Photographer in Colorado

Our tour group left Göreme (Cappadocia) early on a Thursday morning, heading to for Safranbolu. The route we followed skirted around Turkey’s capital (Ankara), so this journey took some 5 or 6 hours to complete. Safranbolu was an important route for caravans along the Silk Route (the east/west trade route). The town was also in a growing region for saffron. Today, the Old Town of Safronbolu is a Unesco heritage site. Soon after arriving checking in to our hotel, we met by one of the town squares, near the public baths. In this image, I captured the baths and one of the many cobbled streets.

Outside The Public Baths, Safranbolu

The baths have interesting domed roofs. One feature of the roofs are many small glass-domed windows. These can be seen in the following image.

Roof Domes, Public Baths

Many buildings in the town are in Ottoman style. We visited the Ottoman museum, which is an example of an Ottoman style houses. This is an image of the museum from the tea garden.

Ottoman Museum, Safranbolu

The museum is an exhibit of the typical lifestyle of Ottoman families. Various rooms in the museum show typical furnishings of Ottoman houses. From the third floor of the museum, one can appreciate the view of many of houses in Old Town.

View Across The Rooftops, Safranbolu

The terracotta roof of the nearby building is adorned with many chimneys, that I attempted to capture in these two images.

Rooftops, Safranbolu

Our visit to the museum was followed by saffron flavored tea in the tea garden. We then meandered through the streets, shopping at some of the stores, while making our way back to the hotel. Blue hour had arrived and lights around town were lit. In this image, I captured the mosque, lit by street lighting against a deep blue sky. I made sure to include the moon in this image.

Mosque At Dusk, Safranbolu

More to come.

Last Saturday morning, we joined an Audobon birding group at Denver City Park. Canada geese were the most common species. The smaller ponds and lakes in the park were populated with hundreds of geese. We also saw Buffelhead ducks and Northern Shovelers. It was a freezing morning; the main lake was iced over except for a few areas of open water. I took the opportunity of making this panorama.

View Towards Mountains From City Park, No 2

This was converted to monochrome with Snapseed.

Arriving in Göreme, we checked in to the hotel. Some of us managed to take a dip in the swimming pool. Our tour included a visit to an exhibition of Whirling Dervishes. This involves a trance-like dance. After the main dance, some of the dancers performed for a photo shoot.

Dervish Dancer, Cappadocia

These two images are the best examples of the Dervhishes.

Dervish Dancer No 2, Cappadocia

Following this event we headed for dinner. Most of the tour members chose to do a flight in a hot air balloon. Göreme is a popular location for hot air ballooning in Cappadocia. I chose not to make a flight so that I could capture some balloon pics. The launch site was a short walk from the hotel. I made my way there just before sunrise. Approaching the site, some of the balloons had already launched. In this image, I captured the balloon against contrail clouds that were lit by the rising sun.

Hot Air Balloons And Clouds At Sunrise, Cappadocia

The launch site is surrounded by several hills and valleys. The following image captured a colorful balloon lifting off from one of the valleys.

Balloon Lift Off In Valley

Soon after, I heard my name called out. The call came from members of our tour group — they were riding in the balloon below.

Kaya Balloons

After a few minutes, most of the balloons had left on their sunrise flight. I headed towards the Fairy Chimneys. In the image, the last balloon caught light from the rising sun as it was flying above the chimney formations.

Balloons Above Fairy Chimneys At Sunrise

In this image, I captured the five chimneys, with the town of Göreme in the distance.

Fairy Chimneys At Dawn

Close by was a cave in one of the chimneys. These are volcanic rock formations and are relatively soft. The cave had been carved out by hand and tools. In the following image, one can see the gouged tool marks on the rock surfaces inside the cave.

Inside The Excavated Cave

Later in the morning, our group visited the Göreme Open-Air Museum. This is the site of many churches and chapels that were carved into the volcanic rock. This is the entrance to one of the churches that a located here.

Church In Goreme Open Air Museum

Angela was visiting one of the other churches. I made this image of her gazing out across the museum.

