Verity Campbell

This guide has virtues - set out by neighbourhood, which makes way more sense in a city as large and physically compartmentalized as Istanbul than the usual "sleep/eat/see/play" business; it manages to be fairly comprehensive, covering basically all of what our (many, somehow) other guides put up as well as most of what I learned from my cool Turkish pals; and the included map is solid. Overall, it performs, but the fucking lazy-ass, cliche-ridden tone the author throws up all trying to be fun, and her out-of-control penchant for dissecting the relative merits of Ist's many (wonderful) sweet shops while not telling you where to find a fucking doctor (everyone should have a friend who's a local when travelling, but nobody should have the misfortune to have to use a guidebook written by one. This isn't as bad as LP Beijing with his stupid "Just ask for a special secret deal in your perfect Chinese!' but still), aaaand her crazy obsession with the arriviste-y restaurant 360, which she must part-own, kind of sour the firin sutlac for me.… (more)