The gondola runs up to the top of Sulphur Mountain (and down again). Fifty-one degrees doesn't sound nearly as steep as it feels.
This fence ran along behind St. George's in the Field, the Anglican church I visited in Banff.
Pebbles in the Bow River, Banff. I liked looking at the transition from dry to wet. You'll have to imagine the sound of rushing water.
We went walking in the mountains; a single photo can't catch the scale of the views.
I set up a little slideshow sequence to zip through a couple of scenes as we walked to the Hoodoos, a weathered rock formation. When it works, maybe you can get a sense of what it was like.
A self-portrait for the Fourth of July. (I was holding sparkler in one hand and camera in the other.)
Last sunset in Turkey. Mt. Ericiyes, as seen from the rooftop restaurant of the Hilton Kayseri, while we waited for dinner.
Inside the Selçuk mosque in the center of Kayseri, five minutes before the call to prayer.
Elaborate stone knotwork beside the doorway to the Selçuk mosque in the center of Kayseri.
A carved stone bird in the garden of the Kayseri Ethnographic Museum reminded me of the partridge in the pear tree...
A brightly-painted ceiling in the Ethnographic Museum. More elaborate than the simple painted beams, but beautiful.
A detail of the wall just beside the door to the restored Ottoman-era house that holds the Ethnographic Museum.
Another photo of spices. This time I was at the edge of the bazaar in Kayseri. I bought half a kilo of pul biber, red pepper, to bring home with me.
Here you can see a road through the Assyrian traders' colony outside the main settlement at Kultepe. I like the way you can look off into the distance and see that the thread of the present-day road lines up with the ancient one.
A photo of the archaeological team and some of the finds at the Kultepe site. Many of the artifacts are now in the Kayseri Archaeological Museum.
Lutfiye sits and ties off loops of warp thread as they are wound around the post in front of her.
Preparing the warp for the big loom is a three-person job. Hatice and Lutfiye sit and tie off each loop, while Hatice's daughter-in-law walks back and forth and back and forth, casting the loops of warp thread around the warp posts.
Most people use cars, small trucks, or ride in minibuses, but you do still see plenty of wagons in the village.
Lantana in bloom. I took another version of this picture, without Jen's hand, but I like looking at the bracelets beside the blossoms.
Ortahisar has a beautiful pension, where a friend of Hatice works. We got a tour of the place, and everywhere I looked, I wanted to take another picture. Flowers were blooming in every corner of the courtyard and the rooms were furnished with antiques and period textiles.
This is an especially good-looking stack of them, but you see these stools everywhere you go - and they are very comfortable. If they folded, I'd have tried to bring some back...
Part of the older village, as seen from the hisar, or rock castle, in the center of town.
A bowl of fruit from the weavers' gardens: apricots and a small green stone fruit which tasted like a tart apple.
Holding my camera at waist-level and pointing it in the general direction of the men selling spices, I was able to grab this image in the Urgup bazaar.
Market day in Urgup. I didn't buy anything, but the fruits and vegetables were beautiful.
A classroom in the underground city of Derinkuyu. Thousands of early Christians could live underground in this city for a couple of months at a time. They had a church, a baptistry, a school, storage and sleeping areas, wells and secret ventilation and chimneys, traps and defensive systems, and space for animals to live. Nine of fifteen levels have been excavated and restored. There are dozens, maybe hundreds, of other cities like this in the region, mostly unexplored. Not a place for a claustrophobic, but fascinating. Cool on a hot day, too!
The weavers sat for a video interview, telling us (as young Hatice translated) about their childhood and the village customs and culture of their youth.
Having cut the kilims from the larger loom, the weavers work on smaller projects on separate looms: bookcovers and belts.
This tree looked like something from a fairy tale. As I look at the picture, I keep expecting someone to appear in the small doorway...
Down in the lower garden, two levels down from where we ate, we walked through a narrow valley and a tunnel through the rock.
Mmmm. Guveç, pilau, salad, and bread. You can't see the sweet watermelon we had for dessert.
Sultan tries her hand at video editing, while Jen (left) and Hatice (behind) look on.
Hatice edits video on the new laptop. You can see this particular edited clip if you click on the "download file" link in the June 27th kilimwomen weblog entry.
Young Hatice spread many small kilims in Barbara's courtyard in order to take digital photos of them for the kilimwomen weblog. I loved looking at all of them at once.
Another view of cave dwellings in Zelve. Early Christians lived here in Cappadocia. In nearby Goreme are some beautiful Byzantine-era churches carved into the cliffs. Incredible frescos and paintings - some restored, some not quite - but no photography allowed there.
In the open air museum at Zelve you can explore two valleys of ancient cave dwellings. Breathtakingly beautiful. I may try to post some panoramas later.
These vases were painted by the potter's grandmother with Hittite motifs and motifs from kilims.
We climbed the stone stairs to the roof. I love the glimpse of the countryside beyond the walls of the caravansarai.
A Selçuk han from the 13th century near Avanos. This was a stop on the Silk Road between Kayseri and Aksaray.
Looking down into the street from a rooftop terrace restaurant. I liked the criss-crossing clotheslines.
