Drawn to the city by its history, culture and - you guessed it - food, Eveline ran a boutique hotel when she first arrived and offered her guests the chance to take a Turkish cooking class in the hotel kitchen during their stay.
There was also the fact that we already had first-class tickets (by this time we had racked up a gazillion miles), a suite at L'Hotel and, on my end, a particularly swell trousseau.