Turkey/Greece Tour, May, 2014 by RamondHamilton by...

Turkey/Greece Tour, May, 2014

By RamondHamilton
Jul 18, 2014
227 Photos

RamondHamilton's Gallery

Turkey/Greece Tour, May, 2014

Jul 18, 2014
227 Photos

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Towering Minarets of the Blue Mosque, Istanbul, Turkey

Early Christian Church (The entrance of this cave-church was marked with etchings. Again, the earliest crosses symbolizing Christianity were symmetrical.)

Early Christian Church, Goreme, Turkey (Christians, persecuted by the Romans, fled and hid in the caves of the Goreme region. They also established some of the first churches, also in caves. They marked the entrance of the church-caves in various ways. Here the entrance was marked with paint. Note the early crosses, not the same as modern (post 3rd century) crosses.)

Later Christian Church, Goreme, Turkey (The entrance of this cave-church is marked with a modern cross.)

Lunch and a Show, Nevsehir, Turkey (A traditional Turkish stew is placed in the potter jar, sealed and essentially lit on fire. The heat makes the jar brittle. When the food is done, the top of the jar is broken cleanly open and the contents dished out onto plates.)

A Local, Nevsehir, Turkey

Turkish Pottery

Pottery Artist, Cappadocia, Turkey (Free-hand painting a white clay vase.)

Amazing Talent (One of the owners of the pottery shop drawing the outline of the design he will later paint, by hand. No stencil.)

Hand Painting Pottery, Turkey

Otherworldly Landscape, Devrent Valley, Turkey (The landscape in Cappadocia was surreal, but nowhere more so than the fairy chimneys in Devrent Valley.)

Devrent Valley, Turkey

Devrent Valley, Turkey

Pigeon Valley, Turkey

Marble Work, Ephesus, Turkey (Carved marble was everywhere, the craftsmanship unbelievable.)

Sultan's Pottery, Turkey (Five generations of pottery makers.)

Landscape North of Bergama (From this vantage point, it was no wonder the Attalid dynasty took advantage of the location to build Pergamon.)

Residential Ruins, Pergamon, Turkey (These are just outside the inner wall. The Alter of Zeus, marked by the trees, is in the background.)

Pergamon Ruins Scattered Among the Hillside (Various blocks. I wondered why there wasn't a more concentrated effort to use them to reconstruct the original buildings? The Alter of Zeus (Satan's Seat in the Bible) is marked by the trees in the background, where, "In 1871, the Zeus Altar was rediscovered by the German engineer Carl Humann, who took it back to his home country. It is now exhibited at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin. The Turkish government is in the process of trying to get the artifact back from Germany.")

Bulent and Ed at the Arches, Pergamon, Turkey

Scattered Pergamon Ruins in a Field (Seems like they're waiting to be pieced back together.)

Trajaneum Arches (The Trajaneum, the sanctuary of the Temple of Trajan, was built in the 2nd century AD on the west-facing slope, which was made level by the construction of a terrace supported by this row of eleven arched tunnels.)

Overlooking Bergama from Pergamon Acropolic (Note how I'm two paces from the edge . . .)

Library of Celsus, Ephesus, Turkey (One of the most dramatic ruins in Ephesus.)

11th Century Ceiling Paintings, Patmos, Greece (The columns and ceiling to the entrance of the main church in St. John's monastery.)

A History Lesson, Ephesus, Turkey

Pre-, Post-Spun Silk

Spinning Pocess

Expert Carpet Weaver (Turkey nationally certifies their carpet weavers and ranks their skills in categories, 1-10, 10 being the highest skilled. This lady is a rare 10. She is skilled enough to work on silk carpets.)

Ancient Toilets. Enough Said. (Ephesus, Turkey)

House of Mary, Selcuk, Turkey (Believed to be where St. John brought the Virgin Mary to live out the last years of her life.)

Grand Fortress of Selcuk ("The inner fortress situated on the highest point of the hill to the north of the St John’s Church superposes the very first settlement of Ephesus as the recent research has revealed. The walls which are seen today belong to the Byzantine, Ottoman and Aydınoğulları periods.")

Accidental Camouflage (I walked past a pond at the Asclepion near Pergamon and heard several splashes. I waited very still a few moments, and out crawled a number of turtles, nearly invisible, covered with the pond algae.)

Asclepion Amphitheater, Bergama, Turkey (Cha worked hard for this one. Standing at the top of the amphitheater at the Asclepion.)

Delphi Theater (The Delphi Theater and the Parthenon Museum, seen from the Parthenon. You can see the significant shift in the top floor of the museum so that it perfectly parallels the Parthenon itself. The museum was built to demonstrate to the British Museum curators that Greece had an adequate place in which to house the Parthenon ruins that were removed from Greece by Lord Thomas Elgin in the first decade of the 19th century. They continue to negotiate for their return.)

Temple of Zeus (The Temple of Zeus, as seen from the Parthenon.)

Odeon of Herodes Atticus (The theater as seen from the Parthenon.)

Greek Doorway (Andalusian influence. On walk from the Parthenon Museum to the Parthenon.)

Parthenon Museum, North Wall (The north wall has the most complete set of friezes.)

