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...

Here it is, the end of Wednesday, and I've not had time for my usual post. I blame the above stack of papers. Everyone says the worst...

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. ...

To examine the history of a civilization, first consider its water. Ancient civilizations formed on the banks of rivers. The ancient...

View of the Tennessee River from the visitor's center off Neyland Drive. It's been a busy week—too busy for my usual post on my trip. I...

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