Life, Style & Reviews

A driver’s dilemma: Buying a car

By A. J. Griffiths-Jones  Unless you live in a large town with good transport links, driving in Turkiye is part and parcel of the move for most expats. Renting a vehicle in the long-term simply isn’t feasible and many foreigners have opted to drive their European motor over from their home country. However, the car…

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Why choose Türkiye?

A.J. Griffiths-Jones When we bought our apartment in a small Turkish town seventeen years ago, it was a retreat to get away from the hustle and bustle of our busy life in Shanghai. Somewhere to relax and chill out and an easy flight if friends and relatives from England wanted to join us. In all…

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A writer’s inspiration – adjusting to change

  As a full-time writer and the author of fourteen published books, I often find myself gathering material from some of the most unexpected places. Whether an idea comes together from a tragic accident, interaction between couples or humorous everyday situations, I’m quite often surprised at how quickly and colourfully my storylines develop. It’s become…

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The happiness of Zühre

By Ruken Alişkan  Prior to the First World War, the settlement in Didim was around Apollon and Greeks lived there. However, with the population exchange agreement made after the war, Turks and Greeks were mutually expelled. I say “were mutually expelled” because people were hastily put on ships by soldiers without any preparation, on both…

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Repatriation of Anatolian Antiquities

Glenn Maffia On reading about the investigation into the legality of the acquisitions purloined by early German archaeologists during the late 19th and early 20th centuries my initial thought was this. If these antiquities had not been removed from their original locations at that time they would have probably not survived into our current age.…

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Euromos restoration conjures deep questions

By Glenn Maffia FOR several months I have been reading about the ongoing restoration of the Temple of Zeus Lepsynos located within the antique city of Euromos, about halfway between Didim and Bodrum. It hasn’t made for pleasurable reading from my point of view, I can assure you. Historical point Though the city probably dates…

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Theatre of Dreams or Illusion?

News of the proposed theatre upon the beach near the Luna Park brought a wry smile to my lips for two notable reasons, writes Voices columnist Glenn Maffia. Architectural terminology Firstly, the insistence on continuing to call this structure an amphitheatre shows a complete lack of knowledge of architecture. One would have thought that someone…

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New normal, new tourism?

I am moving away from my usual subject of history writing for this article as I feel we are all living through a moment of significant history today, and one has to concentrate on the now, as well as the past, for guidance, writes Glenn Maffia.  Italy’s tourism secretary Lorenza Bonaccors, recently stated, “This might…

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A vibrant tale with a happy ending

HOW time rushes past faster than the Doppler Effect. Now all we can view is the diminishing red-shift as it fades into that oblivion of mere memories. Though what memories they truly were. British Museum 2017 was delightfully prefaced by my visit to the British Museum to meet Dr Ian Jenkins, senior curator responsible for the…

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DASK – what’s it all about

DASK – what’s it all about THE need for the foreign community to get earthquake insurance (DASK) for their properties is becoming more important every year – particularly given the increasing number of tremors the region has experienced in recent weeks. While some expats in Didim have allowed their DASK insurance to slip off their…

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