Istanbul

I returned last night from a scintillating long weekend in Istanbul where I learned a large amount about buying kilims, without actually buying one, purchased apple tea in the Grand Bazaar and witnessed the most important buy of the trip, a pair of turquoise and gold Aladdin's shoes with turned-up toes and pompoms, for 17-month-old Lia who was inducted into the art of wearing Difficult Shoes and spent all weekend practising.

Yesterday morning was spent at the spa at the Hotel Les Ottomans (not, alas, where I was staying, though I had a magnificent view of the Bosphorus, the Blue Mosque the Topkapi Palace and the sound of the competing muezzins woke me every morning at 5 am.)

If you ever find yourself with time to kill in this city, the hotel's spa is one of the most beautiful I've ever visited, and the only one where, as soon as I began to dry my hair the attendant came over with a variety of brushes and proceeded to do a salon-quality blow dry for me.