Angela, Looking Out Over Museum

Several other visitors made the trip to the museum. I made this portrait of a lady and her child, taking a break from the sun.

Mother And Child, Open Air Museum

After visiting the museum, we headed out to the museum store while wait to regroup. Here is another image of Angela, checking mail on her phone.

Angela, Open Air Museum

Another image of Tolga, our tour group leader.

Tolga, Open Air Museum

In this image, I captured Vicky, as she was taking a break after checking her phone.

Vicky, Open Air Museum

Lunch was in a restaurant in Göreme. I could not help but make this image of colorful pots, hanging on the restaurant wall.

Pots Hanging In Restaurant, Goreme

On the following morning, Angela and I headed close to the launch site. She had missed the balloon launch the previous morning. This image shows several balloons over Göreme.

Balloons Over Goreme, Cappadocia

That’s all for now.

Leaving Konya, we headed on our journey towards Cappadocia. Our first stop was the Caravanserai at Aksaray. Caravanserai were built along the Silk Road through Turkey, spaced at intervals of about 30 miles apart. The Silk Road continued through the Middle East, eventually ending in China. The modern day equivalent of a caravanserai would be an Inn or Motel. This caravanserai was built in 1229, about the era of the Seljuk empire in Turkey. The main entrance portal to the caravanserai is shown below.

Caravanserai Entrance Portal, Aksaray

The arch above the portal has some exquisite detail. The image below was taken from below the arch, looking straight up.

Portal Stonework Detail

On the walls, at either side of the entrance are fine detailed patterns carved into the stonework. An example of this detail is captured below.

Exterior Stonework Detail, Caravanserai

Inside the caravanserai walls, is a large courtyard, with a small tower.

Courtyard, Caravanserai

At the end of the caravanserai (the western side), are these huge halls. These were used to store goods of the traveling caravans and served as quarters for their pack animals (camels and horses). Here is an image with Angela looking up, in awe, at the high ceilings of these halls.

Storage Halls, Caravanserai

The caravanserai has some real architectural gems. I found these red flowers adjacent to one of the interior doorways. Once again, we see the detailed stonework carved into the arch above the doorway.

Doorway And Flowers, Caravanserai

Here is another more detailed image of the stonework.

Arch Stonework Detail

After visiting, we stopped at a nearby store before boarding the bus for our next destination — the Underground City of Derinkuyu in Cappadocia.

Excavation of this city started about 800 BCE, as a shelter and safe haven for thousands of people from marauding armies. The tunnels of the city are carved in a soft volcanic rock. A elaborate system of tunnels extending at least seven (7) levels underground were made. Rooms were carved off the tunnels to serve as living quarters, storage areas, livestock, etc. The city also has several ventilation shafts to ensure adequate flow of air.

Inside Underground City, Derinkuyu

Many of the tunnels are quite narrow, allowing only a single person to travel through, as shown below.

Narrow Tunnels, Derinkuyu

The tunnels also have doors to protect against unwanted incursion into the city. These are rolling rocks that can only be closed by rolling across the tunnel from the inside. These doors can only be operated from the “inside” of the tunnel. Here is an example of one of these doors.

Rolling Door, Derinkuyu

We headed to the city of Göreme, located among the Fairy Chimneys that Cappadocia is well-known for. We stopped at one location with a view down towards the chimneys.

Fairy Chimneys Near Goreme, Cappadocia

The Fairy Chimneys are soft volcanic rock formations. This is a similar rock formation to that of the underground city. In years gone by, several houses have been carved out of the rock, as can be seen in this image.

Path Through Fairy Chimneys, Cappadocia

In this image, I made capture one of the local women sitting near a grapevine — I believe she lives close by — gazing up at another group of tourists to the area.

Woman Near Grapevine Among Chimney Formations

More later.

After leaving Aspendos, we headed inland to Konya. This city is well known for the Islamic poet Rumi. He lived and practiced in Konya. His tomb (or mausoleum) is located in the Mevlana Mosque in Konya. This mosque also includes the Mevlana Museum that have several exhibits relating to Rumi and Sufism.

