It’s September 2021. The Government just announced that the foreign-travel traffic light system is to end. Now the travel pundits predict that Turkey and Egypt will top many Brits’ lists for a late-year getaway.

Full disclosure: the closest I’ve been to Turkey is 37,000 feet on an Emirates flight from Birmingham to Dubai – if you don’t include Cheltenham’s excellent Istanbul Kitchen restaurant. That said, I’d like to visit.

Talking about the country with Mrs H got her reminiscing about her travels there before we met. Impressively, she’s explored the west and south extensively from Istanbul to seaside Kaş. Alongside the latter’s whitewashed houses and pervading scent of bougainvillea, her recommendations include Gallipoli, Ephesus and Selçuk’s famous white storks.

A full-on 24/7 buzz

But it’s Istanbul, straddling the Bosporus where Europe meets Asia, that she keeps returning to. And it’s there that I hope to be introduced to Turkey. In the metropolis that inspired Edmiondo De Amicis to write, ‘The whole world thinks that this city is the most beautiful place on earth.’

As a teaser to that future trip, we blow dust off Jan’s carefully collated photo albums. They’re packed with prints from back when you captured travel mem-ories on rolls of Kodacolor, then waited eagerly until your snaps arrived from Bonusprint.

“We’ll visit the Blue Mosque,” she enthuses as decades-old memories flood back like water under the city’s showpiece Bosporus Bridge. “And Topkapi Palace, and the Grand Bazaar in Eminönü,” she suggests, excitedly painting her glowing picture of Istanbul’s colours, welcoming citizens, intoxicating aromas and full-on 24/7 buzz.

Googling the bazaar, I discover it’s one of the world’s finest shopping malls and picture somewhere that makes Gloucester Quays look like a corner shop! Mrs H confirms my assessment. This I must see.
Ferry across the Bosporus

I’m excited now. Even more so when we contemplate food, discussing mouth-watering döner and lahmacun, and tempting meze grabbed between sights. And Istanbul’s ubiquitous pide flatbreads and glass after refreshing glass of mint tea.

“We’ll catch a ferry across the Bosporus too,” she adds. That’ll be on the way to Grand Çamlıca Mosque, Turkey’s largest. Its six skyscraping minarets dominate Istanbul’s eastern horizon above sprawling Üsküdar. The experience will be novel for us both; it was built since Jan’s last visit.

My would-be guide had me at Baklava and Hagia Sophia. As for the traditional hammam experience so many visitors adore, I’m not so sure! Maybe I’ll pass on Turkish baths and Emre’s thumping massage. That aside, Istanbul, I am looking forward to meeting you.