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Istanbul - Galata and the Golden Horn

Istanbul – Turkey

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The City on Seven Hills

Istanbul, one of the greatest cities in the world since antiquity to current date, is always a treat to come and repeat. That’s the third time in my case, and will certainly be more to come. It is way too big, the largest city in Europe, and fascinating everywhere offering the visitor a great and vast amount of sights, monuments, museums and historical places. Once named Byzantium, the capital city of the great Byzantine Empire founded by the Greeks in the 7th century BC; then Constantinople after the Roman emperor Constantine the Great made it his imperial capital in 330 AD, it continued capital during the even greater Ottoman Empire. Buildings from every era are still standing in great fusion with the modern and elegant architecture, where broad avenues where laid out on top of the ancient city, Roman basilicas turned into churches, then into mosques; impressive royal residences and palaces built.

The Romans made of Constantinople the second capital of the empire only after Rome, and transformed it into one of the most beautiful and luxurious city the world has ever seen in antiquity. Embellished with monuments created in situ and others taken here from all over the empire, notably the Obelisk of Thutmose III from the Temple of Karnak in Luxor or the Serpent Column from Delphi in Greece to be placed in the great hippodrome, thankfully there still today. Other one of such stunning monuments created were the bronze horses decorating the main entrance of the hippodrome, thereafter taken by the Venetians to Venice and ever since located at Saint Mark’s Basilica; of the Column of Constantine still in its original site at the former Imperial Forum.

With many civilizations and different empires eager to take the strategic city, there’s been rise and fall periods, sieges, war, destruction and reconstruction. Too many layers of history below current ground level where every hole you dig and the history comes back to live. Noteworthy the Basilica Cistern. A spectacular water cistern described as the “sunken palace” located few meters away from the Blue Mosque itself, however, not the only cistern in Istanbul. Plenty more, however not all opened to the public.

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Read more about the article Ravenna – Italy
Ravenna - Italy

Ravenna – Italy

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Seat of the former Byzantine government in Italy

Another weekend starting with a flight to Bologna, the nearest international airport to Ravenna, our first of the three cities planned this time, all of them UNESCO World Heritage sites. A bit exceptional in the case of Parma which we would visit the following day, since it is the first city in Italy to be awarded UNESCO’s Creative City for Gastronomy. From the beautiful city of Bologna it’s 84 kilometres to the east to Ravenna, right by the Adriatic coast of Italy; and it’s the perfect start of the day to later continue visiting the city of Ferrara, 78 kilometres northwest along the beautiful drive by the coast for the first section.

Ravenna is a very small city, and as such, easy to visit quick without hassle hence why it is worth to include other places nearby to complete the day. The main reason to visit this city are the eight early Christian monuments inscribed in the World Heritage List. And since the old city centre is very compact, half a day visit is good enough for seeing everything.

Other than the important monuments, the city itself is as of any Italian city, nice and beautiful, with plenty of cafes and restaurants serving great and inexpensive food. Finding a good place it not difficult at all; all of them are great, and none of them seemed to be any tourist trap. After all, the city is quite overseen by tourists, so do not expect to see here hordes nor groups as you would expect in other cities. (more…)

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Read more about the article Thessaloniki – Greece
Thessaloniki - Greece

Thessaloniki – Greece

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Thessalonike, half sister of Alexander the Great

Another weekend, and another city not been before. What else can I ask. This travelling bug is now reaching unthinkable levels to the case that since November last year, I’ve spent only one weekend in London without going anywhere, and the next time that will happen might be just the second weekend in April, unless I end up finding another good destination to go. Otherwise it seems it will be June for my next weekend without travelling. 7 months non stop yet I want much more!

Greece, I must admit is one of the greatest “unknown” in my travel bag. With so many hundreds of places to go, and so many beautiful islands, I’ve only been really few places to be honest, comparing to how many more I wish to go. But flying to Greece does not come cheap as other destinations. Well, it can certainly be cheap, but not when looking for precise days such as flying out there on a Friday evening or Saturday morning, returning on Sunday in order to avoid having to book holidays from work.

Thessaloniki is the second largest city in the country after Athens, but through history, it has been capital of many civilizations and empires, to the point of being a city larger in population than London by the 14th century when it was part of the Byzantine Empire. To give you an idea and brief knowledge, since its foundation in 315 BC by King Cassander of Macedon who named it in honor of his wife, Princess Thessalonike, half-sister of Alexander the Great; it has changed hands from Kingdom of Macedon to Rome, Byzantine Empire, Crusader Kingdom of Thessalonica, Despotate of Epirus (known as Empire of Thessalonica), Second Bulgarian Empire, Nicaeam Empire, Republic of Venice and for almost 500 years under Ottoman rule until 1913 with the annexation to Greece. (more…)

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