Topkapi Palace October 14th 2012 Friday, Sept 21 in Istanbul
Istanbul has perhaps the most famous and beautiful site of any city in the world. It has had three names. In ancient times it was the Greek city of Byzantium. Then after Constantine made it the capital of the Eastern Roman empire it became Constantinople. After it was conquered by Sultan Mehmed II in 1453, it became Istanbul.
Mehmet The Conquerer visited the old B ... read more
Middle East » Turkey Modern Turkey was founded in 1923 from the Anatolian remnants of the defeated Ottoman Empire by national hero Mustafa KEMAL, who was later honored with the title Ataturk, or "Father of the Turks." Under his authoritarian leadership, the country adopt... ... read more
On the WordPress blog I was The Old Gringo, but somebody took that name before me on TravelBlog, so I have translated it into Spanish as El Gringo Viejo. I was a Chemistry Professor at Wayne State University until 2010. Now I am retired, and with my wife Carol I travel a bit every year. She loves the Spanish speaking countries, while I prefer countries that don't really exist any more: ancient Rome and Greece and the Greek colonies of Sicily, Italy, and Turkey; maybe also Tolstoy's Russia. I promise not to write up the boring parts.... full info