Happy Birthday to Panama!

İstiklal Avenue in Istanbul is visited by nearly 3 million people on weekend days. *Photo from Wikipedia October 29 is the Republic Day of Turkey, commemorating the proclamation of the Republic of Turkey in 1923. The area of Turkey has been inhabited since the Paleolithic age by various ancient Anatolian civilizations, as well as Assyrians, Greeks, Thracians, Phrygians, Urartians and Armenians. After Alexander the Great conquered these lands, the area was Hellenized, a process which continued under the Roman Empire and its transition into the Byzantine Empire. The Seljuk Turks began migrating into the area in the 11th century, starting

Stockholm, the capital of Sweden and the most populous city in the Nordic countries. *Photo from Wikipedia June 6 is National Day of Sweden. This event does signify the end of the Danish-ruled Kalmar Union, so in a sense it is a marking of Swedish independence, though the event occurred so long ago that it does not have as strong of a presence in the social consciousness as does. The tradition of celebrating this date began 1916 at the Stockholm Olympic Stadium, in honor of the election of King Gustav Vasa in 1523, as this was considered the foundation of

Crowd of Belgian fans at the 2018 World Cup. *Photo from Wikipedia July 21 is: Belgian National Day. It celebrates the inauguration of Léopold I, the first king of the Belgians, after its independence from the Netherlands on October 4, 1830. In 1830, drawing inspiration from the recent July Revolution in France, the southern provinces of the United Netherlands rebelled against Dutch rule after a period of growing economic and religious disparity and political alienation. The Dutch were forced out of much of the area and Belgium gained de facto independence. A National Congress was created to write a Constitution