Green Travel Guide to Istanbul, Turkey

Istanbul, Turkey is a vibrant and bustling city which can be an assault on the senses for first time visitors.  I thought I would write a Green Travel Guide to Istanbul, Turkey...I'm sharing my personal recommendations for accommodation, shopping and travel tips plus some other links that I hope you will find helpful on your next vacation.  Drop us a comment of any recommendations that you would suggest.

Local Transportation

On any city break, if there is public transport then I'm going to try and use it.  While we did hire a taxi for our airport transfers, we used the trams for all our other transportation needs around the city.  It's quick and inexpensive.  You purchase a card at the ticket machines at each tram station and load cash onto the card - start with loading 20 lira and see how you go; the machines don't accept coins or cards.

A word of warning: I was pick pocketed at Eminonu Tram Station, close to the Spice Market; the first time this has ever happened in my life so be careful with your belongings.  I had my bag in front of me and it happened in seconds as we were waiting to cross the road.

Shopping

The Grand Bazaar is the most famous shopping spot in the whole of Istanbul; this was my third visit to the city and I have to say it was a much quieter shopping experience than my previous visits.  I have read that a number of shops have closed down due to the lack of tourism brought on by the political instability in the country.  

Speaking to a few shop keepers in the Grand Bazaar, we were told a number of items sold are now actually imported from China as the price point is cheaper.  If you want to support local trades people then don't be afraid to ask where the items were made before negotiating.

If the Grand Bazaar isn't your cup of tea then head in the direction of the Blue Mosque and visit Arasta Bazaar which run along the eastern wall of the Mosque and is a much more relaxed affair...no badgering is allowed hence you won't have anyone asking you to visit their shop.  My understanding is that the shop keepers pay rent to the Blue Mosque which is then distributed to people in need within the community.

On my last visit to Turkey, I purchased some hamam towels which unfortunately are a bit too scratchy for the bathroom but perfect for using at picnics.  I was in need of some new towels for home so after doing a bit of research, I found Jennifer's Hamam which is located in the Arasta Bazaar (look out of the Canadian flag).  I've always lived by the quality over quantity mantra and I love a company that has a great ethos behind it.

Jennifer has purchased old looms and the towels are made by hand using organic cotton and linen threads by local weavers (weaving was becoming a lost art form in Turkey)...the end result are gorgeous super soft towels and pestamels.  I won't lie, they don't come cheap (a fraction more than what you can purchase towels at Dunelm in the UK for) however I was told they can last up to 20 years and for me, they are worth this and more...let's try and reduce our footprint on this earth through goods which will last years rather than a month or two.

If you do plan to visit, make sure you do it on your first day as items can be made for you...they make wonderful dressing gowns which take 24 hours to produce after you choose your favourite fabric.

Jennifer's Hamam Address: Arasta Çarşısı, Küçükayasofya Caddesi No:135, 34122 Fatih/İstanbul, Turkey

Eco-Friendly Accommodation

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Istanbul City - not the best hotel in the city however it was clean, a short walk to the tram (less than 2 minutes from door to door!) which passed all the tourist spots and is part of the IHG hotel chain.

I'm a fan of hotel chains for a simple reason, most chains actually have good policies towards sustainability practices which all their hotels must adhere to.  While I am not saying they are perfect and most certainly more could be done on so many levels but we have a small step towards a better future.   You can read more about the IHG Green Engage System here.

Other Eco-Friendly Accommodation in Istanbul -

Adahan Istanbul is a listed monument which is also a hotel!  Only natural fibres are used in the bedrooms and water is collected from the rooftop where it is also heated - during the refurbishment of the property, environmental considerations where taken into account in all designs.

Gezi Hotel Bosphorus is part of the Design Hotels Group (under the SPG / Marriott umbrella of hotels) and offers beautiful views over the city.  The hotel was refurbished with eco friendly principles in mind, mainly around energy and water conservation and the hotel boasts almost zero emissions (as stated on their website).  

Istanbul Vegan Tips

I'm not vegan however I wanted to add some vegan tips in here to help you out if you are as both Sara and Michelle are vegan that co-wrote this blog (sharing is caring right!) -

The Happy Cow lists a number of vegan and vegetarian establishments in Istanbul with reviews from people that have recently visited and more importantly addresses.  

One Arab Vegan has a blog post listing all her favourite spots in Istanbul - the post is dated from 2016.

PETA has a vegan guide to Istanbul available on their website from early 2018.

