Turkey

Lots of wooden sailing boats there

The Turkish bus system was excellent but on our first experience a bit fell off the bus and everyone have to wait in the olive grove.
 

In Bodrum we looked unsuccessfully for the ruins of Halicarnassus, but we did find the Famous beehives of Halicarnassus.
 

I did eventually chance upon the tomb of Mauselus, the Mausoleum. I has gone done hill a bit since its days as one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

The ancient city of Ephesus, we didn't bother with another of the seven Wonders, the temple of Artemis.
 

The library at Ephesus
 

The theatre

Having had enough of the coast we went inland to Pamukale. The travertines are formed by calcium rich water from the hot springs on top of the cliff flowing down and depositing stalactite type formations.
 

A nice warm shower
 

Craig in the spar.

The inland seemed interesting, so we headed further east across the great Anatolian Plain.
 

Next stop was Gorome in Cappadocia, where to soft rock produced interesting erosion features and the inhabitants cut villages, churches and even underground towns into the rock.
 

More erosion features with rock cut houses
 

The Cappadocian landscape
 

The somewhat euphemistically named "fairy chimneys" at Zelve
 

A rock cut monastery at Zelve
 

Me exploring the monastery

After talking to the notoriously enthusiastic Malatya Tourist Office we went off the the ancient site of Nemrut Dagh, a six hour dolmush trip from Malatya.
 

A quite pleasant lunch stop
 

A Kurdish man at the lunch stop
 

Shepherd's tents
 

Kurdish girl
 

The Pension at the base of Nemrut Dagh, the establishment requires a few finishing touches
 

The Dining Room
 

Anita and Tom at the actual ancient site which is the burial place of king Antiochos II. He is buried under the artificial mountain top in the background.
 

As with all these touristic mountains you're expected to go up to see the dawn.

Still going further east, the black walls of Diyarbirkir looking down on the Tigris
 

A stop on the bus trip from Diyarbirkir to Van
 

The view from the Rock of Van looking at Lake Van, near the town of Van
 

A historic mosque at Erzurum, a place where you can catch a flight to Istanbul

The blue mosque at Istanbul
 

A lot of the photos here are by Craig Steddy.