As is my custom, the last post of each blog is a "Best of the Best." I originally targeted a Top 10 list but found there are always more than 10 bests in each trip that merits a blog.
So, here they are for this trip 2015 trip, in order of occurrence.
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| Seeing Ozge Sumer and Ali Tezgor and visiting the very cool Die Dunkel Klamm (The Dark Gorge) in Austria when it was deserted |
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| A one day Blue Voyage off Cesme and meeting a friendly Canadian student Adrian whom we adopted for the day |
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| Seeing my favorite civil engineer - Yunus Alp |
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| Reunion dinner overlooking the Aegean in perfect Izmir weather - Fatih Tasgetiren is always fun |
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| Fatih, Fatmanur, Ozgur, Alejandro and Gokhan - students past and present |
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| With the lovely Ozdemir family from Isparta - Eda, Asye, Gultekin and Ayca |
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| Seeing one of John Ash's favorite ancient cities in western Anatolia - Sardis between Izmir and Denizli |
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| Visiting newly graduated Elif Ozgormus in Denizli/Pamukkale but I enjoyed the neighboring ruined city of Hierapolis more than the tourist trap of Pamukkale shown here |
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| Back at Yesil Ada on Lake Egirdir near Isparta - one of our favorite places in the world |
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| The remarkable theater in Adada, south of Yesil Ada. Again, one of John Ash's favorite remote ruined cities. |
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| A cold Efes in the evening in the bottle it should be served in - the original big, fat one |
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| The Hittite monolith at Fasillar, lying in the field it was abandoned in for nearly 3000 years |
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| The Roman tomb just across from the Hittite monolith - carved nearly 2000 years ago but new compared to the Hittite artifact |
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| Arriving to Cappadocia with a rainbow |
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| The breakfast excursion to the original family farm by the owners of the Kelebek Hotel in Goreme |
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| Seeing two lovely Ankara ladies - Cevahir Sumer and Zulfiya Sahin - and enjoying Cevahir's splendid food |
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| Witnessing (literally) my Turkish son, Orhan Dengiz, married at last |
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| The most fun dinner I have ever had in Istanbul - on the water on the Asian side (Kuzguncuk) with Burcu and Yelin Sevgor at typical, historic lokanta |
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| The start of the long anticipated road trip to northeast Turkey - arrival via our trusty Anadolu Jet in Ezurum |
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| The trio of amazing Selcuk tombs in Erzurum - and our traveling foursome - Alejandro, Mehmet, Randy and me |
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| Entering Ani - probably the most notable abandoned ancient city in the world |
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| We saw Ani as it should be seen - deserted - to experience the spirits of the past properly and reflect on the transitory nature of all things |
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| This photo captures our awe during our time in Ani perfectly |
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| Capping the day off with dinner at the Kars Kazevi- the original goose restaurant in Kars with its founder |
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| There is so much to love about traveling with Mehmet - one is spontaneous stops of the car to chase wildlife, in this case, the geese of Kars |
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| Seytan (or Rabat) Kalesi - Devil's Castle - truly amazing in a breathtaking setting - what a hidden treasure between Kars and Artvin |
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| Our first major Georgian church - Tibeti at Cevizli |
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| Our mornings are always like this - Mehmet gets up ridiculously early and drinks endless tea and plans the route for the day - here we also enjoy the green remoteness of the yayla near Georgia |
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| The painted wooden mosque of Camili on the Georgia border |
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| Running into two Georgian bishops and their bevy of nuns on a similar expedition to the Georgian churches at Osk Vank - the greatest of these churches |
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I had to include another photo of this highlight - brought together by an interest in this aspect of past life in Anatolia
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Randy's favorite landscape of this trip - the high village of Ishan between Tortum and Yusefeli
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| The final Georgian church of Dortkilese - so remote and so evocative |
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| Another typical Mehmet moment - partaking of a roadside well - this one next to Dortkilese |
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| Partying up at the Teacher's House in Ispir - thank you Jameson! |
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| The warm embrace of the Batuk family at Ordu on the Black Sea |
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| Observing the hazelnut cultivation firsthand at Unye |
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| Saturday evening drinks at Casa Guven in Unye |
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| Another hidden treasure - the oldest wooden mosque in Anatolia - the Gokceli Camii in Carsamba. Mehmet was properly impressed and awed. |
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| The nesting haven of the storks near Bafra on the Black Sea |
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| Our spontaneous visit to a working archaeology dig at Pompeiopolis between Sinop and Kastamonu |
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| Feeling very superior at the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara which only has a reproduction of the Hittite monolith in Fasillar while we saw the real one in situ |
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| Catching up with the cat whisperer, Tore Fougner, at Bilkent |
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| A random lunch in Mudurnu between Bolu and Istanbul - especially the way water was served in the traditional metal pitcher |
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| The real eternal city at dusk with my two favorite people in Istanbul (out of 16 million) - Basar Basaran (here) and Refik Gullu |
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| The iconic picture of this trip - the four intrepid explorers at the very remote and little visited Osk Vank - the glory of Anatolian Georgian civilization |
