About
ALISULTAN SAMSI

My name is Alisultan Samsi. I was born in Konya and have spent the better part of my adult life moving between Istanbul, the Aegean coast, and Cappadocia — each place leaving a different kind of mark on how I see the world. I am not a professional journalist or a tourism officer. I am simply someone who has walked a great many streets, eaten at a great many tables, and thought it worth writing things down.

I started this blog in 2019 because I kept noticing a gap between what travel guides say about Türkiye and what the country actually feels like when you are inside it. The guides have the monuments right, but they often miss the atmosphere — the particular light on the Bosphorus at dusk, the way a small pide bakery in Trabzon runs before sunrise, the etiquette around a tea house where you are clearly the only outsider. I wanted to write about those things, honestly and with enough practical detail that a reader could actually use the information.

My connection to Türkiye is not romantic in a detached, postcard sort of way. It is personal and sometimes complicated. I write about the country as someone who has family here, who argues here, who gets stuck in traffic here. That familiarity gives me access to corners that a two-week visitor might not reach — the neighbourhood restaurants that do not have English menus, the regional festivals that are not on any tourist board calendar, the ferry routes that locals use because they are half the price of the tourist alternatives.

The kinds of trips I cover range from slow weeks in a single town to longer journeys across multiple regions — the Black Sea coast, eastern Anatolia, the Taurus mountains, the historic cities of the interior. I write about food seriously, because food in Türkiye is a serious subject. I also write about transport logistics, accommodation that represents real value, seasonal timing, and the small cultural cues that make a visit feel respectful rather than extractive.

What you will not find here are paid hotel reviews dressed up as editorial, affiliate lists disguised as recommendations, or superlatives that are not earned. What I try to offer instead is steady, considered writing from someone who is genuinely fond of this place and wants you to understand it a little better before, during, or after your own time here. If something on these pages proves useful, that is reward enough.