Page 709 - Liverpool Philharmonic 22-23 Season Coverage Book

Istanbul, Turkey

This city has always drawn tourists with its incredibly beautiful architecture
and ancient, east-meets-west heritage. But it makes my list for being a rising
star on the foodie scene: this autumn, the first ever Michelin guide to the city
was launched, with 53 restaurants featured and five earning at least one star.
Sure, it’s always served mezze style dishes, but dining spots like TURK Fatih

Tutak (two Michelin stars) have built buzz with their high-end takes on trad
foods such as pide flatbreads, manti dumplings and dolma (stuffed vine
leaves). As well as chowing down all over town, I’ll be saving my pennies
for a room – or at the very least, a cocktail – at the new Peninsula Hotel,
which opens in February with a glam pool right on the banks of the
Bosphorus, and steaming and scrubbing at the Cinili Hammam, a restored
500-year-old Turkish bathhouse being revived and reopened in September

2023. LT

Valletta, Malta

Seeking warmth, beauty and enlightenment all wrapped into a city less than
three hours from the UK? The solution is Valletta, a spectacularly three-
dimensional walled city. It was the first European capital to be laid out on a
grid pattern, which the Knights of St John prescribed in the 16th century –

believing that having straight streets would make their fortress city easier to
defend. Yet Valletta’s year in the sun as European Capital of Culture in 2018
triggered a renaissance – notably in the shape of Muza, the new National
Museum of Art in Malta. After a varied subsequent career as courthouse and
post office, the ancient Auberge d’Italie (built to house Italian-speaking

knights) has finally been transformed into a ravishingly beautiful collection
of galleries where light, shade and history converge. Then take a seat on the
terrace of the Star Cafe, order a Maltese ftira (ring-shaped bread filled with
tasty savouries) and a Cisk beer to wonder at a ravishing city built in cream
and honey. SC