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.

Ruins of a castle in Kozan

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

Our dusk tour of the Hittite rock garden in Yesemek

Our sketchy hotel in Sanliurfa

Me driving through flood waters in Samandag

Broken Turkish Pottery

Arriving to rain in Antakya

Beehive houses in Harran

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

The Hittite rock musieum in Yesemek

Evening in Sanliurfa

Goats in Harran

Early morning walk to go to the Istanbul airport.

The inside of the church in the cave

Pegasus Airlines

Green spices at the market in Antakya

Fruitstand in Istanbul

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

Us with our Turkish friends in Yesemek

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

Grasses at sunset in Samandagi

Doerta cooking up a delicious German dinner.

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

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

Steph and the Euphrates river

Dried Eggplant shells in Antakya

Steph and I riding a motorcycle with a sidecar in Sanliurfa

Freighter ships on the Bosphorus

Steph in the doorway of the Armenian Church

Street feeling in Kilis

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

Juggling oranges on a street side fruit stand.

Taxsim Square, Istanbul

Looking into the cut from the Roman Tunnels in Samandagi

Sunset in Samandagi

Stephanie and I inside the cave in Antakya

Fishermen in Istanbul

Kirk with the windfarm in the background

Hassan, a local resident

Ataturk in Adana

Getting Sahlep in Antakya

An orange vendor in Harran

Buying clementines in Antakya

A backhoe coming down Kirk’s street in Istanbul

The Mosque in Kilis

Looking out to the horizon from the mountains in Vaikifle

Driving at night back to Antakya

Turkish Delight

Driving through the mountains near the Med

Steph looking at photos with a local kid in Harran

Talking to the hotel staff in Adana

Kirk and Steph checking the guidebooks in Adana

Catholic church courtyard in Antakya

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

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

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

Climbing the ridge above St. Peters

The Cisterns in Istanbul

Looking off into the mountains from Antakya

Driving west, then north out of Antakya

Dilapidated houses in Adana

Blizzard conditions landing back in Istanbul

Steph standing on the beach

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

Roman Tunnels in Samandagi

Street food in Istanbul

Sundown in Yesemek, Turkey

Sunday night dinner at Kirk’s House

An antique Zenith watch for sale at the market in Istanbul

Olive vendors on the corner in Gaziantep

Getting a concensus on directions

Me, Steph and Kirk about to split up in Istanbul

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.