Istanbul’s Rumeli Hisari Fortress Pop quiz: A) This took four months to complete and spelled the demise of Byzantine rule in Constantinople? Q) What is Rumeli Hisari? Sitting on one of the thinnest points of the Bosphorus, the Rumeli Fortress was built by Mehmet II in 1452. By 1453, the […]
Travel Tips
Topkapi Palace: Why You Should Skip It.
Topkapi Palace: Why You Should Skip It. There are a lot of beautiful things, and Topkapi Palace is among them. Old harem, rooms full of gold and jewels, mosques, libraries, etcetera, etcetera. Its a pretty place. It also, unfortunately, is just about the single most crowded thing to do in […]
Qobustan Mud Volcanoes!
See that exclamation point in the title up there? Thats the most excited sentence you’ll see in this entire post. There are tons of tourist sites out there in the world, and while many of them are deservedly popular some of them are over-hyped. I really thought the near-Baku Qobustan […]
Visiting the Carslberg Brewery in Copenhagen
I may not have mentioned this before, but I’m a big fan of beer. How, therefore, to spend twelve days in Copenhagen without at some point stumbling upon the Carlsberg brewery? Its probably the best beer in town, after all. In another edition of “Good Things Beer Has Done For […]
Old Town Vienna
There are places in the world with UNESCO status that make me think “Whaaaaat? Who’d they bribe to get that?!” Old Town Vienna, though, is definitely NOT on that list. The parts I enjoyed most were many of the civic buildings, away from the tourist madness of St. Stephen’s Church. […]
Sultanahmet
Istanbul: Sultanahmet Sultanahmet is the tourist heart of Istanbul, home to the Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque and Basilica Cistern and more hotels and guesthouses than I care to remember. For good reason, too. The whole neighborhood is resplendent with beautiful old architecture and street food and Istanbul highlights, and […]
Hey there! I'm Stephen, this is my travel blog, and that's me in the poofy hat.
I'm a photographer / writer traveling since 2008, and I've been doing my best to visit amazing places.
My current focus is Central Asia, because for a hiking and camping enthusiast it's as good as it gets.