Von Goldchains in Doha

"Photogs" being Rosko's preferred term. I expect that when people ask how a vacation was, "wonderful," "interesting," "beautiful," etc. don't really mean much to them; you want pictures, right? With no further ado, then, a sort of chronological photo album of our trip from, sigh, two months ago:

Istanbul, First and Second Attempts

We started and ended our vacation in Istanbul, but because when my pictures uploaded they somehow sorted themselves out geographically rather than chronologically, pictures from both Istanbul trip are shown together.

This one is more or less what you see when you walk into the Hagia Sophia. We found it stunning and inspiring but also a bit sad; the superimposition of those black medallions that you see just seem like such a stark "lest you forget" reminder of what happened to the city and the church in 1453 (so terrible that, at least according to what I've read, the invading sultan repented of the pillage).

Anyway, back to the twenty-first century, it's truly stunning. I said that already. It's also being restored, so I barely avoided an entire wall of scaffolding in this picture.

To the right is the minbar, essentially a pulpit in a mosque, and a mosaic of the Virgin Mary above.

This is, I think, our very favorite aspect of the Hagia Sophia. A "deesis" mosaic, it depicts an imagined scene at the end of the world, where Mary the Mother of God and the Apostle John ask Jesus to forgive the sins of the entire world. Rosko and I also get separated while wandering the church, and this is where we managed to meet up, unsurprisingly.
Below are details of the mosaic.

Moving onto the Blue Mosque, which, with the Hagia Sophia (its neighbor), is one of the most famous landmarks of the city. It...hm. It's absolutely beautiful on the outside, as you can see. The inside is kind of one big room with a carpet. I was told to set aside half a day to go here, and neither I nor my native Istanbulite friend could understand why. But again, lovely from the outside

The Hagia Sophia from the outside. Also from the internet, as I managed never to take a picture from this perspective. Shoot.

Us on the Galata Bridge, separating the old city from the newer Taksim portion.

5th century cistern underneath basilica in Istanbul

More Basilica Cistern

Man I loved me some Turkish coffee.

Medusa head at base of pillar in Basilica Cistern

Look what we found in the Grand Bazaar!

Mosques at dusk near the Bosphorus

Church of St. George, Ecumenical Patriarchate. This is the head of the Orthodox Church, inasmuch as that is a meaningful concept, and has been in Ist I mean Constantinople since the 6th century, I believe. (Not this building, of course.)

Purportedly the tomb of Mary Salolme, at Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. Sic.

Pulpit of church of St. George, Ecumenical Patriarchate

Christmas day! All of the African parishioners wanted
to take pictures with the priests. I don't get it.

One of my very favorites, the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul.

View from Galata Bridge

View from hotel in Istanbul

On ferry en route from Istanbul to Selcuk/Ephesus.

The...oh dear. I want to call it the Senate House, but it's not Rome. But that, in Ephesus.

Part II: Ephesus, Hieropolis and Selcuk

Main road through Ephesus

And this is why we label pictures before two months after the trip. (Not sure what this is. Or the other ones I left unlabeled.)

Yes, I think I did take this picture specifically because of the cat. I know.

House of a wealthy Ephesian

Hadrian's Temple. Detail below.

Famed Library of Ancient Ephesus

A column in Ephesus. The language inscribed here is unknown.

Agora of Ephesus; this is where St. Paul preached.

View of Ephesus theater (seats 20,000!) from road to sea. This is theater mentioned in Acts 19 (Demetrius the silversmith).

Basilica of Mary, which is just outside of the city of Ephesus. This church is part of the reason why it is thought that Mary lived in Ephesus with John. It was the cathedral of Ephesus until 654 and the site of the 431 Council of Ephesus. Below are more scenes from the church.

Altar

Rosko climbed one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World! This is all that remains of the Temple of Artemis.

Weaving demonstration at a co-op our Ephesus tour guide took us to. (Where the rugs are also approximately 3 times the price they should be.)

Part III: Hieropolis, its Hot Springs and the Calcite Pools of Pamukkale

Beautiful theater of Hieropolis

The hot springs are now pools where people actually swim among the city's ruins.

Church of St. Philip with his tomb on the left. We were told that this part wasn't open from excavating yet, but during our free time I ran up the hill and found it completely open and abandoned.

Tomb of St. Philip.

I really can't get over these calcite-covered terraces. With hot springs.

Basilica of the Apostle John, Selcuk

This was a three minute walk from our hotel. Also, Selcuk is gorgeous and we want to move there.

Basilica of St. John in Selcuk

Rosko in baptistry.

Baptistry

I can't help it. What is this, a basilica for ants?

More Selcuk sites

This is said to be the building where St. John wrote the book of Revelation. (This is not, that is, said to be the island of Patmos; just that he maybe wrote the revelation down from this building. It's up the hill from his basilica.)

On castle on top of a hill in Selcuk. Definitely it's more historic and important than I'm making it, but really now, it was just so pretty I couldn't pay attention to that part.

Rosko and Ali became best friends due to a shared love of fine craftsmanship. Those slippers, which Ali makes, were a present for me and I love, love them.