Alexandar the Great (A frieze of Alexander on the north wall, Parthenon Museum.)

Complete Friezes, Parthenon Museum (Undamaged line of friezes on the north wall of the Parthenon Museum.)

Two of the Caryatids from the Erechtheion (Two of the columns from the Erechtheion's Porch of the Maidens being restored in the Parthenon Museum.)

A Call From a Restless Generation (Graffiti abounds in Athens, many of the messages are political.)

A Santorini Sunset (Evening falls on the cliffs of Santorini as boats shuttle tourists back to the cruise ship.)

Clash of the Titans (Nobody on our bus thought we were going to get around this bus in Fira, Santorini)

Santorini Cliffs (The black buoy in the foreground marks the wreckage of a cruise ship that ventured too close to the cliffs.)

Tzatziki in Santorini (Best Tzatziki ever!)

Cha in Fira, Santorini

Cafe View (The view of the cafe where we stopped to try Santorini wine and tzatziki.)

Santorini Islands (Three of the Santorini islands in late afternoon.)

Home Sweet Home

Knossos Pottery

Knossos Pottery

Road to St. John's Monastery (Part of the way up the hill to the monastery and the Apocalypse Cave.)

Knossos Artwork (Mounted over the royal chambers.)

Friezes and Scuptures, Parthenon Museum (North wall of the museum.)

Skala, Patmos (A view of the town Skala from the St. John monastery on Patmos island.)

Skala and the Harbor, Patmos, Greece (A view of the harbor in which we anchored in Patmos, from the St. John Monastery.)

The Parthenon, Athens, Greece (I waited a very long time to snap a photo of the Parthenon with no tourists in it. This was the closest I could get. One would never know there were a thousand people around. Major reconstruction work is being done to restore crumbling sections. The replaced sections are white. The plan is to paint the replaced sections so that they match the original work. Our group consensus was to leave them white so we could tell what is original.)

Archway Painting, St. John's Monastery, Patmos, Greece (The Greek Orthodox church inside the monastery, built in 1088, had many well-preserved paintings along the ceiling and doorways. The monastery is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The ship stopped in Patmos only for a very short time. We could have spent a full day here.)

A Helpful Guide (We got lost in the labyrinth-like Chora alleys on our way to St. John's Monastery on Patmos Island, Greece. This kind lady walked us all the way up after closing her shop.)

St. John's Monastery, Patmos, Greece (Once we climbed the hill and found out way to the monastery, it was still a long way up to get to the museum at the top.)

Chora Street, Patmos, Greece (These are the types of alleys we have to navigate to get to St. John's Monastery. Very few signs, wasn't long before we were a bit lost. A lovely shop owner closed up and walked us all the way to the top.)

Entrance Into St. John's Monastery (We made it!)

An Easier Way Up to the Monastery (St. John's Monastery was built in 1088. There were a number of external wall structures like this one. Although this white pigeon was going in and out, we didn't know if it was intended to be a bird sanctuary, or whether it had been a window or air duct in the past.)

Contemplative Cha (Above the St. John's Monastery, there was this gathering place. The area was peaceful.)

Main Foyer, St. John's Monastery, Patmos (Tourists resting in the foyer. The columns were stunning, with perfectly rounded off edges. The main church is to the right. No photos allowed in there.)

Enterance to Cave of the Apocalypse, Patmos, Greece (Where St. John wrote the Book of Revelation. We weren't allowed to take photos. But the cave itself had a calm, tranquil feeling to it that was remarked upon by other tourists. I found myself sitting on one of the benches in deep contemplation, I could have spent much more time there than we had.)

Doorway into the Cave of the Apocalypse, Patmos (Cha and Liza on their way into the cave where St. John is believed to have written the Book of Revelation.)

Ed and Rosemary on the Boat to Patmos, Greece (The ship anchored out in the bay, they shuttled us in by small boat.)

Greek Lettering and Turquoise Water (First indications we had left Turkey and entered Greece.)

Million Dollar Smile

Field of Sarcophogi, Ephesus, Turkey (Huge stone tombs in a small field in Ephesus, Turkey.)

Ephesus Coliseum, Turkey (The coliseum held up to 25,000 people. It was easy to imagine what they might look like as we strolled up this main avenue.)

Blue Mosque Ceiling, Istanbul, Turkey (Inside the Blue Mosque. The ceiling and arch tiles were dazzling.)

Pigeons Outside the New Mosque, Istanbul, Turkey (But the locals seemed to take them in stride. The Turkish phrase translates to "Municipality of the Belediyesi District" one of the districts in Istanbul.)

Boys Being Boys Ouside the New Mosque, Istanbul, Turkey (Apparently, the young man did not particularly like the pigeons. So of course his friends (big assumption there) teased him with them.)

Cha on the Bosphorus, Istanbul, Turkey (Took a boat tour of the Bosphorus, the waterway the separates Asia from Europe.)

Fishing on the Bosphorus

Red Bulent (Taken outside of the Spice Market in Istanbul, just before boarding for a boat tour.)

Police Chase? (It looks like it as all four chasers are police officers. But it was actually just normal traffic in Istanbul. It was noteworthy that the only rider here without a helmet was a youngster.)

