Path: Travel > Destinations > Middle East 2006 > Turkey 5

Turkey 5

• After so much church interior, the following pictures return to the landscapes of Cappadocia.

• There are dozens of small valleys like this, all very similar and yet all distinct if one knows them a bit better.

• One of the most famous landmarks in the region: the stone seal.

• This huge complex used to be a whole monastery, hewn into the rock. Not much is left standing these days but it's still a wonderful place to explore. Watch Vero as she climbs up a ladder to enter a chapel.

• This picture epitomises the landscape better than any words could.

• Well, now we jump 600 kilometres to the west. This is a tile in the Rüstem Pasha mosque of Istanbul. This mosque is famous for its perfectly executed Iznik-style tiles. There are hundreds and hundreds of different designs and people have written whole treatises about these tiles.

• A mosaic from inside the Hagia Sophia (or Aya Sofya, as the locals say). This building is one the greatest (if not the greatest) architectural achievements of mankind. It looks drab and almost like a manufacturing plant from the outside, but it's a marvel.

• The domes and minarets of the Blue Mosque. The two domes, left and right in the foreground, actually belong to the Hagia Sophia: the picture was taken from its upper floor.

• One final mosaic, from the Hagia Sophia. This shows the builder, Justinian I, presenting a model of his newly-built church to the Virgin and Jesus. On the other side there's Constantine I, presenting a model of the city he founded.

• Wanna start over with Turkey 1 ? Or rather go back to Middle East 2006?

---

$updated from: Turkey 5.htxt Mon 30 Mar 2009 11:48:51 thomasl$