There are some great things about this city on the straits. The busy shipping traffic up and down the Bosporus for one. The extremely friendly people, and the safe streets as well. When I was there ...

This is a listener-supported podcast! Thanks for your help! In a short span of time, in the fourth century, Byzantium made the leap from a relatively insignificant harbor city to the de facto capital ...

It's Istanbul, not Constantinople, that straddles the Bosporus Strait today. But more than half a millennium ago—on May 29, 1453—it was Constantinople, then the last bastion of the Roman Empire, that ...

Constant reader Ruth (and granddaughter Maeghan) were sailing through the Bosphorus and sent me a note Tuesday morning. The subject line was, “It’s Istanbul, Not Constantinople Now.” I don’t know if ...

OK. First things first: Turkey’s proximity to some more dangerous areas of the world has given it a bad rap. While a move toward a more conservative government has prompted more women to wear head ...

Istanbul, not Constantinople. How and why does our world’s geography keep us on our toes? Image: Flickr user Library_of_Congress. This past week I did some Air Force Reserve duty. As a weather officer ...

Istanbul was once Constantinople, the Queen City of Christendom, until it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. Now the Christian community there is almost entirely gone; since the anti-Greek, ...