Hola Valencia Blog

We spent a long day walking along the southern coast of the Golden Horn, from the Atatürk Bridge to the ancient Jewish quarter of Balat. This is an older, quieter side of Istanbul that...   Read more

Istanbul has no shortage of cool old churches and mosques, and it can often feel like too much of a good thing. “You know”, Jürgen or I will remark on a increasingly...   Read more

Set in the basement of an old tobacco factory on the southern shore of the Golden Horn, the Rezan Has Museum presents a thoughtful walk through Turkey’s archaeological history, from...   Read more

It’s hard to imagine that we could have found a better place for our first Turkish bath than the Kılıç Ali Paşa Hamamı. This historic hamam in Tophane is one of...   Read more

I’m beginning to think that we could have dedicated 91 days to just Istanbul’s Beyoğlu district. In fact, a blog devoted entirely to the city’s main shopping street...   Read more

The Walls of Theodosius protected Constantinople from invasion for a thousand years, until finally being breached by the Ottoman forces of Mehmet II in 1453. Aside from the magnificent old...   Read more