On our last family trip to Europe it was time to go further East than ever before. Amongst the island, coastal and rural mix of the itinerary Istanbul was our big city - so our days were jam-packed with mosques, palaces and bazaars as the layers of the world’s fifth largest metropolis revealed themselves. Istanbul is also the only city in the world that spans two continents, Europe and Asia, so visitors are on the edge of two different worlds.
For me Hôtel Les Ottomans, right on the famous River Bosphorus, was the only choice. The opulence of the architecture and exotic Sultanate décor in rich plums and reds - with Moorish embellishment - cast a spell worthy of Istanbul’s fascinating past as a centre of the Roman, Byzantine and Muslim world.
Not that a visit to Istanbul is simply a history lesson - the city has a vibrant al fresco culture with restaurants on a grand scale, fancy cars, trendy music, cool clubs and young people with increasingly modern lifestyles that look forward to Turkey’s booming future.