As the old song says, Istanbul was Constantinople. (It was also Byzantium, but our story begins a couple centuries after this first - and less famous - name change.) Few remnants remain in Turkey's largest city from this earlier period. There are ancient cisterns that helped sustain the city through numerous sieges, and some wall…
I've resisted writing this article for a long time. There is really no way to talk about this issue without pissing off someone, or even pissing off nearly everyone. It is one of the most contentious political issues facing our world - and even us as travelers. And yet, only last week, Michael Che of…
Editor's note: this was a hard piece for me to edit. I've never been to Auschwitz, but have visited a concentration camp in southern France. It was a haunting experience for me as a person and as a Jew, and I can only imagine what a journey to this place would be for me. I…
This isn't the article I wanted to publish today. Today was supposed to feature an incredible look into Serbia by Sam Spector. But the events of the last twenty-four hours a) need to be responded to, even by a small travel community, and b) leave me in no mood for a normal day. I warn…
Editor's note: it is impossible to capture the magnitude of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a huge book, let alone in an article about visiting Bethlehem. Some aspects of the conflict are necessary to explain as they affect the day-to-day experiences a traveler, like our Sam Spector, would have. We at The Royal Tour recognize that…
Editor's note: After reading Sam's amazing description of Beirut, please follow the link at the end of the article to make a donation to the Lebanese Red Cross if you are inspired to help after the terrible tragedy that befell what seems like an incredible place. To read more of Sam's content here at TRT,…
The world is a cool place, full of beauty, wonder, fascinating people and places, and, occasionally, stories that can't help but make me smile. This is one of those stories. During World War Two, the United Kingdom built a number of fortresses in the North Sea to protect against German aircraft. One of those forts,…
The contrast between the streets of Barcelona and those of most other major Spanish cities is stark, and not just for the architecture. The flag of Spain, commonly hung from balconies all over the country, is not visible here anywhere near to that extent, except on federal buildings. Rather, the red and yellow stripes of…
The United States is the only home I've ever known, outside of a few months here and there in other locations. I was born here, grew up here, largely live here still, and though I'm also a German citizen as of last December, I still identify almost solely as American. Nearly two years ago exactly,…
"Not so long ago, three things were forbidden at Chilean dinner tables: politics, religion and football. Now, there is so much talk of politics that even if we wanted to talk religion or football, we wouldn't have time." My buddy Gert and I are chatting over a terremoto (also known as an earthquake, it's a…