1. The Dardanelles, seen from Taksin, has Europe in the foreground and Uskudar in Asia, across the water.
2. Sinan’s Yeni Camii, beyond the Galata Bridge, across the Golden Horn is part of Istanbul’s Egyptian Market.
3. The slenderness of Turkish minarets is an eternal source of wonderment.
4. Feeding the pigeons is an act of benevolence. There are more pigeons in Istanbul than in Venice.
5. Sixth century Haghia Sophia remains the holiest site of Greek Orthodoxy. Its dome of over 100 feet diameter had to be buttressed. Converted to a mosque after the Turkish conquest, it was provided with four minarets.
6. Whitewashing mosaics preserved them through the centuries. In Haghia Sophia’s mezzanine, Christ presides over tombs of the Byzantine emperors and their families.
7. Sixteenth century Iznik tiles are one of many Ottoman glories. This panel covers a wall of the Circumcision Pavilion in Istanbul’s Suleymanye.
8. The sultans held sway from Topkapi palace. These early 16th century Iznik tiles, with Mohamed and Allah intertwined, come from the heart of the harem
9. In Anatolia, sunflower fields add to the diversity of crops.
10. Sunflower heads rotate to face the sun until they dry, then produce oil-bearing seeds.
11. A dried anise stalk dominates the beautiful Celcus Library in Ephesus.
12. Ephesus has Greek, Roman and Christian vestiges. The Stadium dates from Nero’s time.
13. At Didyma, Medusa’s scowling face is but a highlight of the great temple to Apollo. Miletus
14. Bodrum’s Crusader castle, built by the Order of St. John, dominates the little town
15. Peppers drying in Mugla, a Turkish village on the ertswhile Greek Agean Coast, .
16. A magical sunset over the bay at Antalya along Turkey’s Mediterranean coast
17. Marmaris’ well concealed bay on the Aegean coast looks deceptively peaceful. Here Nelson gathered the British fleet before dispatching Napoleon’s fleet at Aboukir.
18. A few Ionic columns from the Temple of Artemis crown a bluff at Asos from which you can see the nearby Greek islands.
19. Cappadocia’s tuffa retained moisture to provide a very fertile area, farmed for millenia.
20. Cappadocia’s “fairy cones” were created by ash spewed from a volcano.
21. Dwellings carved in the tuffa, Cappadocia
22. Beautifully interlaced inscription on mosque in Konya, capital of Seljuk Turk sultans, before the Ottomans
23. German screams still reverberate over the Taurus mountains where this tourist tried a camel-ride.
24. A nomad caravan crosses the Taurus Mountains
25. A herd of goats is a fearful thing to see in arid country. Taurus mountains.
26. Pamukale, the “cotton castle,” limestone deposits from hot springs
27. Evidences of earthquakes are everywhere. Aphrodisias
28. Aphrodisias’ stadium, one of the best-preserved Roman structures, could hold 30,000 people
29. The temple to Jupiter, dating from Hadrian’s reign, at Carvdarhisar, has amazingly long monolithic columns.
30. Yellow motorcycle, Bergama
31. Above the Golden Horn, the cemetery of Eyup, Istanbul
32. The cemetery of Salman the Pure, Istanbul, where headdress denotes the rank of the deceased
33. The small caravanserai of Yecil Ev had just been reroofed in lead. Chimneys indicate how cold it can get in Istanbul.
34. Sometimes called the “Blue Mosque,” Sultan Ahmed Camii with its six minarets, has pride of place in Istanbul.
35. Haghia Sophia seen through a rainbow, Istanbul
36. Sultan Ahmet Mosque through fountain spray, Istanbul
37. Istanbul sunset
38. Dusk through a curtain at Yecil Ev, Istanbul
39. The southern suspension bridge over the Bosphorus at Ortakoy