After spending three days in Istanbul, I headed to Athens, Greece. This is what I saw when I got there... It might surprise you to know...

My guide and I parted ways after visiting the Galata Mevlevi House Musuem—she to see her mother-in-law, and I to check out Galata Tower. ...

“Silence is the language of God, all else is poor translation.” ― Rumi A trip to Istanbul is incomplete without mention of the 13th...

It might not look it in pictures, but the hill from Karaköy to the Beyoğlu district, past Galata, is quite steep. I walked it several...

Say Istanbul and a seagull comes to mind Half silver and half foam, half fish and half bird. — Rahmi Eyuboglu, Turkish painter and poet...

After visiting the Patriarchate of Constantinople, my guide and I wandered around two of the oldest neighborhoods in Istanbul, Fener and...

My third and final day in Istanbul started with a visit to the Patriarchate of Constantinople, or the Patriarchal Church of St. George,...

In addition to the amazing food in Turkey (more on that later), one of the first things I noticed in Istanbul were the Turkish Evil Eye...

This post is a little different than my recent ones. In it, I share the misadventures of my second full day in Istanbul. I didn't take...

After leaving Topkapi Palace, my guide took me to the Grand Bazaar. The Grand Bazaar is quite close to the New Mosque and Spice Market,...

In my previous few posts, I introduced Topkapi Palace, its Second Courtyard and Harem, and the Third Courtyard. In this final post, I...

In my previous two posts, I introduced Topkapi Palace and then went into detail about the Second Courtyard and Harem. In this post, I...

This past Wednesday, I introduced Topkapi Palace as the home of the sultans of the Ottoman Empire from the 1460s until 1856, when a new...

Topkapi Palace is huge, and, as it is Wednesday, I do not have to go over all of it today. Instead, I will provide a brief introduction...

My second day in Istanbul started with a peak inside Hagia Irene. The Eastern Orthodox Church, which sits in Topkapi Palace's outer...

At around 3 p.m. each day, my tour guide and I would part ways—she to her home and family, and me to my wandering. Only once did I...

Old City Corner I spent three full days in Istanbul. At 8 a.m. each day, I met my tour guide, Gamze, at the Starbucks at Taksim Square. ...

Ruins of the Hippodrome, from an engraving by Onofrio Panvinio in his work De Ludis Circensibus (Venice, 1600). The same morning I saw...

Hagia Sophia from the Bosporus Strait. I had a birthday yesterday. Getting older every year. I got the cutest card from the cutest...

Note: I am no historian or expert on this structure or region. As such, I am referencing History.com for most of the information...