Varun is taking a break from his Daily Diary for a few days and has entrusted this responsibility to Tim & James
Filming of the 2010 series of Inside Luxury Travel is near completion. During 2010 Varun and the Inside Luxury Travel film crew travelled to Melbourne, Hawaii, KwaZulu-Natal, Quebec, Istanbul, Prague, Edinburgh, Abu Dhabi, Mexico, French Polynesia, Barcelona and Tasmania.
We are pleased to announce the filming locations for 2011 - Malaysia, Antigua, Napa Valley, Sydney, Big Sur, Wales, Geneva, Sweden, Botswana, Egypt, New Delhi and Mumbai.
Over the next few weeks there will be a series of Look Back Diary entries. Our third filming location was Istanbul.
The two properties that we filmed in Istanbul were Four Seasons Hotel Istanbul at Sultanahmet
www.fourseasons.com/istanbul/ and The Ritz-Carlton Istanbul www.ritzcarlton.com/en/Properties/Istanbul
The traditional pre-filming photo!
Varun meeting with the GM of Four Seasons Hotel Istanbul at Sultanahmet, Tarek Mourad, "The General Manager is a lovely Egyptian chap called Tarek Mourad. He is so passionate about this property ... and so he should be! It's truly lovely ... and peaceful ... and happy! He calls Sultanahmet the "centre of world" and he has a point. At one stage Istanbul (aka Constantinople and Byzantium) was capital of the Latin, Ottoman and eastern Roman Empires ... the centre of the world!" - Varun
Opening of the show from a balcony. In the background is the St Sophia Mosque.
The hotel features in the movie "Midnight Express" ... and became a Four Seasons hotel in 1996.
This little kitten was fast asleep on some slippers. There are 1000's of stray cats & dogs in Istanbul BUT they are looked after by the locals.
Varun arriving in style
"I have two travel "heroes" ... my Papa and Michael Palin. Mr Palin travelled the world in 80 days and stopped over in Istanbul & visted a hammam. He was basically twisted into a pulp by a man that could have been called Adbul The Angry ... and he didn't get this name because he took in stray kittens and puppies! Poor Palin was beaten to a pulp! It was fun to watch ... and today I had a taste of what he had ... albeit a very tamer version!" - VarunIstanbul was our first European filming trip on the 2010 series, it is a city rich with culture, but just as importantly, it is full of animals that are looked after!
