Nancy Knudsen never meant to go to Istanbul.
Maybe she might have included it as part of a holiday along with other dazzling European cities such as Venice, Paris or Salzburg. But the idea of actually living in a Muslim country as an ordinary citizen rather than tourist or expat corporate executive, would never have occurred to her.
Knudsen’s story is vivid, lively and sometimes hilarious, full of insights into things she wished she’d known before she arrived in an all-black apartment above a sports field, with not a word of Turkish. She found almost nothing in guidebooks or histories to help her understand what seemed at first an inexplicable culture.
In the course of her tale, she sets out to decipher many of the intricacies of Turkey and its lifestyle, and of Istanbul in particular. Both new and experienced visitors will find her observations invaluable and her personal love affair with this ancient yet totally modern city and its culture may well act as a springboard for others.
Table of Content
1 Into the unknown. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Arrival in Istanbul. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3 On the doorstep. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
4 Osman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
5 Getting to know you. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
6 Istiklal Caddesi. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
7 Work-and an accident. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
8 Life on crutches. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
9 A Turkish friendship. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
10 The fruit of the land . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
11 Teaching in Istanbul. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
12 Claudia’s foodie walk. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
13 The Bosphorus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
14 Refugees of Turkey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
15 Headscarves. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
16 The multipurpose repairman. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
17 Turkish eyes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
18 Ramazan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
19 Getting a visa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
20 Falling under the spell. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
21 Guests. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
22 Rogues, thieves and drivers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
23 Dogs that own themselves. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
24 Feasts and festivals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
25 Staying longer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
26 Winter white. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
27 Visitors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
28 Ebru. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
29 The test. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
30 Dilemmas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
Epilogue. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
About the author
Nancy Knudsen spent many years in the media and as a journalist before becoming an author. ‘Accidentally Istanbul’ is her second book.More ebooks from the same author(s) / Editor
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