The Istanbul Guide also has a vegan guide from 2016.

The Vegan World Trekker has a great blog post from 2014 detailing her flight and stay in Istanbul.

Istanbul Gluten Free Tips

I'm gluten free and for my birthday, we headed to the beautiful and historical Pera Palace Hotel for a gluten free afternoon tea.  The hotel is stunning and you do feel like you are stepping back in time...make sure you read Murder on the Orient Express as Agatha Christie wrote a majority of the book while staying in this hotel.

Most of my meals were Chicken Shish as we seemed to eat a lot while we were out exploring and this was normally my only option...most of the time it was served with a big salad along with buckwheat (which is gluten free!).  I would just say, it only happened once however they served my bread on top of the chicken shish, ask for it on the side.  

As I wasn't sure of what would be available from the breakfast buffet, I was a girl guide and was prepared with my own porridge pots (not great due to waste reasons however a necessity when travelling at times if gluten free!).

And yes Turkish Delight is Gluten Free...happy dance!

Here are some helpful Istanbul Gluten Free tips that other tourists have shared on the web - 

Istanbul Food wrote a survival guide to eating gluten free in Istanbul - this is dated from 2013.

Daily Sabah has a superb gluten free guide to the city - which lists a number of companies that offer gluten free items with the area that you can locate them in.  The post is dated January 2018.

I hope this Green Travel Guide to Istanbul, Turkey helps you out on your next holiday.

Cheers

Kel x

My Shopping Ban: January 2018 Update

2018 is the year that I don't buy any clothes or shoes; this isn't a New Years Resolution, it's just my little way of trying to see if I can break a few bad habits in 2018 as I have "enough".  I have another blog called Around the World in 80 Pairs of Shoes so you would think I would have a terrible shoe shopping habit but between shoes and clothes, my biggest expense is actually clothes...maybe the blog needs to be renamed to Around the World in 80 Dresses.

Last year I started to track my spend weekly and holy moly, I didn't realise where my money was going till it was staring right back at me from a scary looking excel spreadsheet.  Accountants are notoriously bad at managing their own personal finances and I hold up my hand in shame but 2017 was a total turning point for me and I've broken quite a few bad habits and learnt a few wonderful tips which I'll share soon!

What my spreadsheet told me was eye opening especially when it came to shopping...I spent over £1000 in the first 3 months of 2017 just on clothes...yes clothes!!!  In my defence, I was doing a major revamp of my wardrobe as I'd gained quite a bit of weight and had clothes that no longer fitted but I was holding onto, just in case I ever got skinny again...aren't we all guilty of this?  In the end, to feel better about myself I bought some new clothes that actually fitted me comfortably (and I didn't worry about the size label as this means nothing these days due to the stupid vanity sizing that seems to be a universal problem!) and focussed on feeling better about myself.

My skinny clothes were either sold via eBay or I dropped them off to a charity shop or shelter depending on what they were.

After my wardrobe revamp, I continued to buy a few items here and there when I didn't need to...and at the end of August I realised this had to stop.  It wasn't doing my finances any favours or the environment!

Mass Consumerism 

When I was travelling through Africa back in 2003, we visited a clothes shop but not like the western world knows it. We had a fancy dress evening one night in Malawi and we had to dress up...we visited a shop where there were just fields and fields of clothes in huge piles that the locals were sifting through.  You know when you donate clothes, well this is apparently what happens to some of them...and they are wrecking the precious local clothing market in the process.

I was an avid reader of fashion blogs but 2017 was the year that I noticed how bad fast fashion really was in blogging! And it started to upset me in so many different ways...buy this now before it sells out....buy it, buy it, buy it...I actually started unfollowing bloggers that I had followed for years as they had joined the mass consumerism carousel that is spinning way out of control!  I just wanted to throw a few questions back like: what is the quality of the material like, how many washes do you think it will last for and how much do you think the person who made that garment was paid and what are their working conditions like on this £25 top?

I started to look at ethical clothing brands in the United Kingdom and was shocked how few there seemed to be.  I made my first clothing purchase from Thought Clothing...a beautiful denim midi skirt which I've worn a number of times and I love.

One of the reasons that folks don't purchase ethical clothing is the expense however I bought my skirt for £25 and as it's such a classic style, I'll be wearing it for years to come.  Just like major retailers, many ethical clothing brands have sales which makes the purchase price easier on the wallet...or you could look on eBay.

