light as a feather: July 2010

light as a feather

31.7.10

Turkey-summer 2010 Turkey is a big country that stretches from Europe to Iraq. It has one foot in the eurosecular world and the other in deepest Islam. We barely scratched the surface, seeing a bit of the Mediterranean coast, the Anatolian plain, and Cappadoccia. It was hot as hell, the imams were indefatigable, their minaret-mounted bullhorns never rested, but the people were delicious, and the land and sea were sumptuous.

Ilhara valley
¶ 11:28 PM

The protagonists Innovation! A vacation with friends...Yodog, Private Pinkypants, Corporal Bullcrusher and their handlers on a three week mini-magnum, baclava and beer-fueled jaunt through the Turkish backcountry.

wombats and handlers

the photographer

the angel

the wombats

the wombats' parental units (note absence of beer bottle)

pu, pinkypants, bullcrusher

the angel

private pinkypants at pammukale

pinkypants and bullcrusher at Oludeniz

yodog

pinkypants and bullcrusher on the road to Rome

pinkypants trying to surf the beach

yodog unleashed

¶ 9:31 PM

Cities Turkish cities are generally unappealing. Most cities seem to have undergone a construction boom over the past 20 years which has given rise to vast quantities of banal 5 and 6 story apartment buildings, presumably accomodating people moving in from the countryside or, in coastal areas, vacationers. Contemporary architecture is almost nonexistant. The traditional urban houses do have an interesting feature, though. The floor plates tend to get larger as they go up, creating some interesting overhanging volumes.

Fethiye

somebody's house in Fethiye

Goreme by night

Konya bazaar

Road to Konya

Konya

Fethiye fish market ¶ 1:44 PM

Ruins Turkey has a wild mix of Greek, Roman and Byzantine cities. Most sites were inhabited by all of the above at different times.

Byzantine wall made from Roman stones

Atlantis necropolis

Asia's best Greco-Roman necropolis

Temple of Apollo

Ephysus

¶ 12:39 PM

Cappadocia This is what we came to Turkey for (Patrice anyway). Welcome to the land of Oz. To make a long story short, two volcanos deposited 100 meters of volcanic material in the Anatolian plain. The lava cooled into soft, easily workable rock. Erosion formed the fairy landscape, man appeared, took a chisel and hollowed it out for his own purposes - religion, shelter, commerce. The resulting landscape is an astounding team effort between man and nature.