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.

Sunset in Samandagi

Fishermen in Istanbul

Sunset in Samandagi

Sundown in Yesemek, Turkey

Broken Turkish Pottery

Hassan, a local resident

Steph looking at photos with a local kid in Harran

Small town on the side of the Euphrates. Their mosque was flooded when the damn was build.

Local kids in Vaikifle

Fruitstand in Istanbul

Taking the dolmush from Adana to Antakya

Looking out to the horizon from the mountains in Vaikifle

Sunday night dinner at Kirk’s House

Steph in the doorway of the Armenian Church

More dolmush rides

Olive vendors on the corner in Gaziantep

Arriving in Sanliurfa

A chef distributing pestashio on to baklava at Chadas in Gaziantep

Taxsim Square, Istanbul

Our sketchy hotel in Sanliurfa

Sketching and sailing up the Euphrates river

Getting Sahlep in Antakya

The cave restaurant in Sanliurfa

Kirk and Steph checking the guidebooks in Adana

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

Climbing the ridge above St. Peters

Goats in Harran

Kirk negotiation for homegrown tobacco in Sanliurfa

Beehive houses in Harran

Dried Eggplant shells in Antakya

Catholic church courtyard in Antakya

Looking out onto the Euphrates.

Driving through the mountains near the Med

Medusa Head in the Cistern

Pegasus Airlines

Roof of the Aya Sophia

Small produce market near Kirk’s house in Istanbul

Driving west, then north out of Antakya

An antique Zenith watch for sale at the market in Istanbul

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

Doerta cooking up a delicious German dinner.

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

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

Having tea on the banks of the Euphrates with locals

Grasses at sunset in Samandagi

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

Hiking the ridge above St. Peters in Antakya

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

Turkish Delight

The Hittite rock musieum in Yesemek

Steph and I riding a motorcycle with a sidecar in Sanliurfa

Roman Tunnels in Samandagi

Dinner boat on the Bosphorus

Our dusk tour of the Hittite rock garden in Yesemek

Steph standing on the beach

Driving at night back to Antakya

Evening in Sanliurfa

Dilapidated houses in Adana

Ruins of a castle in Kozan

Us with our Turkish friends in Yesemek

Steph and the Euphrates river

Finding our hotel room

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

Street feeling in Kilis

The Cisterns in Istanbul

Buying clementines in Antakya

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

An orange vendor in Harran

Early morning walk to go to the Istanbul airport.

The inside of the church in the cave

Candle lanterns at the market in Istanbul

Street food in Istanbul

Juggling oranges on a street side fruit stand.

Me, Steph and Kirk about to split up in Istanbul

Ataturk in Adana

The ruins of St. Simeon

Arriving to rain in Antakya

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

Riding the dolmush through Belen, Tureky

Local schoolkids clamoring to say hello to us in Kilis

Talking to the hotel staff in Adana

The Mosque in Kilis

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

Kirk with the windfarm in the background

Blizzard conditions landing back in Istanbul

Stephanie and I inside the cave in Antakya

Me driving through flood waters in Samandag

Getting a concensus on directions

Street food in Adana

Looking off into the mountains from Antakya

Inside the Roman Tunnels in Samandagi

Looking into the cut from the Roman Tunnels in Samandagi

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.