File:The Pudding shop 1982 and 2012 - 50449732222.jpg

English: Something different from my usual. Please bear with me please, as this will take a little explaining of the background.

We have two photos of the same place, 30 years apart. It's a cafe/restaurant called the "Pudding Shop" in the city of Istanbul. It's unremarkable in itself, but it's connected to an interesting story.

The Pudding shop's claim to fame/infamy(?) is in the book and film "Midnight express" which told the story of a foolish young American (William Hayes) who, on 6 October 1970 tried to smuggle 4 lbs (just under 2 Kg) of hashish from Turkey to the USA. He was caught and sentenced to 4 years imprisonment (later increased to 30 years). He spent years in a Turkish prison in very difficult circumstances, suffering severe physical and mental abuse, before he escaped in 1975 and fled to Greece.

The pudding shop was described by Hayes in his 1976 worldwide best-selling book as a place where young people, mostly hippies, travelling the world, would gather to discuss plans and gain tips and information on places to visit and difficulties that they may encounter on their travels. Hashish was ever-present among those who came to the cafe. In the Oscar-winning film of 1978 the cafe is not referred to specifically, but did feature as the place where Hayes took the police to show them who sold him the drugs. (The film was made exclusively in Malta as they were prohibited from filming in Turkey so it wasn't the real cafe that was shown in the film). The film differed from the book in many ways due to artistic licence and was criticised for the negative way it depicted Turkish people.

I visited Istanbul in 1982 and (knowing the Midnight express story well) had an opportunity to visit a place that featured in the book and film. I had something to eat there, but there were no young travellers - the story had probably scared them away and anyway the world had moved on. Fast forward to 2012 and I returned again and was pleased to see that the cafe was still there, and that it had been refurbished during the interval.

If you have not read the book or seen the film I urge you to do so, even though the story is at times harrowing it has a very strong human interest theme and is of course based on a true story. The film is one of my biggest favourites. **All this will mostly be interest to fans of the book and film, of which I am clearly one. To others, please bear with me, as I've always wanted to tell my little story and put these photos on flickr.