Turkey 2004

We entered Turkey from Greece at Edirne, which is a beautiful old city with the famous Selimiye mosqs but without tourists, then we went south to Bozcaada one of the unspoiled island in the Egeean Sea, then Assos and in the countryside towards Pergame and Sardis. After a quick crossing of the Taurus Mountain we reached the sea again close to Antalya and drove to Anamur and the kurdish mountains. Our most eastern point was the Nemrut Dagi then we headed back west through Anatolian plateau, Cappadoccia and the south again along the beautiful Lycian coast. We finished our trip with the sites close to Bodrum and Kusadasi (Millet, Sirène and Ephes)

Ephese

Ephesus was an important city in the Lydian Kingdom. Then during the Roman Era, the city bore the title of "the first and greatest metropolis of Asia." It was distinguished for the Temple of Artemis (Diana), which is now completeléy destroyed, for its library which is still standing, and for its theatre, which would have been capable of holding 25,000 spectators. The population of Ephesus has been estimated to be in the range of 400,000 to 500,000 inhabitants in the year 100 CE, making it the largest city in Roman Asia and one of the largest cities of the day.

Kekova and the Lycian coast

Kekova is a small island on the Lycian coast, on the shore stands the old greek village of Kalekoy. In the bay lies the ruins of the sunken city of Simena.
The tombs and sarcophages on this page are from the Lycian city of Myra

Sardis

Sardis, was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Lydia.

Pamukkale

Pamukkale is a very famous tourist attraction of Turkey, and too many tourists travel from the coast of Antalya and the Aegean Sea to this place as it is one of two World Heritage Sites in Turkey, together with Hierapolis

Anamur

Anamur is a district of the Turkish province of Mersin with a population of about 70,000. It is situated on the southcoast of Turkey, between Alanya and Mersin. Anamur is famous for its bananas and peanuts. Anamur is a seaside resort.
The pictures on this post are mostly from the awesome castle which guard this extreme south point of the Turkish coast.





Les bananeraies longent la côte sur plusieurs dizaines de kilomètres

Hittits at Karatepe

Sanli-Urfa,

Sanlıurfa (often simply known as Urfa, formerly Edessa) is a city in south-eastern Turkey, and the capital of Şanlıurfa Province. Urfa is situated on a plain under big open skies, about eighty kilometres east of the Euphrates River. The climate features extremely hot, dry summers and cool, moist winters.
It's a very untouristic place and also a great pilgrimage point for the people of Turkey (Abraham was born here)

The sacred carps basin

The Nemrut-Dagi

At the top of Mt. Nemrut, King Antiochus Theos of Commagene built his tomb-sanctuary along with huge statues (8-9 meters high) of himself, two lions and two eagles, and various Greek and Persian gods such as Hercules, in 62 BCE. These statues were once seated, with names of each god inscribed on them. Over the centuries that passed, the heads of the statues have come off and now are scattered throughout the site.

Adiyaman area

The GAP

The Euphrate is closed by this Ataturk dam to form the keyhole of the GAP project

Ce barrage est bâti sur l'Euphrate et a été achevé en 1990. Le lac fait 100 km de long.

Accross the kurdish mountains