You don’t have to walk more than a few blocks in Berlin and you will find it – graffiti.  This form of art has me confused  - I’m not really sure how I feel about it.  Most of the time I’m annoyed that the brilliant European cities that I love are covered in graffiti [...]

The morning air was cool and crisp when I walked out of my apartment in Venice.  The chilly air felt like pin pricks on my skin, but I was happy for this cool breeze because in no time I would be sweating from carrying all of my gear.  I was leaving Venice after my 4 [...]

In a city of 13 million people covering 2000 square miles how do you know where to begin? Istanbul is one of the largest cities in the Mediterranean and it is easily the largest city in Turkey. It’s been growing since the 1950’s when migrants from Anatolia flocked to the city in search of economic [...]

Four weeks in Istanbul means a lot of photos!  Here are some of my favorite more obscure shots from some familiar and not so familiar parts of the city.  When I can travel slow and have the time to really live in a city – I enjoy getting out and seeing the local life outside [...]

I’ve slept in some really weird places – trains, gers, tents in the middle of nowhere, cars – but a little apartment in Istanbul was the strangest I have experienced to date. In fact I’m sitting in the living room of the shared apartment now and I can hear the drilling – a constant hum [...]

Everyone talks about wanting to find local experiences when you travel – strangely one of my best local finds in Istanbul was a place where the locals tried to convince me to stay away from.  Were they trying to hide it’s greatness?!  I honestly don’t think so – instead they were simply trying to ensure [...]

As we wandered through the market I was finally able to ask all of the questions that had been consuming my brain in Turkish markets. What’s this? How do they make that? What is this used for? When do people eat this? And the list goes on and on. Whenever you explore a new country’s [...]

I look at the walnut at the end of my fork and inspected it closely. It wasn’t just the nut part that we normally crack the shell to get to – but instead it was the whole shell poised on my fork prong. How in the world did the Turkish make this impenetrable nut into [...]