If the northerly Meltemi is too strong in our third week of sailing, we continue further south to the Greek island of Leros before...

Galata Tower - View from the East - Tokapi Palace, Hagia Sophia & Blue Mosque in the back The Galata Tower is one of Istanbul’s most...

The decaying Barracks on the former Prison Island of Gyaros Cruising in the turquoise waters of the Aegean does not prepare for the...

Muslim Refugees in 1922 - the Steamboat at the back is from the Turkish Red Crescent When sailing along the Turkish-Greek border in the...

Trying to find remnants of old Byzantium in modern Istanbul is quite a task. Of course the Theodosian Walls which once protected...

Wanted to write about Turkish Honey today. But now that Russia attacks Ukraine and kills innocent people, I will write about a time 2’000...

The Balkan War 1912 - 1913 was a Precursor to the First World War 1914 - 1918 When we sail in the Aegean, we have to carefully respect...

Love asking questions for which you can’t easily find an answers in traditional history books. One of them is why the Seljuk and Ottoman...

Feeding the important Genovese Harbour of Chios required many Windmills Driving along the Turkish coast from Bodrum to Troy left me with...

We write the year 1241/42. The Mongol Army had just wiped out the Polish and Hungarian Knights and took winter quarters in the low lands...

Lepanto is today called Nafpaktos - the AFAET just outside the medieval harbor Today is Lepanto Day. Our destination is the Bay of...

The Old Town of Corfu on Kerkyra as seen from the old Venetian Fortress In Calabria and Apulia, people proudly mention that there are...

Technologies often change our lives more than we can imagine. At the beginning of World War I, all major navies believed they would...

The East Coast of Apulia is rather barren - but still protected by Saracen Watch Towers After a day of sailing, swimming and canoeing we...

With the new Drone we get Photos as never before! Amendolea's Church & the super dry Fiumare Amendolea It is Norman day today. We plan...

A few weeks ago, I talked about Malta being the only nation in the European Union where people speak a Semitic language. It would be an...

In my previous blogs I talked about the Fatimid, the Ottoman, and the Spanish Empire, covered Arab dynasties and wrote about the Mongols....

There are few people who have a capital named after them. President Washington comes to my mind as does Jean Parisot de Valette. When...

Was working on a Blog on Jean-Parisot de Valette, the Grand Master of the Knights of St John during the siege of Malta in 1565, when I...

In my previous blog I was writing about the silver mines of Laurion which made Athens wealthy and powerful. The mines were in operation...