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.

Driving at night back to Antakya

Me driving through flood waters in Samandag

Turkish Delight

Taking the dolmush from Adana to Antakya

Early morning walk to go to the Istanbul airport.

Steph looking at photos with a local kid in Harran

Hassan, a local resident

Finding our hotel room

Kirk and Steph checking the guidebooks in Adana

Roman Tunnels in Samandagi

Local schoolkids clamoring to say hello to us in Kilis

Stephanie and I inside the cave in Antakya

Buying clementines in Antakya

A chef distributing pestashio on to baklava at Chadas in Gaziantep

Local kids in Vaikifle

Dilapidated houses in Adana

More dolmush rides

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

Hiking the ridge above St. Peters in Antakya

Catholic church courtyard in Antakya

Doerta cooking up a delicious German dinner.

Ruins of a castle in Kozan

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

Taxsim Square, Istanbul

Talking to the hotel staff in Adana

Having tea on the banks of the Euphrates with locals

Getting a concensus on directions

Driving through the mountains near the Med

Small produce market near Kirk’s house in Istanbul

Sundown in Yesemek, Turkey

Looking into the cut from the Roman Tunnels in Samandagi

An antique Zenith watch for sale at the market in Istanbul

Street food in Adana

Our dusk tour of the Hittite rock garden in Yesemek

Evening in Sanliurfa

Us with our Turkish friends in Yesemek

Looking off into the mountains from Antakya

Me, Steph and Kirk about to split up in Istanbul

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

Medusa Head in the Cistern

Looking out onto the Euphrates.

Inside the Roman Tunnels in Samandagi

The Cisterns in Istanbul

The ruins of St. Simeon

Blizzard conditions landing back in Istanbul

Kirk with the windfarm in the background

Street feeling in Kilis

Arriving in Sanliurfa

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

Sunday night dinner at Kirk’s House

Olive vendors on the corner in Gaziantep

The archway and observation tower in Harran

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

Arriving to rain in Antakya

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

Juggling oranges on a street side fruit stand.

Steph in the doorway of the Armenian Church

Steph and the Euphrates river

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

Street food in Istanbul

Steph standing on the beach

Steph and I riding a motorcycle with a sidecar in Sanliurfa

Sunset in Samandagi

Climbing the ridge above St. Peters

Sunset in Samandagi

Fruitstand in Istanbul

Driving west, then north out of Antakya

Goats in Harran

Sketching and sailing up the Euphrates river

Candle lanterns at the market in Istanbul

Freighter ships on the Bosphorus

Our sketchy hotel in Sanliurfa

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.