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.

Stephanie and I inside the cave in Antakya

Ruins of a castle in Kozan

The inside of the church in the cave

Small produce market near Kirk’s house in Istanbul

Evening in Sanliurfa

Candle lanterns at the market in Istanbul

Steph and I riding a motorcycle with a sidecar in Sanliurfa

Sunset in Samandagi

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

Inside the Roman Tunnels in Samandagi

Early morning walk to go to the Istanbul airport.

Hiking the ridge above St. Peters in Antakya

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

The Cisterns in Istanbul

Arriving to rain in Antakya

Steph in the doorway of the Armenian Church

Fishermen in Istanbul

Olive vendors on the corner in Gaziantep

Looking out onto the Euphrates.

The Hittite rock musieum in Yesemek

A backhoe coming down Kirk’s street in Istanbul

Getting a concensus on directions

Taxsim Square, Istanbul

Finding our hotel room

Kirk with the windfarm in the background

Kirk negotiation for homegrown tobacco in Sanliurfa

Climbing the ridge above St. Peters

Looking out to the horizon from the mountains in Vaikifle

Having tea on the banks of the Euphrates with locals

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

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

Us with our Turkish friends in Yesemek

Grasses at sunset in Samandagi

Steph looking at photos with a local kid in Harran

Dilapidated houses in Adana

Freighter ships on the Bosphorus

Roman Tunnels in Samandagi

St. Peters hidden Catholic church in Antakya – built into a natural cave

Roof of the Aya Sophia

Local schoolkids clamoring to say hello to us in Kilis

Sketching and sailing up the Euphrates river

Our dusk tour of the Hittite rock garden in Yesemek

Medusa Head in the Cistern

Broken Turkish Pottery

Driving west, then north out of Antakya

Kirk and Steph checking the guidebooks in Adana

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.