It has been brought to my attention by some good friends who are visiting us that we haven’t updated the blog in something like a month. Turns out this is true. This is also terrible. We are, in fact, still here.

“Here” is currently different, though. Our visa ran out, so we left Turkey. Our current “here” is Prague, which could not be more different if it consciously tried. Coming up from the subway for our first look at non-airport Prague was an absolute shock. It was calm, uncrowded, with broad streets, lots of trees and grass, no death matches between pedestrians and sidewalk-scooters, no street vendors, and no taxi cabs trying to kill me. I felt like I was very rudely thrown into peace and quiet.

But more will come on Prague later. And more will be written about Istanbul, because I am decidedly not finished with that oddly magnetic city. I’m not finished writing about it, and I’m not even sure I’m finished living there. But that’s a story for another day too.

In the meantime, we’re back, we promise to write more and post more pictures, and we’ve got some cool stuff coming down the pipe to keep you interested:

• The city walls of Constantinople
• The Hagia Sophia
• A pilgrimage to the archaeological site of Troy
• A visit to Gallipoli (it’s ANZAC Day today, by the way)
• The medieval Galata Tower
• The necessity of pub trivia in foreign lands
• The unbelievable art in Chora Church
• Orthodox Lent and Easter
• Rustem Pasha Mosque and its incredible Iznik tiles
• Şehzade Mehmet – the red counterpoint to the Blue Mosque
• My own discoveries of unmarked historical wonders
• Atrip to the top of the Palace of the Khedive of Egypt
• The Black Sea
• The wonders and oddities of the Tarlabaşı Market
• Riding a hot air balloon in Cappadocia
• More of the cats of Istanbul
• The luxuries of high tea at the Pera Palace
• One last sunset at Süleymaniye

We’ve got some good stuff coming, and of course more about Prague. Next month we’ll be off to Budapest for the rest of the summer. Apologies for the delays in writing. We promise we haven’t been kidnapped by jihadis. Keep coming back, and we’ll see if we can’t fill in the gaps.