Although the tulip is widely considered to be a Dutch flower, its origins are Turkish. They were exported to Holland from here in the 17th century. We arrived in Istanbul at the start of the annual two week tulip festival. The streets, monuments, parks and shops are floating in a sea of purple, white, orange and yellow flowers that, from a distance, look like the icing of a colourful cake. The air is rich with their perfume. I feel like diving into one of th...

Just a quick note to let everyone know that we've arrived safely in Istanbul. Sorry Dad, we barely made our connection in Doha so didn't have a chance to give you a call. We got another look at the amazing architecture, though, and it brought back good memories of our visit there just over a month ago. We have an 8 hour stopover in Istanbul before catching a final flight down to Antalya, the "Turkish Riviera", on the Mediteranean coast. We always know exactly...