Color abounds in Istanbul I’ve been in Istanbul for over a week now and find the city constantly surprises me in ways I couldn’t have…

For the past two weeks I’ve walked and explored a tiny little piece of Istanbul. In a couple days, I’ll be off to Jerusalem and…

Having been in the news a lot the last couple of years, it seemed a good idea to get my own take on Greece. After…

I can’t think of any place in the world that can match the history and intractable complexity of Jerusalem. Center of the universe for the…

When Greece finally achieved its independence from the Ottomans, there were still some bugs to be worked out. It took four major wars before things…

The turbulence didn’t end there for the modern Greek state. As the shadow of war once again darkened the European continent, Greece became an early…

To visit the site, I had to pass through a security checkpoint (they are everywhere in Jerusalem) and show identification establish that I was not…

One of the things I’ve always loved about travel is its ability to widen your perspective. While most of the world seems preoccupied with the…

China’s far western borderlands have long been a thorn in Beijing’s side. This is China’s ‘wild west’, known officially as the ‘Xinjiang-Uyghur Autonomous Region’, a nod to the dominant…

(Note: From time to time I’ll be posting these ‘Rear View Mirror’ pieces to recount a memorable travel experience where things didn’t quite go as planned.) Some…

We had surely stepped in it now. Going on was not an option. We were wobbly from the epic ride and a diet consisting mainly of Power Bars.…

I had been in a dreamless coma when the vague sound of flowing water gently nudged me awake. For a moment I didn’t know where I was.…

My watch said it was a little after 11:00. In my rational mind, I knew the owner would be back in the morning to let us out.…

Jerusalem’s Old City is one of the world’s most contentious patches of real estate. At just over 224 acres, it’s barely one-third the size of…

Fussing with my camera in preparation for the total eclipse, things weren’t going smoothly. The quick release on my tripod head was persnickety, the digital…

Wandering through the old ‘Number Four’ prison facilities in Johannesburg’s Old Fort complex on Constitution Hill, I thought of Gil Scott-Heron, the legendary urban poet…

Ringed by the iconic 4000 foot massif of Table Mountain on one side and the blue surf of the southern Atlantic on the other, it…