UNESCO World Heritage Site #140: Historic Areas of Istanbul

Posted: 01 Aug 2011 03:36 PM PDT

UNESCO World Heritage Site #140: Historica Areas of Istanbul

With its strategic location on the Bosphorus peninsula between the Balkans and Anatolia, the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, Istanbul has been associated with major political, religious and artistic events for more than 2,000 years. Its masterpieces include the ancient Hippodrome of Constantine, the 6th-century Hagia Sophia and the 16th-century Süleymaniye Mosque, all now under threat from population pressure, industrial pollution and uncontrolled urbanization.

I don’t even know where to begin talking about Istanbul. It has quickly become one of my favorite cities in the world. There are several world heritage sites (Rome, Paris, Prague) where everything in the city is lumped together because there could be multiple sites which would merit listing otherwise. Istanbul is one of those cities. The Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, the Topkapi Palace and many other places would justify inclusion as world heritage sites on their own merits. Istanbul is truly one of the great cities of the world.

View my complete list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Originally posted on the Everything Everywhere Travel Blog. Discover great travel photos.

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Monday’s Links for Curious People: Wisconsin Edition

Posted: 01 Aug 2011 04:38 AM PDT

Travel Update

After four months in Europe and Western Canada and a stopover last week in New York, I’m back in Wisconsin to spend some time with my mother and try to catch up on all the writing and photo editing I wasn’t able to do while I was traveling. I counted approximately 5,800 photos in my queue when I started and I’m down to about 5,000 now. I’m going to try and just do a few hundred every day until I’m caught up. In the past I’ve tried to do everything in a few days and that isn’t much fun.

Because I’m in Wisconsin, I’m also able to work on my 27″ iMac. I purchased it last year when my father was in the hospital but I seldom get to use it when I’m traveling. Working with a monitor this size and with a much faster computer is a fundamentally different experience than working on my laptop. The laptop is fine for some things like writing, but it is horrible for editing photos.

Today also marks a new chapter in Everything Everywhere. I’ve decided to reboot how I go about running my website and how I balance travel and work. Starting today you will be seeing more posts from me as well as from select other people. I’m really excited and have been busy the last few days getting ready.

I’ll be in Wisconsin for a few weeks before I head out again. I’ll probably head to Minnesota to attend the State Fair and see some of my friends. I have no idea where I’ll be heading after that yet.

New Ebook

I don’t normally promote ebooks from other bloggers on my site, but Bethany Salvon from Beer and Beans recently sent me one that caught my attention. She has created what might be the best introduction to photography guide I’ve read: Getting Out of Auto. If you have a camera, especially and SLR, and you are shooting in automatic mode (aka “P” for programmed), then this is the book for you.

It is a better reference than anything I’ve found browsing at Barnes & Noble and at $9.99 it is also cheaper than any other introductory book you can find. I keep a copy of the ebook on my iPad just so I can show others.

What I’m Reading

House Harkonnen (Dune: House Trilogy, Book 2) is the second book in the Dune prequel trilogy written by Frank Herbert’s son Brian. Last week, I mentioned the first book in the series, House Atreides (Dune: House Trilogy, Book 1).

For the Love of Physics: From the End of the Rainbow to the Edge Of Time – A Journey Through the Wonders of Physics is a book I just purchased by Walter Lewin, a Dutch professor at MIT. Lewin is probably the most well known physics professor in the world. I first discovered Lewin several years ago from the videos he created from his Phyiscs I, II and III classes at MIT. His lectures are fantastic and gather over 1,000,000 views a year from people all over the world who want to learn physics. Even Bill Gates has watched the entire course for Classical Mechanics and Electricity and Magnetism. I watched all three of his courses before I started traveling.