-Olympos'da


Roman mosaics -Olympos'da


Sun's coming up -Kapadokya'da

1600 year old church -Kapadokya'da


Fresh bread from the village oven -Bir köy, Kapadokya'da


Bir çağlayan -Kızıcahamam'da


Graffiti art -Amasra'da


Merhabalar!

The last two weekends I visited two quite distinct regions, unlike any places I have been before, Kapadokya (Cappadocia) and the Akdeniz (Mediterranean). In Kapadokya, I slept in a cave in Göreme, explored an underground city and many churches built right into the side of rocks, hiked through a beautiful canyon surrounded by rock chimneys straight out of a fairy tale, and rose early with the 5:00 am ezan (call to prayer) to watch the sun rise and dozens of hot air balloons take off. On the way back to Ankara, we stopped in Hacıbektaş, a pilgimage site for Alevis/Bektaşıs. We actually got to walk around the site and pay our respects to the great Islamic humanist and philosopher who lived in the 11th century.

This weekend I caught a midnight bus with two friends and woke up the following morning in Antalya. Mountains, sea, forests, fruit trees, camping, ruins, sandy beaches, rocky beaches, greenhouses, treehouses, castles, you name it, it can be found in this region of the Akdeniz. We slept in an infamous treehouse in Olympos. The motto of Bayram's Tree Houses Pension is "Come for a day, stay for a week". The weather is absolutely perfect, 4 blue-bird days. We picked oranges right from the tree and ate them in the seats of a Roman theatre. We swam in the clear blue waters and climbed up a path nearby leading to the ruins of a castle. There was plently of freshly-made gözleme (poorly translated as a Turkish pancake) filled with spinach, cheese, or potatoes to name a few.

I've just heard back from TaTuTa Eco Farms and I've been placed on a few farms to volunteer in July. The website is worth a browse http://www.bugday.org/tatuta/index.php?lang=EN.