Istanbul, Turkey, in June.

In June I headed to the ancient and historic city of Istanbul (formerly, Constantinople), to speak against animal experimentation at a lab animal science conference. At least the city itself would be fun... Don't miss the published story of this adventure.

First, I had to navigate my way through a city of people with whom I could barely communicate, with the most rudimentary of maps, at night, to my hostel in the heart of the old city.
Feral cats were everywhere. There were also quite a lot of feral dogs, completely at ease amongst the bustling throngs.
By following the tram tracks from the main square as instructed, I finally found my hostel - a stone's throw from the historic Galata Tower!
This shot was taken from the hostel fire escape. Sadly, this beautiful tower, like the minarets throughout the city, was marred by loudspeakers from which the eerie wails of the imams called the faithful to prayer, seemingly at any random hour of the day or night - including, I discovered, at 04:00.
Following the guidance of a Lonely Planet article on how to spend the perfect day in Istanbul, I commenced with a cruise in the Bosphorus Strait which connected the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, dividing the city into European and Asian parts.