A guest book, ten years full.

The kind of place you accidentally spend twelve hours in. We arrived for lunch, watched the light change five times, and only left because the last boat wouldn't wait.

Cabana service was impossibly warm without ever being intrusive. My glass never emptied. The grilled bream was the best fish I've had in Istanbul, easily.

We got married on the deck at sunset. I don't know how to describe the light except to say it looked like the sky was on our side. Solárium ran the whole night without one seam showing.

Three days in the Bosphorus Retreat. Sunrise breakfast on the terrace, an entire afternoon reading in a cabana, dinner under the pergola. We took no photos and now regret it — but not really.

Booked the Pool Suite for six friends on my 40th. Nobody left the terrace for eleven hours. The rosé is dangerous.

Attended the full-moon party last August. There was a moment around 23:00 when everyone stopped dancing to watch a boat go past. The DJ kept playing. It's my favourite memory of that whole summer.

I came alone. Nobody made me feel it. The staff learned my name in ten minutes and forgot to charge me for the last cocktail on the last night on purpose.

Somehow both kid-friendly at three in the afternoon and impossibly grown-up at nine at night. My children were treated like guests, not problems. That is very rare.

Fourth summer in a row. Cabana 7 remembers me. That has become an entire personality trait.