Traveling Through Turkey and Israel – Photos

Traveling through Turkey and Israel in December 2008, I managed to take roughly 1500 photos with my brand new Canon G10. The new camera was great, and the wide angle 28mm lens, ND filter, and full manual control were great to have in the field. I started the trip with 8gb and 2gb memory cards, and, shooting on JPEG fine, managed to start filling up the 8gb card way too early in the trip. Although I hate to do it, I actually did edit photos while I was traveling. In the end, I ended up with about 1200 photos. Out of those, I’ve edited them down to the top 100 or so. These photos I feel best represent the trip, and should give a good feel of the varying environments and sites of both Turkey and Israel.

I also took about 45 minutes of video, which I’m in the process of editing down to a presentable reel.

Our dusk tour of the Hittite rock garden in Yesemek

Blizzard conditions landing back in Istanbul

Getting a concensus on directions

Doerta cooking up a delicious German dinner.

Street food in Istanbul

Looking off into Syria, on the border between Turkey and Syria

Small produce market near Kirk’s house in Istanbul

Candle lanterns at the market in Istanbul

Looking into the cut from the Roman Tunnels in Samandagi

Goats in Harran

Driving west, then north out of Antakya

Evening in Sanliurfa

Sundown in Yesemek, Turkey

Roof of the Aya Sophia

Inside the Roman Tunnels in Samandagi

Ataturk in Adana

Medusa Head in the Cistern

Dried Eggplant shells in Antakya

Dinner boat on the Bosphorus

Steph and I riding a motorcycle with a sidecar in Sanliurfa

Grasses at sunset in Samandagi

Taking the dolmush from Adana to Antakya

Steph and Kirk with our dinner the first night in Istanbul.

Steph looking at photos with a local kid in Harran

Finding our hotel room

Turkish Delight

Juggling oranges on a street side fruit stand.

The Mosque in Kilis

Looking out to the horizon from the mountains in Vaikifle

Catholic church courtyard in Antakya

Dilapidated houses in Adana

Street feeling in Kilis

The ruins of St. Simeon

Me, Steph and Kirk standing on ruined pilars at St. Simeon

The Cisterns in Istanbul

Talking to the hotel staff in Adana

A local shepard and his flock on the side of the road in Yolbasi

Driving at night back to Antakya

Me driving through flood waters in Samandag

Olive vendors on the corner in Gaziantep

Kirk looking at the surviving arched cieling of the castle ruins at Kasaba

Walking at night in Antakya. THe street had a movie set like feeling from the yellow, flat streetlights.

Researching for our next day’s adventures in our hotel room in Antakya

A chef distributing pestashio on to baklava at Chadas in Gaziantep

Broken Turkish Pottery

Me, Steph and Kirk about to split up in Istanbul

Kirk negotiation for homegrown tobacco in Sanliurfa

Climbing the ridge above St. Peters

Steph standing on the beach

Kirk with the windfarm in the background

Kirk and Steph checking the guidebooks in Adana

Beehive houses in Harran

Having tea on the banks of the Euphrates with locals

Faces carved into the rock above St. Peters church in Antakya

An orange vendor in Harran

Steph and the Euphrates river

Our sketchy hotel in Sanliurfa

Buying clementines in Antakya

A backhoe coming down Kirk’s street in Istanbul

Fishermen in Istanbul

Pegasus Airlines

Sunday night dinner at Kirk’s House

The cave restaurant in Sanliurfa

Roman Tunnels in Samandagi

The Hittite rock musieum in Yesemek

Looking off into the mountains from Antakya

The inside of the church in the cave

Surveying the dramatic scenery as we drive to Bierecheck, in the canyons carved by the Euphrates

Ruins of a castle in Kozan

Riding the dolmush through Belen, Tureky

Sunset in Samandagi

Taxsim Square, Istanbul

Sitting on the ledge watching the sun set on the Euphrates in Kasaba.

Local kids in Vaikifle

Early morning walk to go to the Istanbul airport.

Local kid holding a lamb in Antakya. On this mountainside we met a shepard tending to hish flock. This kid hiked with us for a bit up onto the side of the mountain.