Rumi’s Tomb, Konya

This mosque is another that has really interesting ceilings. Above this chandelier is this exquisitely detailed ceiling.

Ceiling Detail Above Chandelier, Konya Mosque

Leaving the mosque, one passes by these heavy wooden doors.

Mosque Door, Konya

Turning around after leaving the mosque, I looked up to admire the stonework above the door. I converted this image to monochrome because it renders detail much better that the color version.

Stonework Detail Above Door, Konya Mosque

In the center of the mosque courtyard is the ablution fountain. I made this image by focusing on the fountain. This shows the flowing water but allows the fencing to blur out of focus.

Ablution Fountain, Konya Mosque

I made my way around and out of the courtyard. There a graves from several of the Imams who served in the mosque. These tombs have elaborate headstones. As the sun was setting, the headstone caps cast shadows on other nearby headstones.

Imam Grave Headstone, And Shadow, No 1

I headed back into the courtyard where I made some more images, including this one showing several people moving between various the museum rooms.

Mosque Courtyard, Konya

Those headstones intrigued me, so I headed back to see the changing light of the setting sun. The angle of the sun had changed, creating shadows from different headstone caps.

Imam Grave Headstone And Shadow, No 2

Then I went to the wall at the back, where the three headstones projected three shadows on the wall.

Headstone Shadows, Mosque Konya

We made our way to the gardens at the entrance to the mosque and museum complex. Here I captured the light from the setting sun.

Mosque At Sunset, Konya

We headed to the hotel by bus. After checking in, night had arrived and it was dinner time. Our restaurant was near to the mosque and museum. I took this opportunity to make an image of the mosque lit up against the night sky.

Mosque At Night, Konya

On the next morning, I headed out of the hotel at dawn. Sunlight was streaming down the street casting long shadows. I waited at this spot until some guys walking to work entered the frame to create this image.

Walking To Work, Konya

Further down the street was a conical fountain in one of the parks. Here the backlit water drops were spraying down the fountain in this image.

Conical Fountain, Konya

There was a huge paved courtyard nearby, where huge flocks of pigeons had congregated. I found this gentleman feeding some of the pigeons.

Feeding The Pigeons, Konya

On the roof of a nearby mosque, a flock of pigeons had roosted on the uneven brickwork.

Pigeons On Roof, Konya

Then it was back to the hotel for breakfast.

Continuing with our tour… Waking up early in our hotel in Antalya, I headed out to explore Old Town soon after sunrise. The night before was busy, with people meeting in restaurants and pubs. Sunrise was quiet and streets were empty. I waited in a street close to the hotel and waited for someone to appear. After a few minutes, an early morning street walker appeared.

Street Walker, Old Town, Antalya

The image above give an indication of narrow width of the street… just over one car wide! Although we had a small bus, it is obvious why we would not be able to navigate the Old Town streets in the bus.

As the sun rose, it lit up a line of water tanks mounted on the roof of a nearby building.

Roof Top Water Tanks, Old Town

In one of the nearby streets, I found these blue doors closing off parking area behind someone’s house.

Blue Doors, Old Town

Traveling through Turkey, one finds many groups of men having conversations and sipping tea around a table. This looks like one location, where the colorful chairs and chest were packed away for the night.

Street Furniture, Old Town

Here, one early morning shopper stop to buy some fruit at a street vendor. Shopping for breakfast?

Shopping For Fruit, Old Town

Many people in Turkey drink bottled water. Tap water is not always fit for drinking! Some enterprising person collected and bagged blue bottle caps from water bottles. I found this bag hanging from one of the street walls.

Bag Of Water Bottle Caps

Across the street from out hotel was this restaurant. There are several quotations decorating the exterior walls. In this image is the following.

“Don’t bother me; that’s all I ask of you”.

This is a quotation by the Greek philosopher Diogenes (aka Dijayen), that I found interesting. Find out more information on Wikipedia.

Empty Tables Old Town

I found one store close to the hotel, where I found beads and bowls.

Beads And Bowls, Old Town

Old Town has many Ottoman houses. This is one of the more interesting doors that I found.

