Turkey - 10

Hi, In this post I'll start with a couple of images taken at Rumi's tomb and then move on to Cappadocia.

We stopped at the tomb during our trip from Antalya to Cappadocia.  Rumi was a theologian and mystic who lived in the 13th century.  He became an adherent of the Sufi sect of Islam and after he died his son and followers founded the Order of the Whirling Dervishes.  Photography of the burial area is not permitted, however, there is a Mosque on the tomb grounds and

photography of the outside of the burial area is allowed.

We began our tour of Cappadocia the next morning with a stop at an overlook.  It was interesting to see how homes had been built into the rocks.  Scattered among the hoodoos (conical rock formations) were standard homes, businesses and Mosques.  I don't know haw many hoodoos there are but I am sure they number at least in the hundreds.

This is a close up view of the mountain on the left side of the photo above.  The windows and doors of homes carved into the rock can be seen more clearly.

Some of the formations looked like faces.

A church had been carved into the rock under this dome.  When the rock failed and part of it split away the interior of the church was exposed to view.

The interiors of the rocks are honeycombed with tunnels and rooms.  This reminded me of the Viet Cong tunnels in Viet Nam.

Circular stones were rolled across doorways and tunnel passages, and used as doors.

This rug seller was located in a small market.

Here is a different view of the mountain in the first Cappadocia photo.

In the next post I will conclude our visit to Cappadocia, including an early morning hot air balloon ride and a visit to a local school supported by the tour company.  I hope you enjoyed the photos.

Turkey - 9

Hi, We spent 3 nights in Antalya, a city of just over a million people.  It has a large natural harbor but sees almost no commercial shipping.  Below is the view looking across the harbor from our hotel window.

The city is on the Mediterranean and gets a great deal of sunlight.  Hence, almost every building has solar hot water panels and water tanks on the roof.  Satellite TV also is very popular.

The morning of our first day we visited a museum which had a collection of sarcophagi.  They all had very intricate carving and were placed in room with shiny marble floors.

The carvings were so detailed that there is space behind parts of the figures.

This is the sarcophagus for a husband and wife.  Tradition was not to carve a face on the figure until the person dies.  In this case the wife predeceased her husband and so he had her face carved.  However, apparently when the husband died there was no one who cared so his part of the figure remained faceless.

I thought this woman's face on a statue was really beautiful.

I have enjoyed Art Wolf's "Travels to the Edge" on public TV.  One of the things he does frequently is photograph patterns.  I found these shadows on a sphere interesting.

This is the fluted minaret.   It is part of what was a multi domed mosque and is now a museum.

This clock tower is located at the edge of the old town and dates to the Roman era.

It was fairly common to find artisans working outside their shops in old town.

Here is another view of the harbor.  The sailboat is used for harbor tours.

In the afternoon of our first day we went for a cooking demonstration and tasting of Turkish food.  The chef, who owns the restaurant, was more than 80 years old.  He has just prepared Halva and is dishing out samples.

For the Turks weddings are very important events.  One section of a main street is devoted to wedding gowns.

On our second day Ruthe and I took a more leisurely stroll around the old town.  Here is a display in the window of a rental car agency.

We came across a shop in old town that specialized in Meerschaum pipes.  Thirty years ago, when I smoked a pipe regularly, I would have purchased one.

The use of manual labor still is prevalent.

Pleasure craft and a few small fishing boats are berthed in the inner harbor.

Parts of the old city wall still exist and overlook the inner harbor.

These woman are stringing beads on thread.

We came upon a group of boys marching in celebration of the day the Republic of Turkey was founded.

Hadrians Gate was constructed in honor of that Roman Emperor.

A parade of VW Beatles draped in Turkish flags were celebrating Republic day.

I hope you enjoyed the photos.

Turkey - 8

Hi, This post covers only our visit to Aphrodisias, once a Greek and then Roman city.  The Greeks established it to honor their goddess of love, Aphrodite.  There is a small museum on site which was our first stop.  We found the sculptures in the museums we visited amazing for their detail.

Here is the main gate to the city.

I thought this fluted column was interesting and tried to capture the pattern.

I believe this is the remains of the baths.

Time and earthquakes have left some interesting stonework.  This is a precarious balancing act.

Market street was very long.  This view looks along the street,

while this view looks down on it.

The stadium would have seated almost 30,000 spectators.  It is the largest stadium in the Mediterranean area and the best preserved anywhere.

I hope you enjoyed the photos.  Thank you for looking.