Agia Sophia by night. Istanbul. by El poed

Turkey, and especially Istanbul, are favorite travel destinations for many people. Because of this, I was more than willing to review this revised travel guide. Sadly, I was not up to the task. It took months to get through the first 100 pages, and having not been to the country/city (nor planning to visit anytime soon), I was bogged down by the intricate details it contained. Giving up all hope of finishing the guide, I offered it to my sister-in-law as she and her husband have been to Istanbul and found it truly an amazing place.

I was exceptionally pleased when I opened my e-mail inbox recently and found a book review of ‘Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide To The City’. Deb Martens succeeded where I had failed – and I thank her whole-heartedly for her contribution.

About the Authors:

John Freely is the author of over thirty travel books and guides including Istanbul: The Imperial City. He lives in Istanbul, Turkey.

Hilary Sumner-Boyd (1910-1976) was professor of humanities at Robert-College-Bosphorus University. His magisterial work, The Seven Hills of Constantinople: A Study of the Byzantine and Turkish Monuments of the City, was unpublished at the time of his death in 1977 and is now being prepared for publication by Bosphorus University Press.

*Editor’s Note: Text courtesy of Palgrave Macmillan.

The Review:

O, lucky is the traveler in a foreign land who has not only an historian but an architect as guides!

O, lucky is the traveler in a foreign land who has not only an historian but an architect as guides! Hilary Sumner-Boyd & John Freely’s updated Strolling through Istanbul: The Classic Guide To The City (2010) is that guide. Conveniently divided into manageable sections of the city, it’s easy to see as much or as little of the architectural wonders, past and present, as one wishes. Focusing not only on the “must see sites” of the Blue Mosque, Haghia Sophia, Topkapi Palace and the Covered Market, one is taken down the streets and alleyways of the little known and sometimes no longer existing splendors of old. Who wouldn’t want to know that they are passing through the Gate of the Spoon-Makers?

Turkey by Randy Martens Photography

More importantly, for those of us who are not particularly scholarly, this guide explains the historical and hence, architectural periods of the city – Byzantine, Latin and Ottoman. How many of us have grown tired of viewing churches, museums and such because we didn’t understand the significance of what we were seeing – yes, another mosaic of the Virgin with Angels. Ending the guide is a listing of all the rulers of the city (as are known) in date order with which you can memorize and amuse (or bore) your friends and relatives! That alone should make one wish to read or at least carry this fascinating guide!

Buy now: Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City on Amazon.

Editor’s notes: This article contains affiliate links. The book was also received compliments of Palgrave Macmillan/Tauris Parke Paperbacks for review.

© Gretchen for TravelBlogs, 2010. | Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide To The City – Book Review | One comment |
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Mary Anne Oxendale has lived as an ex-pat for most of her adult life. She’s gone from backpacker to EFL teacher and has been blogging for quite a long time. Not only are her sites (yes, more than one) filled with wisdom and wit -emphasis on wisdom and wit – she still finds time to… TRAVEL! Oh, and pose with a bronze statue.

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© Gretchen Wilson-Kalav for TravelBlogs, 2009. | Wanderlust | No comment |
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© Gretchen Wilson-Kalav for TravelBlogs, 2008. | Point2Point | 2 comments |
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For many keen travellers, the prospect of paid travel writing has an almost magnetic appeal. What could be better than exploring the far reaches of the world while pulling in a paycheck?

Scott McNeely has written and edited guidebooks for Lonely Planet and Fodor’s, and now works for Viator. In short, he has done the “paid to travel” thing.

TravelBlogs caught up with him to talk about how he made it as a travel writer. And for those of you who dream of one day being a writer yourself, Scott shares what it’s like to be a travel writer.

Over on Viator, you’ve listed your favourite city as Istanbul. Why Istanbul?

I lived in Istanbul on-and-off for over a year, and I fell in love with the place, the people, the food. It’s one of the world’s truly great cities. People have a negative attitude about “the Middle East” and “Muslim countries”, but Turkey shatters all those misconceptions. It’s a great country for first-time visitors to the Middle East. And if I could learn to speak Turkish, I’d be living in Istanbul right now.

When and how did you get your first break as a writer?

My very first assignment was writing a first-edition travel guide to Romania. It was in 1991, right after the revolution. This was not a good time to write a travel guide about Romania. I nearly starved. I went days without speaking English. I learned how to say “No! I do not like pork liver” in Romanian. It was an amazing experience, but it certainly wasn’t an easy introduction to travel writing.

What came first: your love for travel, or your love for writing? Or to put it in another way, do you travel to write, or do you write to travel?

That’s a tough one. I’ve always loved to travel and to write. I wouldn’t say this to my former guidebook employers, but I think it’s best to travel AND to write, but not mix them up. I know a lot of jaded travel writers who are sick to death of both travel and writing. So I try to travel to travel, and write to write, if that makes sense.

Writing for publications like Lonely Planet or Fodor’s would be a dream job for many travellers. As someone who has “been there, done that”, is it as great as it seems?

If your idea is to travel the world on a publisher’s dime, you’re kidding yourself

Yes and no. There’s no denying the ‘coolness’ factor of being a travel writer. People get very jealous about that. The idea that you get paid to travel, well, that’s too much for some people. I also really like the fact that, as a travel writer, you are forced to spend weeks and weeks in a single destination. It’s a good way to get an in-depth appreciation for a place, that most travelers don’t have the time, patience and/or money for.

The downsides? Well, people forget it is hard work, and often very boring. Think about walking into 300 hotels and asking to see a room, explaining each time why, taking notes, etc. Good travel writers are very detailed people, and that means a lot of tracking down facts, asking questions, and the like. While other people are spending the day on a beach, or haning out, the travel writer is at the bus station trying to sort out which buses go where, when, and for how much.

What advice do you have for people who want to make a living as travel writers?

The people who do well in the industry tend to have 2 things in common: they become experts in a single area or two, and they work across multiple media types (writing, photos, video, blogs etc.). If your idea is to travel the world on a publisher’s dime, you’re kidding yourself. But if you want to become an expert in a certain culture, language or destination, and you’re willing to work in multiple formats, then you have a good shot at success.

Where are you going for your next holiday?

Let me preface this by saying, I have a 19-month old son. So I make a distinction between places I want to go next (Tunisia, Brazil, Laos are top of the list) and places that I am likely to go next (grandparent’s house, the local park, the beach). When my son is old enough, I want to take him trekking in Nepal. And I want to show him the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul.

© Eric Daams for TravelBlogs, 2007. | Getting Paid to Travel: Interview with Scott McNeely | 2 comments |
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Post tags: Istanbul, travel writer, travel writing, Turkey, working on the road