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Turkey Photos
Dec. 19th, 2006 11:19 amI finally got my photos up over the weekend. Enjoy!
http://s13.photobucket.com/albums/a269/DonaldFR/Turkey%202006/
There were Roman buildings still in use, and romantically ruined cities on the tops of hills. I saw the Black Sea, probably for the only time in my life. Cappadocia was a Tolkenesque landscape of lava-tuft pillars with thousands of years of homes carved out of them. Snow-capped volcanoes loomed in the distance.
The people were wonderful, and, though I couldn't put a finger on why, I've never been a place where I felt less at risk of something being stolen. Maybe it's the "forbidden fruit" effect, but I found the women in their colorful robes and scarves and western rucksacks to be excruciatingly attractive.
The Anatolian Museum (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_Anatolian_Civilizations), with its incredible collection of Neolithic art was worth the trip by itself. (One day I plan to hijack Woodwardia and cruelly make her spend a long weekend there.) Most amazing was what may be the one of the first landscape paintings to survive, showing the Neolithic town of Çatalhöyük with a smoking volcano in the background (http://nhmag.com/index_feature.html), which accurately echos the real volcano visible today.
Turkey is a cat lovers paradise. Apparently, Muhammad liked cats, so, while people don't take them into their houses, they do take care of them. There was a butcher next door to our Pension in Istanbul. First thing in the morning, he set out newspapers over the sidewalk and put out the chicken slops. Soon there were many tens of cats, and, over the next half hour, more kept arriving. He stood over them and helped chase off the seagulls while they ate. Everywhere we looked, we saw swarms of well-fed, affection-starved cats. When we entered an outdoor "site," I would pick one up and pet it until we got to the end, then set it down. That said, I didn't see more than a hand-full of mature cats, so they must not live very long. . . .
In spite of its undoubted political risks, the upshot is that Turkey is highly recommended as a vacation destination, especially in winter. The weather was very like a California winter and I don't think we met a single other American. We heard that Turkey is hot and very crowded in summer.
-- Donald
http://s13.photobucket.com/albums/a269/DonaldFR/Turkey%202006/
There were Roman buildings still in use, and romantically ruined cities on the tops of hills. I saw the Black Sea, probably for the only time in my life. Cappadocia was a Tolkenesque landscape of lava-tuft pillars with thousands of years of homes carved out of them. Snow-capped volcanoes loomed in the distance.
The people were wonderful, and, though I couldn't put a finger on why, I've never been a place where I felt less at risk of something being stolen. Maybe it's the "forbidden fruit" effect, but I found the women in their colorful robes and scarves and western rucksacks to be excruciatingly attractive.
The Anatolian Museum (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_Anatolian_Civilizations), with its incredible collection of Neolithic art was worth the trip by itself. (One day I plan to hijack Woodwardia and cruelly make her spend a long weekend there.) Most amazing was what may be the one of the first landscape paintings to survive, showing the Neolithic town of Çatalhöyük with a smoking volcano in the background (http://nhmag.com/index_feature.html), which accurately echos the real volcano visible today.
Turkey is a cat lovers paradise. Apparently, Muhammad liked cats, so, while people don't take them into their houses, they do take care of them. There was a butcher next door to our Pension in Istanbul. First thing in the morning, he set out newspapers over the sidewalk and put out the chicken slops. Soon there were many tens of cats, and, over the next half hour, more kept arriving. He stood over them and helped chase off the seagulls while they ate. Everywhere we looked, we saw swarms of well-fed, affection-starved cats. When we entered an outdoor "site," I would pick one up and pet it until we got to the end, then set it down. That said, I didn't see more than a hand-full of mature cats, so they must not live very long. . . .
In spite of its undoubted political risks, the upshot is that Turkey is highly recommended as a vacation destination, especially in winter. The weather was very like a California winter and I don't think we met a single other American. We heard that Turkey is hot and very crowded in summer.
-- Donald
