Corporate Traveller Magazine - Autumn 2017

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Autumn 2017 - Those special plums reserved for travellers

Travel drops the occasional plum into our laps – and for me a month in Istanbul produced an opportunity to meet and interview Ahmet Ertug, architect, artist and photographer.
My notes at his studio, in preparing a piece for this edition, describe the joy at meeting such an extraordinary artist:
“Ahmet Ertug’s part in this drama appears typecast. He looks, acts and sounds like an artist at the top of his game. His appearance and manner are entirely in harmony – from those long flowing grey locks and thoughtful words to gentle gaze that misses not a thing.
"It strikes immediately that here is a man in single-minded pursuit of perfection – and from all accounts very close to his quarry.

The wonderful hospitality and wry humour of the good folk of Istanbul is always a joy. On the same journey I am fortunate enough to meet Ali Baba. This Mr Baba is chef at a neighbourhood café in Resitpasa, and something of a magician with the winter fare he prepares for chilly souls stepping in from the snow-clad sidewalk.

Meeting Ali Baba ranks right up next to my meeting a few years earlier with Socrates. I shared a beer with Socrates at Athens Airport and, like Ali Baba, his real occupation was in the restaurant business, this time a seafood restaurant on Cyprus.
Such are the joys of travel – meeting magical, mystical characters, accomplished philosophers and serene artists.

Bruce Laybourn
Publisher