I have not so much knowledge of Istanbul but I visited many years ago, in true tradition of the vikings. The name given by the vikings was Miklagard.

The friendly and hospitable hosts of my visit made my stay very memorable and if you pick your choices well (staying with the simpler and more traditional restaurants) fantastic fish dishes (and other stuff too) is served. The turkish kitchen is among the great kitchens of the world. For this the city deserves mention if not necessarily for many other things usually related to these pages.

If not even visiting for the sightseeing or the food why not for the coffee? Perhaps with some green mint liqueur served on the side… Turkey serves some superb coffee, and the pictures above show an especially nice sample I got from a nearby town (many thanks to Mr. Pazarbaşı).

Selected walks: Istanbul is way too big for walking between many of the interesting sites that you might want to visit (and the traffic is LETHAL), but it is at least ok to stroll around in e.g the Great Bazaar… If you want to have a go, the books seen above should keep you busy for a while: Istanbul’s Bazaar Quarter by Ann Marie Mershon and Edda Renker Weissenbacher and Istanbul Walking by Betty Kolodzy.

• Good starting points: • Refer to the books above

• How to get there: • By air

• More info: Sorry, none yet