Exploring Asian Istanbul

I read somewhere that the Kadikoy neighborhood of Istanbul was once home to some of the oldest settlements in the area, with evidence of human occupation dating back thousands of years. It was the Greek colony of Chalcedon long before the Romans established New Rome (later Constantinople) on the opposite side of the Bosphorus. I […]

Sometimes the Goals Find You

Our hotel has a small fireplace in the restaurant, and I’ve tried to sit close to its warmth every morning. It’s been a cold few days here in Central Türkiye, and there’s no way to gloss over that, except to note that it’s been even colder back home. Usually I try to go someplace warm […]

Way Down Under the Ground

There were seven of us on the tour today, hurtling down the roads of central Anatolia, frost tipped grasses appearing as blurs out the window. We drove past the Kaymakli underground city, and kept driving into the chilly morning. Our guide today, Ali, explained that we were supposed to stop there early in the tour, […]

Of Tour Guides and Storytellers

Our guide, Hakan, deposited the four of us at the entrance to Uçhisar Castle (at least that’s where he said we were – under the low hanging clouds it didn’t quite match the photos) with instructions to return in 40 minutes, and I rushed down the hill and into the site like a child at […]

Of Course I Ate the Fruit

The airport in Istanbul is one of the newer major airports in the world, and it was designed for growth. It was built to support Turkish Airlines, which boasts that it travels to more countries than any other, and it is enormous. So the connection I booked there was longer than I needed, but I […]