When Dharma and I stepped into Hagia Sophia, we had no idea we were about to gain an unofficial (yet somehow very official) tour guide. The fee to enter the Hagia Sophia is about $30 each and, after picking up our tickets at the Hagia Sophia Museum across the Hippodrome square, we passed through the gatekeepers and metal detectors and made our way up the stone, tunnel-like ramps that lead to the second floor of the mosque. (The mosque is currently undergoing renovations and i

Antalya’s Old Town, Kaleici, isn’t very big, and somehow it carries 2,000 years of history without feeling heavy. You can walk a few minutes and pass Roman arches, Ottoman mansions, forgotten wooden houses, and cliffs that drop straight into the Mediterranean. It’s one of those places where history doesn’t sit behind glass in some museum. It’s just there, casually blending into city life and waiting for you to walk its cobblestone roads. Here’s a simple guide to the historic

Bustling Römerberg with Christmas Tree I had a nine-hour layover in Frankfurt and decided that sitting in the airport wasn’t an option. My mom is traveling with me for the first two weeks of this trip, so we grabbed our bags, rubbed our eyes, and tried to figure out the train system while our brains weren't properly working. Buying the first ticket took longer than it should have (the machines weren’t intuitive, it was too early for staff to be around, and half the buttons fe