Slowly I started to look at the social responsibility pages of major fashion brands and it's amazing how some brands are really trying to make a change however others just don't care.  Yes sometimes these changes are just fancy words and you do wonder if companies are really trying to really make a difference.

Enough is Enough

I realised last year that I had "enough"...most of us have "enough" but we continue to spin around on the mass consumerism carousel just because it's available and it's there whenever we're having a bad day.  I probably have enough clothes and shoes to last the next 25 years at least so I'm going to have a year off buying clothes and shoes...I do realise that I may have to purchase replacement items and if I do then I will try and source them from ethical companies or via ebay...however first I am going to try and fix items before trying to replace them.

How did January go on the Shopping Ban?

Sooooooo....did I make it successfully to the end of January with purchasing no shoes or clothes...hmmm...yes and no!  I accidentally bought a lovely pair of suede over the knee boots from Russell & Bromley...if you want to see email marketing at it's finest...they sent me a sale email and I had made the purchase within minutes all with a few simple clicks.

These boots were gorgeous...and I was determined my chunky calves were going to fit in them but alas no...I tried 3 times...I even had a magnesium bath to see if this would reduce the fluid in my legs (I was desperate!).

Now I should point out these boots were £395 on sale....yes £395 and I didn't even flinch when I made the purchase.  I eventually told myself they had to be returned...however it started to snow so I thought maybe this was the big mans way of telling me that I needed to keep the boots...after I gave myself a stern talking to...I took a trip to Cambridge to return the boots for a full refund...I almost cried as I said goodbye to the boots.

What did I learn from this blimp...that it's so easy to be sucked in by good email marketing...they are trying to part you with your hard earned cash so unsubscribe to all the shopping emails and fast!  I thought I could trust myself but I learnt a valuable lesson, you can't.  

In the end I successfully didn't buy anything...the boots were safely returned (there were tears!) and I go into another month with a happier bank account, less clutter and a feeling that I can succeed in not buying anything for 12 months...I can totally do this for me and the environment.  1 month down...11 to go!

Have you tried a shopping ban?  Did you succeed?  Do you have a tips?

Kelly xx

An ode to solid shampoo

Second-day hair with tired skin having been up driving since 4:30am

"Make my hair look like an up-to-date version of Cher Horowitz's" is how the conversation usually starts with a new hairdresser. That opening line has become a lot harder since hairdressers who really understand that meaning moved up the chain in their fields and started charging a lot more...

Then comes the inevitable shampoo conversation. Previously I've always gone for the best shampoo I can afford at the supermarket (Dove has usually been the winner there) and rarely have I found myself being in a position to pay both the extortionate costs of getting my mop attended to in Wellington plus the shampoo and conditioner they recommend afterwards. 

For the past year, that conversation has taken an interesting turn and with the condition my hair is in, despite the regular heat torture I put it through, few hairdressers have been able to argue that I should use their shampoo instead. 

I tried Christchurch-based company Ethique's range of solid beauty bars in almost every form they come in over the past year. To be frank, I'm sold.

What's the deal here? Why am I washing my hair with a bar of soap? 

Well, to cut a long story short, Ethique founder Brianne, was determined to get rid of plastic bottles from the world. She worked out that shampoo and conditioner (plus loads of other beauty products) are mostly made up of water. Half way through a science degree, she became determined to do something about the resulting plastic that was being produced by the beauty industry so began formulating these products into concentrated bar forms, with compostable packaging. 

She found her winning formulas and here you are - an enormous range for all hair types and a number of skin types. In the case of shampoo, what you do is wet the bar, stroke it few your hair a few times, get a lather going and rinse.

After a few trial and errors (you can buy sample packs, this didn't take long), I found the bar that works for me: sweet and spicy shampoo, and not only discovered that the shampoo leaves my hair soft and bouncy (even swishy), there was no need for conditioner. I go through one shampoo bar every 6-8 weeks, washing my hair around five times per week, and one year in, am still barely 1/2 way through the conditioner bar that I bought for dry days. 

The company claims that each bar stops three plastic bottles from going to the ocean - being a daily shampoo user I'd say my own experience has been closer to two bottles, but over a year, that has added up regardless. 

I go away for work a lot and am now in the habit of wrapping up my bars in a beeswax wrap and using them rather than the inevitable plastic fest you get in hotels (resist the cute bottles!). They dry really quickly, aren't messy and you save that little bit of extra waste from entering the world. 

