There was a lot of controversy around the construction of the Sultan Ahmed Mosque in Istanbul. It was not that people did not like the beauty of this mosque. The controversy was more about Sultan Ahmed himself. First, he had not won any great victories for Islam that would justify building such an opulent mosque. [...]

This trolley in Istanbul runs the length of Istiklal Caddesi (street) which is a pedestrian street in Beyoğlu. Beyoğlu is an area of the city just north of the Golden Horn which is where the old European Embassies were located and therefore one of the most European parts of the old city. Now it is [...]

< !– google_ad_section_start –>One of the images that I often see on the tourism brochures for Istanbul and Turkey is this image of the town of Ortaköy at the base of the Bosphorus Bridge on the European side. This picturesque and relatively modern mosque is bright on the inside and the exterior makes a wonderful [...]

On a trip to Turkey in 2007 to visit our former Turkish exchange student we went to Pamukkale and Hieropolis which is a few hours drive from Ephesus. Pamukkale is a series of thermal pools and calcium deposits running down from the top of the hill. So you take off your shows and go wade [...]

Here is a travel nightmare for you. You are on vacation and your travel company goes out of business. What could be worse news? How about 40,000 passengers stranded around the world.
Anger at airport as XL rescue turns into a fiasco
Stranded victims of the XL holiday firm collapse threatened to riot and scuffles broke [...]

I stumbled across this video of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. This beautiful building that was built by the Eastern Roman empire had a great influence later on the style of the Imperial Ottoman mosques. If you have listened to the Amateur Traveler then you have already heard how much I loved my trip to Istanbul [...]

I had the opportunity to be interviewed by the Travel in 10 podcast and again talked about Istanbul. You might have gotten the impression that the city of Istanbul has left an impression on me and you would be correct.
I expected a middle eastern city but found a much more European city with an [...]

by Chris Christensen

When I was in Istanbul recently I stayed in two different hotels. The first one was a European style business hotel near Taksim. The second one was a small hotel, Hotel Historia, just behind the Sultanahmet mosque (the blue mosque). The first hotel was wonderful but was probably about twice the price of [...]