Cold Turkey

In order to escape Christmas in Europe I visited Turkey between 24.12.2006 and 01.01.2007.
Eight days is not much, so i went a pretty standard route through the main guidebook attraction:
Istanbul -> Ephesus -> Pamukkale -> Cappadocia -> Ankara -> Istanbul.
Next time I hope to get off a beaten track...

Istanbul

My first encounter with old Instanbul: the Blue Mosque after sunset.












The same mosque at daylight.














Basilica Cistern. A big underground watertank from the Byzantine times.













The Haydarpasha ferry station. Funny contrast with the german architecture of the train station in the background.

Ephesus

A street in the ancient city of Ephesus.
















Scaring Artemis.

















To balance the femine parts, a figure of Priap.













Celsus library in Ephesus.

Pamukkale

People walking barefoot in snow.
Seriously, it's a shallow pool of hot water on a white rock.












Travertine pools in their full glory.
The bassins were created by hot mineral water flowing down the slope.













Believe it or not, this is not snow.

Cappadocia

Fairy-tale rocks in Cappadocia.















Particular rock formations in Love Valley near Göreme. Depending on the gender, people perceive them as giant mushrooms or giant male organs.










More landscape. This time the white is the snow (the temperature in Cappadocia went down to -15 Celsius at night).












A church in rock near Göreme.














A castle in rock in Nevshehir.















My shadow.