I also use the face serum twice per day and it has done wonders for my combination skin, plus use their moisturiser at night (it is very rich - less is more). I even tried the kid shampoo on my daughter who has the most incredible long and thick hair and it came out even better than it already is. Unfortunately my husband gives the kids their baths and didn't realise that her shampoo wasn't soap and used the entire thing, which should have lasted one year, in a week... 

All of Ethique's bars are vegan, cruelty free, not tested on animals, certified B corp and sustainable. And they work. 

I understand they're a massive success in the USA and Australia and are launching in the UK at some point. 

So go on, give up the bottle, and like this ageing 37 year-old Cher Horowitz wanna-be, you may never look back. 

Not a sponsored post, just written by a convert who can't shut up about this amazing company. https://ethiquebeauty.com/

Kat 

The benefits of using a menstural cup and ditching the pads and tampons

So no one really talks about periods but we as women do need to talk and share and be open to these discussions. Our bodies are amazing things that break down and repair themselves every month for the arrival (or not) of a fertalized egg. Every month our bodies break down and repair themselves so its up to us to choose how to make this process even easier. Choosing a menstrual cup can and will help you just like it has helped me and ! There are so many reasons why ditching pads and tampons and buying a reusable menstrual cup!

I have been using my moon cup for 18 months now and I can honestly say that I will happily never, ever purchase another pad or tampon again in my life. I know using my moon cup will help the environment, my bank balance and my periods. So here's why you should get one.

1. It's good for the environment

• Just one of us will use more than 11,000 disposable sanitary products in a lifetime.
• Every year, over 45 billion feminine hygiene products are disposed of globally.
• Ocean Conservancy volunteers collected 27,938 used tampons and applicators on our world’s beaches on a single day (International Coastal Cleanup, 2013).

In the UK alone sanitary products generates 200,000 tonnes of waste annually so imagine how much waste you are creating over your lifetime and how much this is impacting on planet Earth. The problem with pads is that their packaging and the product are made up mostly of plastic and tampons are made up of non organic cotton that can cause damage to your body and doesn't break down properly. Where does this waste usually end up? Everywhere it shouldn't like beaches, rivers, lakes or in landfill that is not being recycled properly. It is a huge problem!

As a menstrual cup is reusable, there is no waste at all, yep zero! Saving the planet - one period at a time.

2. It's clean

The cup is easy to clean and there's no mess. To use, you just fold it up and pop it in to when it is full you just pinch the bottom part to release it, take it out, pour the contents down the sink or into the toilet, give it a quick wash under the tap and pop it back in. No horrible smell, no messy pads or tampons in the bin and certainly no blocked toilets from tampons getting stuck.

Once your period has finished, give it a good wash in the shower or sink with soap or body wash, put it back into its little bag and tuck it away for the rest of the month.

3. It's cheap

I purchased my cup from mooncup.co.uk for £14.99. Just think about how many pads or tampons you could buy with that, perhaps only two months worth?

Again, you only need one and it will last you years.

4. Convenient

There is no feeling of dread when you open your bathroom drawer and find no tampons or pads and you've already come on your period and you have to sheepishly go down to the shop and purchase the packet. The moon cup is always there, always ready to be used and if you track your periods with apps (I use the app clue) then you know when it is due and you can pop your moon cup in your handbag and be ready when the time comes.

5. Reliable

Menstrual cups hold more than a tampon, approximately 3x more so you don't have to empty it as often, even on heavier days. I can leave mine in for 6 hours without any leaks and I also leave it in overnight and have never had any leaks. Obviously over time you will work out the right amount of time your menstrual cup needs before emptying but I can assure you it is more than a tampon.

6. Great for travel

I actually purchased my moon cup before I went travelling as I thought in Africa and South America on long drive days it would be really useful and it was. But it also just allowed me to not be worried about being on my period in these more obscure places. I could just go to the toilet, take it out, wash it with bottled water and pop it back in without any fuss.

7. Comfortable 

I think one of the best things about the moon cup is that you don't actually feel it, as long as you insert it correctly and it is sitting in the right place you don't actually feel it at all. Sometimes I even forget I'm wearing mine! We all know that is not the case when it comes to pads and tampons. Also, another great thing is you can actually pee with it in and it won't affect it at all.

Have I convinced you to buy a moon cup yet? Follow this link to purchase your own and start saving the environment one period at a time

Buy my moon cup

10% OFF: MOON2018

Watch this hilarious rap battle between a tampon and a moon cup, it is filled with interesting facts and is funny!