For centuries, Istanbul lured intrepid shoppers with colourful jewellery and carpets which tumbled from shops in the ancient alleyways of the Grand Bazaar. Today, the city’s affluent young middle-class is embracing a different kind of shopping experience in giant glass-and-chrome malls.
In the end, it was the pictures of Carla Bruni photogenically snogging President Sarkozy on a boat on the River Thames, during their state visit, that made me wish they’d both just clear off back to France, Bruni presumably bobbing gently homewards on a sea of male British drool.