Last Post

My last day in Istanbul. Due to not spending frugally I have no more money and now must return home earlier than I had foreseen. However, I have had a wonderful experience in Istanbul and regret nothing. Here are a couple of pictures for my last post. See you all soon.

Dinner with Turkish friends

Scimits - the breakfast of Turkish champions, I will certainly miss

Wondeful view on the walk to class.

Playing backgammon and drinking tea

View of the Blue Mosque from a small cafe

Greece

We had a fantastic time in Greece. I would recommend all to visit this beautiful part of the world. Ryan and I met in Athens took an over night ferry to Crete spent two nights, then went to the island of Santorini, the island of Ios and spent the last two nights back in Athens. The atmoshpere was great. We had a fun-filled, but relaxing time.

Iraklio, Crete the 5th largest city in Athens, this is the port area

Knossos, Crete where the legandary King Minos, the Minotaur and labyrinth were said to exist

Island of Santorini, an ancient volcanic island that had black sand (seen here), red sand and white sand beaches.

Main city of Phira in Santorini, extremely beautiful.

Island of Ios, a view of the beach area from just outside our hotel

Chiros, Ios the main city on the island, full of night-life

The legandary Parthenon

I spent the day in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki traveling back to Istanbul, this is a 3rd century church in the middle of town

Egypt: Cairo, Luxor, Aswan, Alex.

We spent nine days in Egypt following the Nile south then back north. We landed and spent 3 days in Cairo, then traveled to Luxor and saw the valleys of the tombs. Then continued to Aswan and saw the dam. Then we went to Alexandria for 2 days and relaxed. There is so much to say and so many pictures to display I simply can't. Here are some of my favorites.

A great picture showing how much western culture has spread. We needed a bathroom after seeing the pyramids and this was the view on the way out of...?

A faluka (sailboat) ride up the Nile

A top our hotel in Luxor over looking the Nile and a beautiful sunset.

The step pyramid of Zoser.

Oh yeah, we took camels to the pyramids.

The group and the Pyramids.

Temple of Queen Hatshepsut

This is one of my favorite pictures. This is in Coptic Cairo, which the population is Greek Orthodox. Here is one of many graves portraying the great blending of culture. A picture that would surprise most.

Temple of Philea, now under water do to the Aswan Dam.

The Mohammad Ali Mosque in Cairo

Kushadasi, Ephesus and Izmir

I went to the southwestern cities of Kushadasi and Izmir, which the Ancient Ruins of Ephesus lay. We spent one day on the beaches of Kushadasi, spent one day in Ephesus and a third day in the 3rd largest city of Turkey, Izmir. Kushadasi is a small tourist town and our hostel was across the street from the Mediterranean Sea. Very beautiful, or in Turkish "chok guzel." Ephesus is an ancient city maybe 1400bc, but the Greeks didn't settle until 1000bc. It has a long history of being conquored by the many Empires of ancient Anatolia. It experienced its peak population of 250,000 people when is belonged to the Roman Empire in the 2nd century AD. St. Paul is said to have visited Ephesus and may have even been imprisoned here for a time. Izmir is nice city located on the water as well. We spent most the day at a park on the water for a national holiday celebration. Then caught the sunset before returning to Istanbul, a 9 hour bus ride.

The view of Kushadasi from the balcony of our room.

The view at night.

Ancient theatre said to hold 24,000 people

The famous Library of Celsus

You thought modern public toilets were bad!

Famous Izmir clock

Beautiful sunset in Izmir

Sofia, Bulgaria

Yes, thats right Sofia, Bulgaria. Located northwest of Turkey, it boarders the Black Sea to the east and is to become a full member of the E.U. next year. It is a very beautiful country as you can see. Sofia is said to be one of the oldest settlments in Europe claiming to be over 7,000 years old. We had a fantastic time.

This is the city center in Sofia. The statue is of Sofia, or wisdom, the city's Patron Saint.

Bulgarians are Orthodox Christians and this is the Church of St. Nicholas a Russian Orthodox Church.

Another part of the city center. The unfinished court house.

Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, built in the late 19th century to honor Russian soliders who aided in Bulgarian independec in 1878.

We arrived in Sofia at 5:30am, couldn't check in until 11am, so we walked around and eventually caught breakfast.

The Beautiful mountains around Sofia, which resides in a valley, is also surrounded by mineral springs.

The group minus 1, the photographer.

Random Group Pictures

Exchange students at the bar on friday

The group from Cappidocia

Chili bread bowl night in my dorm

Another bar night, maybe a thursday

Western District Istanbul

I wondered around the western district of Istanbul. It is a very beautiful and often overlooked area. There are many sights to see including The Aqueducts of Valens built in the early 5th century. The Mosque where Sultan Mehmed II, who conquered Istanbul for the Ottomans in 1452, is buried. The defensive walls from the late 4^th century still stand in this area and have a beautiful view from on top of them. Also, there are plenty of small churches, turned into museums, with amazing mosaics and frescos.

More Cappadocia

These are more photos from Cappadocia. The first is a castle with 16 levels. The next two are fresco paintings from the 11th-12th century, inside caves that were used as Churchs. The last two are from an underground city, which the first two levels date back nealy 4000 years from the Hittite period. Slowly, more and more levels were dug over the years until it now has 8 levels which reach up to 80 meters below ground level.