The Tamesis
Note: This article contains details about Episode 7 of FX Love Story: John F. Kennedy, Jr. and Caroline Bassett.
After John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette married in an ultra-private ceremony on Georgia’s remote Cumberland Island in September 1996, they embarked on a two-week honeymoon. destination? Istanbul, Turkey.
Based on the biography of C. David Heymann American Heritage: The Story of John and Caroline Kennedythe couple’s honeymoon location was actually recommended by John’s mother, Jackie Kennedy. John had visited Istanbul with his mother and her second husband, Aristotle Onassis. In 1985, Mrs. Kennedy traveled to Türkiye and reportedly “told John that it would be the perfect place for a honeymoon if he ever got married.” Years later, after her death in 1994, John followed his mother’s advice.
Traveling under the alias “Mr. and Mrs. Hyannis,” the newlyweds arrived in Turkey and checked into a $4,500-a-night penthouse suite at the Ciragan Palace Hotel, a luxury five-star hotel in a restored Ottoman palace on the Bosphorus. Heyman’s book states that JFK Jr.’s close friend Christiane Amanpour recommended the hotel to the couple, reportedly calling it “one of the most luxurious hotels in the world, even by JFK standards.” Today, the hotel is run by the Kempinski luxury hotel group (and is as luxurious as ever).