Ottoman Door, Old Town

Soon after, I headed back to the hotel for breakfast. After packing up, we left Old Town by way of Hadrian’s Gate. Hadrian was a very popular Roman emperor. Many of the ancient sites that we visited had statues of him and gates named after Hadrian.

Hadrian’s Gate, Antalya

This arch shows a detailed ceiling stonework, that is typical of many Roman buildings.

Hadrian’s Gate Arch

Arriving at the parking lot, our luggage arrived at the bus by taxi. After loading up, we headed towards Konya by way of Aspendos. The theater in Aspendos is a magnificent structure. This is extremely good condition, probably because it was occupied and cared for by Ottomans. Around the top perimeter of the theater is a gallery with many arches that look out across the seats and the stage.

Aspendos Roman Theater

We climbed up the theater steps to reach the gallery. Inside the gallery are a ring of arches, that stretch out along the perimeter. This is captured in the following image.

Gallery, Aspendos Theater

From one of the arches, I captured the view over the seating, the stage and the distant mountains.

Aspendos Theater Stage

The image below shows more detail of the wall above the stage.

Stage Wall, Aspendos Theater

Several people had been visiting the theater during the morning. However, I this image I was lucky to catch a single lone audience member once crowds had moved through.

Lone Theater Audience, Aspendos

The city of Aspendos was supplied with water by means of an aqueduct. Climbing the hill above the theater gives a great view of the surrounding countryside and ruins of the aqueduct.

Aspendos Aqueduct

After leaving Aspendos, we stopped for lunch at a roadside restaurant. Gozleme (pancakes) was the main specialty of this restaurant — yummy!

We had a two-night break in Kaş before continuing to Antalya. Getting up early, I left the hotel to make some images after sunrise, including this image of the Greek island of Meis.

Sunrise, Meis Island

This was the Linda Hotel where we stayed. Our room was on the second floor right at the back.

Linda Hotel, Kas

I headed down towards the harbor. This was the best image that I made of the lighthouse at the entrance to the harbor.

Harbor Lighthouse, Kas

We left Kaş, stopping at the ancient ruins of Phaselis. This city was founded by colonists from Rhodes. Later it was part of the Lycian Federation. The following image is the main street that runs between two bays the border the city. On the right hand side of the street, are pedestals from monuments to various residents of the city.

Main Street, Phaselis

This is the pedestal of the monument of Aurelius Ptolemaios, a wrester.

Monument To A Wrestler, Aurelius Ptolemaios

As with many cities, this one also has a theater. The city was built below Mount Olympos (Mt. Olympus), which is captured from the theater in this image.

View From Phaselis To Mount Olympos

Water was supplied from a nearby spring to the city by means of an aqueduct. Only a short section of the aqueduct remains, captured in this image.

Aqueduct In Phaselis

Here we can see an archaeologist at work, making sketches of one of the ruined buildings. He had laid out a survey tape around the building on the right-hand side that was the subject of his sketches.

Archaeologist Working On Main Street

After leaving Phaselis, we boarded the bus, heading for Antalya. After lunch, I made this image of the beach stretching out towards the distant mountains, where a storm was brewing.

Storm Over Mountains, Antalya

Antalya is a favorite tourist destination on the Mediterranean Coast. However, this year, tourism Turkey and many other European destinations were depressed. As a result, there were several empty buildings in Antalya.

After lunch, we headed to the Antalya Museum, where several archaeological pieces from ruins in the Antalya region are displayed. The following image shows the “Heracles Sarcophagus” (Hercules Sarcophagus) that was recovered after being smuggled from the site of Perge. The sides of the sarcophagus depict the 12 Labors of Heracles.

Heracles Sarcophagus, Antalya Museum

The following image is a statue of Heracles in a classic pose.

Statue Of Heracles, Antalya Museum

Following the museum visit, we headed for the Mia Hotel in Old Town Antalya. Old Town has narrow streets, so our bus could not enter. All bags were transferred to a taxi cab for delivery, while we walked the narrow streets to the hotel.

Mia Hotel, Old Town Antalya

This hotel is located in an Ottoman style building, that is evident from the shutters covering the windows in the above image.