Most people know about the Palatium in Rome, the home of Roman Emperors since the time of Augustus. The Palatine Hill gave us the name...

Kedi is the Turkish Word for Cat Two Free Living Cats Cuddling on the Shores of the Bosporus One of the things you notice when in...

The Turkish Straits - Bosporus 17 nm, Sea of Marmaris 110 nm, Dardanelles 37 nm My last piece about the Luwians and Troy’s big harbor...

Reconstruction of Troy - The Citadel surrounded by a Palace Garden - the Town with its mighty Walls and the Water Ways in the Valley (all...

Photos from space are beautiful. The view of our blue planet always makes me wonder why there are so many conflicts on earth. Our planet...

Had it not been for our friend Ibrahim, a merchant in the Grand Bazaar, we would never have learnt about the origin of Turkish Tea. As...

Thanks to the movie “300” many people are familiar with the heroic stand of 300 Spartans at the Thermopylae against the invading Persian...

Turkish coffee is boiled slowly, not filtered. Sugar is mostly added during Boiling How coffee was discovered has become well known...

Given that only four people signed up for the Belly Dancing Class, I thought propping up the activity may be a good idea. Now that...

It is almost impossible to visit Turkey without seeing a shop with Turkish Delights. Lokum, as they are called in Turkish, got their...

Emperors assemble armies, build fleets, conquer countries, build new capitals and have a knack for leaving behind monuments – Napoleon...

Sardis, the Capital of Ancient Lydia, where Coins were invented - Here the Temple of Artemis During our first two weeks of sailing this...

Plate tectonics had an amazing impact on shaping the ancient Aegean civilization. The rough mountains forced the early Greeks to take to...

Sunday’s piece about Russia’s presidential flag made me wonder about the Greek and Turkish Flag. The horizontal stripes of the Greek flag...

A good two months ago, I wrote about the legacies of the first Christian Empire, Byzantium. During my research, I found many more topics...

As we see these days, it is easy to start a war and make ambitious plans. Maps are patient when generals draw their big blue arrows....

One of the true pleasures when sailing on open sea is watching the night sky. Far away from light pollution, one gets a good idea of how...

When Catholics and Protestants think of religion, they usually think of places like Rome or Jerusalem. That there could be holy places in...

Sailling along the Greek – Turkish border is an experience of an extra kind. You can feel the hostility between the two countries - even...

Balat, Istanbul's old Jewish District, is today a bohemian, chic neighbourhood Most travel brochures describe Istanbul as a vibrant,...