The time machine

Then we had had rain water; but here there was not a single source that could be turned to account. With unutterable regret our eyes rested on the Oxus, that became more and more remote, and shone doubly beautiful in the last beams of the departing sun...

Author: Armin Vambery (1863)

As we're soon leaving for Istanbul, here's a couple of old postcards, photos and maps showing various scenes and moments from the life of the city. If you've already been there, you may recognize some of the places, while others have changed completely...

A member of our club has dug out a huge book titled "Wonders of the World" from 1912, and was kind enough to scan all the photos. For all we know, this may be the first time these images have ever been digitalized and published on the Internet. Enjoy!

Author: Ernst von Hesse-Wartegg (1912)

Colin Gerald Dryden Thubron (born 1939) is a British novelist and travel writer. In 1983 he published a book called "Among the Russians", as an account of his long lone journey around Russia in an old Morris Marina car. This is a short extract about mushroom hunting.

An extract from a letter that Lord Gordon Byron sent to his mother while traveling around the Balkans, in the times of the Ottoman Empire, relating his encounter with Ali Pasha, the governor of Albania.

A sermon that Francis Owen, a British missionary stationed in Natal, delivered to the Zulu king Dingaan and his people in the early 19th century. His words were met by skepticism by the Zulu, who questioned his statements and demanded hard proof for Christian dogmas.

A short travel story by Geoffrey Gorer (1905-1985), an English anthropologist and writer. He visited West Africa in 1934, in order to study traditional dances of the region. This is his account of some strange rituals in Dahomey, today's Benin.