Turkey at last!

welcome to istanbul!

Finally, I made it. During my fall travels, coming here seemed like such a far off prospect, something I hoped would happen, but wasn't so sure it would work out. And now, I am here. M and I arrived on the same flight from New York (I'm sure the people around us wanted to kill us by the end of the 13-hour ordeal... we spent the time catching up on lost news, being our absurd and goofy selves, and laughing at the ridiculous Turko-pop stations that Turkish Air provided, as well as its general motifs and color choices - powder pink and baby blue. And real, metal cutlery. And the fact that vegetarians apparently don't eat real dessert [they continually gave us fruit cups instead of the cookies or cakes the meat-eaters enjoyed]. The female flight attendants really need to work on their frightening methods of make-up application. Honestly, I think one woman's cheeks might have been radioactive. M stole a blanket. It was so soft, basically a baby blanket with 'Turk Hava Yolari' inscribed on it. I must confess, I snatched one, too, on my second flight to Istanbul, and it has proved cozy on our long bus trips..)


a photo-journal (for lack of the ability to vocalize it all...):

M + G in the passageway of an underground city (no, no joke.) in cappadoccia

Gabe, Mad, me, + Ahmet by the Blue Mosque in Sultanahmet

Weary tourists in the Aya Sofia

So many colorful ceramics @ Grand Bazaar

G, in his usual resting cat position...

sculpture park on the bosphorous in istanbul

ruins of the temple of artemis, seljuk

frieze of nike in ephasus

standing in the entrance of the glorious hellenistic ephasus library!

self-shot (pretty obvious) with the grand promenade behind us, ephesus

at the necropolis of hieropolis

me n' the tombs

self-shot on the calcium carbonate travertines, pamukkale

i'm too short for this, says hazel

standin' in the luke-warm spring water, being healed.

classic gabe (i love this photo) - the morning after our overnight bus to cappidoccia

a carved cave in the rock - welcome to cappadoccia! (perfect for exploring)

stray cats make a colorful home in the town of nevşehir

a little girl who helped us find an internet cafe (where we later sat amongst lots of little boys playing online RPGs and making battle noises, shouting at each other in Turkish) took this shot (note the juiceboxes) (and snow!!)

climbing up the castle in town!

higher up

lonely trek to the top (practicing my camera timer skills.... lacking, obviously)

getting better - with the town below

the breathtaking view from the top

this is cheap dinner, prepared with communal love (and my leatherman) in our cavehotel room



"land of beautiful horses" .... and TONS of amazing geological sites!

the most photographed rock here....

at a cave church

examples of horst structures, created once by a plume of molten material extending into the earth's crust, breaking and cracking it at the surface... then eroded and eroded, with hard ash layer (from a nearby ancient volcano eruption) on the top

welcome to who-ville.

inside one of the old churches, painted with pidgeon eggwhite and various pigments

random party with the only other tourists in town (horray for traveling in the off-season) - complete with free wine, live tunes, and some serious turkish hospitality

mad always manages to find a drum... what a rock star

on a walk through the valley

this neat dude showed us a secret way to the top of this incredible, old city ruin

back in istanbul, stuffing ourselves with kumpir (baked potato stuffed with everything under the sun.... completely delish) before teary goodbyes over the national beer, followed by separate planes...