Elaine and I flew to Istanbul on Tuesday 10th February, where I was due to speak at the 2026 Global Leaders Summit, held at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, alongside the Bosphorus.
Still hobbling a bit from the Alexandrian sprained ankle, but managed to stay upright during my keynote. But had to drop out of a CEO awards dinner to put my foot up. Wonderful support from our GLS friends Aycan Ferik and Nazif Sevim of the KREA event team.
Alongside the event, we met our friend Aysu Keçeci for dinner on the first night – and then were picked up on the Thursday afternoon by a second friend, Eylül Kiliç, a human rights lawyer who is legal & compliance manager at CNBC-e, CNBC’s operations in Türkiye and who we first met at the 2024 Global Leaders Summit.
On the Thursday, Eylül took us to the Basilica Cistern, recently refurbished, and on the Friday we headed out to the Princes’ Islands by ferry. Arriving on the island of Heybeliada, we kept an eye out for the restaurant we had visited many, many moons ago with Peter Clark of ACE Cultural Tours. Then suddenly we saw it, the Ada Restaurant – and had a truly memorable lunch.
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