The Turkish Breakfast Club

Our guest this week is Karin Johansson -- and by the time you hear this episode she will have swam 6.5 kilometres down the Bosphorus Strait as part of Istanbul's annual cross-continental swimming race. 

The Bosphorus has been treasured for centuries, as part of the crucial connection between the Black Sea with the Mediterranean, and the natural border dividing Istanbul between Asia and Europe. 

For those of you who are keen to swim the race too, Karin has some pro tips for training and strategy. For the rest of us, just sit back and enjoy this episode.

You can also follow us on Instagram and Facebook @TheTurkishBreakfastClub

As the 63rd Süper Lig Turkish football season gets underway this week, huge crowds of fans are again taking over stadiums and streets to show their love for their team.

But this week's episode isn't for them. It's for those who aren't such devoted followers of the game. 

We asked Patrick Keddie -- the author of 'The Passion: Football and the Story of Modern Turkey' -- to explain how non-fans can get into the storylines, even if they don't love the sport. 

From war-time resistance and gun fights in the stands, to songs of poetry and teary-eyed coaches -- Turkish football is, unsurprisingly, full of drama. And even those in the highest offices of power often use football to score points on the political field. 

Please listen, subscribe, share and follow the podcast @TheTurkishBreakfastClub.

Given the situation in Turkey right now, we thought we would take a break this week.  

You could of course take the time to catch up on our past episodes. But we also encourage you to read up and reflect on some of the other stories happening right now around Turkey: The wildfires that have reduced massive stretches of natural habitat along the southern coast to ashes; the murders of more women through domestic violence; and the struggle to keep people vigilant against the latest Covid surge.  

The news cycle in Turkey can sometimes feel unbearable, so more than anything we hope you take this time to take care of yourselves and those around you.  

Stay safe out there and kolay gelsin.  

Now more than ever is the time show our gratitude and respect for nature.

Our guest this week is Kate Clow -- the creator of Turkey's first ever long-distance trekking route, the Lycian Way.

In this episode, she guides us through two thousand years of Roman road history and offers some helpful tips for those of us who have NOT hiked that many mountain ranges over the past year.

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The Summer Olympics are underway and so we are getting sporty spice for this episode. 

Before I moved to Turkey, I had no idea professional volleyball leagues existed.  

But not only is there a highly-competitive international club circuit outside of North America -- Turkey's women reign supreme in it. 

Turkish clubs have won more world championships on the ladies' side than any other country in the world, attracting the best players and biggest crowds.

Which to be honest, is a bit unexpected for a majority-Muslim country where women wearing shorts or playing sports can still raise some eyebrows -- much less doing both, together, at the same time!  

This week, star spiker Merve Aktaş serves up what it takes to make it to the top in the Turkish sports world. 

WE'RE BACK!

After months under lockdown, and then a nightly curfew, Turkey has lifted most of its Covid restrictions on businesses and group gatherings. 

But are you ready to get back out into polite society? Do you still remember how to be social, or polite?

To brush up on some of the basics, we've brought back our favourite Turkish teacher, Didem. She'll remind us about some of the etiquette we may have forgotten over the past year-and-a-half of quarantining at home on our own, and the cultural norms you do not want to accidentally step all over. 

For more, please subscribe to the podcast and follow @TheTurkishBreakfastClub on Instagram and Facebook. 

Walking down the wine aisle in Turkey can be a daunting challenge: There are too many names you don't recognize (öküzgöz-who?) and the ones you do know can trigger bad memories (buzbağhhh!) 

But as Omar Sabet -- the founder of the Pera Wine Club -- tells us this week, we shouldn't write-off Turkish wine so quickly. It's a tradition that dates back thousands of years, and is now forging an innovative new path worthy of international attention. 

So listen in as we take our own wine route across Turkey, learning all the basics about the local grapes and vineyards, as well as how we can stock our cellars without breaking the bank. 

Please be sure to subscribe, comment, and follow us on Facebook and Instagram @TheTurkishBreakfastClub!