Next up on Dr. Lee Stoner’s travels was Istanbul, Turkey. Istanbul is a land of extremes; the only city which straddles two continents and where east truly meets west. This city has served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Latin Empire and Ottoman Empire.

Even if you do not have a great imagination for history, this place just makes you think “wow.”

This feeling is not lost when walking around the city, there are many buildings and monuments here that would be cultural icons in other areas of the world, but in Istanbul there’s always something bigger and more impressive around the next corner. From the Topkapi Palace, the official residence of the Ottoman sultans for 400 years, to the Hagia Sophia, which was the largest enclosed space for nearly a thousand years, to the Grand Bazar, the largest indoor market in the world. This can old be found in Sultanahamet, the “old city,” then across the Golden Horn estuary you have Beyoglu, the “old European” and chic part of the city, and across the Bosphorus you have the Asya Yakasi, the “Asian side” of the city, which is devoid of tourists and is a completely different beast.

Oh, and then you have Starbucks, which sells coffee-flavored Turkish Delight! While the coffee-flavored Turkish Delight cannot be recommended, Istanbul certainly is.