried apricots maybe) that was thrown in but between the strawberries still with their stems on and the sour plums/yogurt it wasn’t really a breakfast that I enjoyed that much.

This café has so much potential but I don’t understand why the coffee isn’t better and the food is so slapdash. I want to love this place, I want it to be perfect and I want it to be something I can write home about. I hope that it manages to makes some changes to live up to its iconic fame.  

Coffee out in Sydney

There is no doubt that I am addicted to coffee and so when I went to Sydney recently I had to visit some great cafes.

The first was Bondi’s Gertrude and Alice. Named after Gertrude Stein and her partner Alice (who were both influential in Paris’ intellectual/artsy set in the 1920s) and so in many ways Gertrude and Alice is a stereotypical café. It seems natural that a café and bookshop that bares their name would attract the creative types who lean towards being arty and bookish.  

With its walls that are piled high with new and second hand books, I couldn’t help but linger awhile over a Long Mac and make progress with Hemingway’s Farewell To Arms as well as pick up some books to fill my already bulging bookcase.

It is a great place to people watch while getting inspiration for any creative project that you may have. The coffee is great, the food is wonderful and the vibe is just brilliant.

Since I used to live in Sydney, I just had to go and visit my old ‘hood. While Vesbar Espresso in Marrickville wasn’t around when I lived there, it hasn’t let the suburb down when it comes to great coffee.

You can always tell a good café by how busy it is on Saturday or Sunday morning. When I first walked past this joint on the Saturday that I was there, it was bursting at the seams with a few people waiting for a table.

So when I went back the following Monday or Tuesday I had high expectations.

Luckily I wasn’t disappointed! Their Long Mac was smooth but had flavour and their gluten free brownie was divine; it was light, chocolaty and perfect.  

Great food, great coffee and great service!

It is almost traditional now in Australia to go out for breakfast on the weekends. With the weather being what it is and the coffee being what it is, it is so nice to enjoy a great breakfast while catching up with mates and/or the weekend papers. It is common to find queues coming out of many of the capital cities best cafés, so find out where they are and get in early!

In the inner city suburb of Surry Hills it is a wonderful place to meet up with friends to visit one of the many and often small cafés that are in the area.

During my time in Sydney, I caught up with a friend and we visited Gnome Espresso and Wine Bar. It was packed when we got there but it wasn’t long before we scored a table in a prime location for people watching.  The coffee was good and the food was great while being reasonably priced.

After a packed couple of days of people watching and coffee drinking, I managed to squish in a visit to a Sydney icon and institution – Café Hernandez.

The café that never sleeps is famous for being open all the time and being a little quirky. Being in a short walk from the Cross, it is perfect for a late night espresso or a hot chocolate prior to heading home. But is great to visit anytime, really!!

I love the décor and the general vibe of the place. The coffee wasn’t bad but the Cinnamon roll was a little dry but ok.     

I hope that this post helps in choosing where to go for coffee in Sydney because there are so many great places to go.

Enjoy!

Sydney’s Opera Bar, the jewel in the crown of the city’s night life

On a trip to Sydney recently I made sure that I visited the opera bar.  With its incredible view, the opera bar is the perfect way of finishing a day of sightseeing in this wonderful city.

It is spoilt with almost picture perfect views of both the opera house, Harbour Bridge and the city. This bar can't really do much wrong.

While the view is the biggest asset, the wine list is good but not extensive and food is what you'd expect from such a venue. It includes oysters, a range of pizzas, salads and sides as well as a good breakfast menu. The cocktail list is also not extensive but perfectly made. They also do cocktail jugs for two which is kinda cool if you want to share.

I had a Raspberry Blossom which was great and while I sat there drinking it and looking out on one of the best views on the face of the plant, I couldn’t help but think that life couldn’t get much better than this. They once did a Toblerone cocktail which was amazing.   

When is the best time to visit?

Luckily, The Opera Bar’s opening times are pretty good so it depends on your mood.

Dusk and evenings it pulls quite an eclectic crowd with a mix of suits, tourists, concert goers and those having a drink before heading to nightclubs. Often they have bands/DJs playing and along with the view, pulls quite crowd.    

During the afternoon it is a lot more mellow and relaxed.     

Along with admiring the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge, visiting The Opera Bar is almost monitory when visiting Sydney. Get a drink, sit back and enjoy the view.      

Best year yet for Perth’s Arts Festival

I always have mixed feelings when Perth International Arts Festival comes to a close every year. I spend time thinking about all the amazing concerts, plays, writers’ festivals talks and bands that I have been so privileged to see. But I am also sad to see this wonderful West Australian institution is over for another year as well as disappointed not to have made it to more events.

The 2014 Perth International Arts Festival or Perth Festival just for short, seemed to have been especially amazing this year.

Opening this year’s festival was the usual amazing spectacular. This year’s was Spain’s Veles E Vents and was 45 minutes of load music and pyrotechnics that accompanied some kind of pirate story. The smoke and load music got to some people but was very entertaining.

The next event that we got to see was A Midsummer’s Night Dream (As You Like It), originally commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company for a world Shakespeare festival this performance was brought exclusively to Perth by the Chekhov International Theatre Festival. It was loosely based on A Midsummer Night’s Dream and could be described as a play within a play but should have been named Much Ado about Nothing as while it was funny, it was random, zany and chose not to have much of a narrative. However, this production did have giant puppets, a dog and girls in tutus. It defiantly followed in the Russian tradition of using the arts as a platform for nihilistic discussions.

Several days later we got to see Kelemen String Quartet. With their warm tone and their sensitive playing we fell in love with Beethoven String Quartet no 9 in C major, no59 no 3. While they played Bartok, Hyden and a Ross Edward’s work, the Beethoven was my favourite. It was amazing and would recommend anyone to download it, legally of course.

We were back at the Perth Concert Hall 4 days later to see St Martin in the Field’s play with Michael Barenboim. Their programme held no surprises but was no less satisfying and enjoyable. It is not often that chamber orchestras of this calibre come to Perth (other than our own Australian Chamber Orchestra) and so it was great to hear such an amazing musicians playing together as such a fine ensemble. We especially enjoyed Violist Nicholas Barr’s occasional solos while violinist Michael Barenboim gave a straight and precise performance of Mozart’s 4^th Violin Concerto.  

Next came Perth Writers’ Festival and this year was everything that a writers’ festival should be: fascinating, challenging and, of course, about books. Having grabbed a posse of friends we went to session with a diverse range of writers, including Anne Summers, David Marr, Hannah Kent and Jo Baker. Having it at UWA was great (lots of space and air conditioned venues) slightly better lattes would have been adventurous but this is a small matter, the rest was perfect.

Lastly, it was time to visit the Chevron Gardens to see the Robert Glasper Experiment. It was funky with a touch jazz and a lot of class. The crowd went wild and a great night was had by all, Tess and I included. The venue was perfect and couldn’t better although slightly more diverse range of beverages would, again, be advantageous.

Movies at the Somerville Auditorium continue to be a Perth tradition that continues to be a personal favourite. It plays to Perth's natural advantage and allows you to sit and enjoy a meal, a glass of wine and a film under the stars in the weather that is meant for such an activity. Somerville is perfection personified.  The range of movies are great, the atmosphere is awesome, food available continues to be good but the coffee is average.

I have yet to see any visual art, only because there has been so much on.

Having too many events to go to highlights the quality of this year’s festival. If you’re even thinking about visiting Perth, make sure you come when it is on because there is something for everyone and you’ll love it. 

If you live in Perth and haven’t been to any events – get cultured and attend, you’ll also love it.