Turkey ~ I joined a small group visiting Cappadocia to walk and balloon, and then sailed the Turquoise Coast of the Aegean Sea to island hop and visit historic sites. Pics L->R: Moon over Saltanamet; Zemi (Love) Valley; Over Cappadocia, Spoonwing; Lycian Arch of Modestus; Hadrian's Temple at Ephesus; 2nd century bust of Apollo; Byzantine ruins on Gemiler Island.

Ortaköy Mosque ~ Along the Bosphorus in Istanbul. The current mosque was ordered by the Ottoman sultan Abdülmecid and built between 1854 and 1856 [source wikipedia].

Basilica Cistern ~ Also know as Sunken Palace or Sunken Cistern is the largest of several hundred ancient cisterns that lie beneath the city of Istanbul [source wikipedia].

Moon over Saltanahmet ~ From the roof top restaurant of the Arcadia Blue Hotel where I stayed in Istanbul.

Zemi Valley ~ Also known as Love Valley, it is located nearby Cappadocia, and is a place where I had numerous walks and an exciting hot-air balloon adventure.

Walking Zemi Valley ~ After the ups of Zemi (Love) Valley, there is the inevitable down.

Over Cappadocia ~ An early morning ride in a hot-air balloon, a fantastic adventure. We were but one of about 100 balloons that morning.

Three Sisters ~ Yet another interesting rock formation in Cappadocia along the Zemi (Love) Valley.

Priapus ~ Hummmm! God of male procreative power, the son of Dionysus and Aphrodite. Viewed at the Ephesus Archaeological Museum in Izmir.

Socrates ~ 4th century bust. Viewed at the Ephesus Archaeological Museum in Izmir.

Hadrian's Temple ~ at Ephesus, an ancient Greek city on the coast of Ionia, 3 kilometres southwest of present-day Selçuk in Izmir Province, Turkey. It was built in the 10th century BC on the site of the former Arzawan capital by Attic and Ionian Greek colonists. [source wikipedia]

Ephesus Mosaic ~ Poseidon with sea horse Hippokampos abducting Amphitrite.

Ephesus Promenade

Library of Celsus ~ The façade of the library has been carefully reconstructed from all original pieces, and was originally built circa 125 AD in memory of Tiberius Julius Celsus Polemaeanus, an Ancient Greek who served as governor of Roman Asia (105-107 AD) in the Roman Empire. Celsus paid for the construction of the library with his own personal wealth and is buried in a sarcophagus beneath it. [source wikipedia]

Ephesus Arena / Theater ~ This open-air theatre, capable of holding 25,000, was used initially for drama, but during later Roman times gladiatorial combats were also held on its stage [source wikipedia].

Ottoman Cistern - I viewed several of these "watering holes," this one was on a peninsula of the mainland to the west of the island of Gemiler. [Google map of photo locale]

Going Ashore

Ghost Village of Kayaköy is located 8 km south of Fethiye in southwestern Turkey. In ancient times it was a city of Lycia. Later, Anatolian Greeks lived there until approximately 1922. Its population in 1900 was about 2,000, almost all Greek Christians. [source wikipedia]

Ghost Village of Kayaköy - The ghost town is now preserved as a museum village consisting of hundreds of rundown but still mostly standing Greek-style houses and churches. [source wikipedia]

Red Poppy

Bahhhh Humbug

Spoonwing - Formally known as Nemoptera sinuata.

Gemiler Island - is an island located off the coast of Turkey near the city of Fethiye. On the island are the remains of several churches built between the 4th and 6th centuries AD, along with a variety of associated buildings. Archaeologists believe it was the location of the original tomb of Saint Nicholas. [source Wikipedia]

Ruins of Gemiler Island - The Byzantine ruins of 5 churches built between the 4th and 6th centuries AD remain on the island, along with a 350 meters (1,150 ft) processional walkway. Other remains from the same period include around 40 other ecclesiastical buildings and over 50 Christian tombs. [source Wikipedia]

Amphitheater of the ancient city of Xanthos. It was the name of a city in ancient Lycia, the site of present day Kınık, Antalya Province, Turkey, and of the river on which the city is situated. [source Wikipedia]

Lycian Arch of Modestus at Patara.

Burial Tomb at Kaleköy - The nearby village of Kaleköy is now partially underwater from an earthquake long ago, as illustrated by this tomb.

Gypsy Women at the seaside village of Kaleköy.

Kaleköy Harbor

Protecting the Harbor at Kaleköy.

Burial Tombs of Myra - The city Myra is an ancient Greek town in Lycia where the small town of Kale is today. Myra was located on the river Myros (Demre Çay), in the fertile alluvial plain between Alaca Dağ, the Massikytos range and the Aegean Sea. This is 1 of 2 necropoleis of Lycian rock-cut tombs in the form of temple fronts carved into the vertical face of the cliff. [source Wikipedia]

Myra Theatrical Masks

Vase from Antalya Museum.

Apollo - 2nd century AD marble head of Apollo from the Antalya Museum.

Group Photo ~ Front Left->Right: Larry, Bette, Gretchen, Ken, Judy, Yasemin (leader). Back: Anne, Deborah, Herb, Molly, Carol, Richard, Trish.