Yeni Cami (New Mosque), Istanbul, Turkey (New Mosque is located on the Golden Horn in Istanbul, and was completed between 1660 and 1665.)

Tour Boats Racing up the Bosphorus on a Blustery Day (Photo was taken from the southern bridge.)

Spice Market Wares, Istanbul, Turkey (An amazing array of rich, colorful spices and other items in the Spice Market.)

Headed Toward Homebase, Pigeon Valley, Turkey (One can image this guy (foreground) making a turn and lining up his final approach to the pigeon house (background). There were many stone pigeon houses here. Pigeons have a long history in the Cappadocia area as messenger carriers for various armies including for Alexander the Great and also for the fertilizer.)

Swaying Tendrils (I liked this photo because the flower looks like its moving and trailing white tendrils. The scene was actually quite still.)

Cappadocia Hillside, Turkey (Playing around with unknown camera settings in a random way produced a stark looking landscape of Cappadocia just before it started to rain. The sharp separations of the layers in the hillsides were fascinating and beautiful. Didn't write down the camera settings, haven't been able to reproduce the affect again.)

Uchisar Castle, Cappadocia, Turkey (Uchisar Castle in Cappadocia, seen from above Güvercinlik (Pigeon) Valley.)

Making Crafts (Craft makers plying their trade in Devrent Valley, Cappadocia, Turkey.)

A Peaceful Spot, Turkey (Taken at a rest stop on our way to the airport to catch a flight to Izmir, Turkey.)

Turkish Saddlebags (Not sure, but looked to be hand knotted, like Turkish carpets. I looked for one to bring home to use on my own bike, but never ran across them anywhere we went in Turkey.)

Atal Ataturk (Many statues, paintings and photos of Ataturk all throughout Turkey. This photo is in a unique brick and stone apartment house near Goreme, Turkey.)

Turkish Carpets for Sale (Near Pigeon Valley.)

Different Building Styles (The different constructions are emphasized by starkly different colors.)

Climbing Up to Pergamum, Turkey (Wasn't this easy getting to the top back in the day.)

Outer Wall, Pergamum, Turkey

Bulent And Tour At The Outer Wall, Pergamum, Turkey (Explaining the differences in the wall construction during the Hellenistic Period and post-earthquake.)

Ruins of the Pergamum Library (Founded around 197-159 BCE, the Pergamum library contained 200,000 rolls— the second largest library in the ancient world after Alexandria.)

Cistern, Pergamum, Turkey

Ground Cover, Pergamum, Turkey (Tiny white and yellow flowers punctuated by brilliant red blooms covered much of the open field areas in between the ruins.)

Scroll Work (The detailing in the stone columns of the Temple of Trajan is still vividly sharp today.)

Temple of Trajan (Some of the Corinthian columns that surrounded the Temple of Trajan.)

Temple of Trajan Columns (The temple suffered much from several earthquakes and ended up in ruins.)

Surrounding Countryside From the Pergamon Acropolis (The city of Bergama is on the upper left. The ruins of a minor amphitheater can be seen in the upper middle, as well as the Asklepion that we later visited.)

Temple of Trajan, Pergamon, Turkey (Ruins of the temple and surrounding courtyard. Much of the ruins that have survived are in the Pergamon Museum in Germany.)

Amazing Marble Work, Temple of Trajan, Pergamon (I was struck by the symmetry of the columns. Each one was hand carved, but the decorative patterns looked identical from one column to another.)

Ruins of an Alter, Temple of Trajan

Temple of Trajan Ruins (Between 1976 and 1994, restoration works were carried out by the German Archaeological Institute. Statues of Trajan and Hadrian, the two emperors in power during the temple's construction, were found which are now in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.)

Ruined Columns Against a Blue Sky (Temple of Trajan.)

Precise Marble Work (Temple of Trajan.)

Bergama, Turkey (As seen from the Pergamon ruins. We were there during the afternoon call to prayer. All the minarets in the city called to prayer at once. The collective sound that rose up to our vantage point at Pergamon on a still day was ghostly.)

Hellenistic Theater at Pergamon, Turkey (Said to be the steepest theater in the ancient world, it's capacity was 10,000. The view was spectacular.)

Bulent Making Lunch Arrangements

Statue of the Emperor Trajan at Pergamon

The Peripteros Walkway Surrounding the Temple of Trajan (At one time, this walkway was columned on both sides and roofed.)

Temple of Trajan as Seen From the Peripteros Walkway

Panathenaic Stadium, Athens, Greece (Site of the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. Left to Right: Chaebong Nam, Sharon Merriam, Rosemary and Ed Caffarella.)

The Ancient Agora of Classical Athens (The tree strewn ruins of the Agora, as seen from the Parthenon. The Temple of Hephaestus can be seen on the right. It is one of the largest temples in Greece with the roof still in tact.)

Areopagus Hill, Near the Entrance to The Acropolis (Site where the Apostle Paul delivered his famous speech to the Athenians.)

IMG_0103 (A for Athens Hotel)

Lina Speaking to an Attentive Group in the Parthenon Museum

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