April 17, 2003 Joseph and I arrived in Istanbul, took a taxi to Marmara University, found Daniel, got our room, took a shower, had dinner, and followed Daniel and Sarah's lead to the overnight bus to Izmir. See the map for where we went the next two days.

April 18, 2003 We four arrived in pouring rain and cold weather (8°C) and took another bus to Sart (Sardis), center of the Lydian Kingdom (1st c BC to 6th c AD) until the Persians conquered them. This was a significant Hellenist and Roman (Byzantine) city. Here are pictures of starting to explore Sardis, Joseph and Daniel getting wet, puddles, in marble box, the public latrine (a busy place that latrine), big columns, and then walking up the hill hunting for the Artemis ruins, we only saw beautiful valley with the clouds lifting off the hills. After lunch, we returned to Izmir and found the harbor, a nearby square with tower, and archeological and anthropological museums before taking the bus to Selçuk, near Ephesus, where we stayed at Artemis House in beds!

April 19, 2003 After breakfast, we took Artemis House's van and tour of the remains of Ephesus, the capital of Roman Asia Minor and a major city for centuries (one of three with street lights in early Roman times). Here are lots of pictures of what we saw in Ephesus on a cool, cloudy, sometimes drizzly day. Here is the plan of archaic Ephesus [large plan - scanned] (or try a smaller but poorer plan [photograph]). Starting out, Daniel in the colonnade, hillside near Ephesus (sheep and flowering trees), Joseph at Pollio Fountain (poor picture), various capitals, Sarah explains, Domitian's temple, close up of Domitian's temple (later we found Domitian & Joseph in the museum in Selçuk), Heracles gate, the marble road, more columns, more on the marble road, public latrine, (shows floor), Hadrian's temple, rich folks' mosaics, Celsus's library with close up of Sarah, Joseph, & Daniel and view from library steps, the Agora (large market place, once covered; our guide at the left) near the huge Theatre (good acoustics), (reverse picture of photographer), and leaving by the harbor road.

After returning from Ephesus, I bought a Turkish rug from the B&B's proprietor's shop, and then we toured Selçuk's museum and town. (This is quite similar to Daniel's rug.) Here is Artemis in the museum. The tops of ruins are ideal places for storks. We walked over to see an old Byzantine and Ottoman castle (another view) on the hill (you can see it near the center, very top, of the Ephesus plan; you can see Selçuk spread out up there too), and after supper we took the overnight bus back to Istanbul.

April 20, 2003 This was recovery day. Here is Daniel's room at Marmara University. Here are some views of Marmara University - pictures taken at other times by other people - to give a taste of the place where Daniel studied for the semester. There was snow in mid-February: Sarah & Daniel in front of the guest house; at the same time, a view across the street to outside the university compound; and a reminder that, as a state university, the police keep control inside the walled, barbed-wired, patrolled compound. The Göztepe campus has many multi-story buildings and educates over 20,000 students, yet there is only one dormitory (for young women).

April 21, 2003 Daniel had his last mid-term exam this morning, after which we regrouped and set off for Old Istanbul (see the map back up there) by ferry. Note: Taking pictures inside buildings is a challenge, and you can see, in many cases, that our photography skills were not up to the challenge with the cameras we had and without tripods. Enjoy what you can. Film cameras seem to do better, so the best ones are from Joseph. Museums are all closed on Mondays, so we went to the Hippodrome to see the Blue Mosque, aka Sultanahmet Mosque, obelisk (another view) in remains of the Hippodrome, perhaps aka Sultanahmet Square, nearby, and finally the Basilica Cistern before returning to Göztepe. The Basilica Cistern, the last cistern built by Byzantium emperor Justinianus I in 6th c, is hard to photograph, being underground: columns and Medusa head as foot to a column; or a better picture. Here are more pictures of the mosque's courtyard (or with Daniel & Stratton), windows in the mosque (or better ones of columns and domes), and view from the garden of Hagia Sophia. Note that you can see Daniel's other pictures of the Sultanahmet Mosque here and some of the Basilica Cistern here.

April 22, 2003 This was Istanbul museum day. We again took the ferry back to Old Istanbul and toured the Archaeological Museum (only one picture of small Sumerian iron oxen, but lots of marble statues there and the Alexander sarcophagus - you can see another of Daniel's pictures here), the Hagia Sophia (museum), and finally the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts (views from there of tired people and across the hippodrome), where they finally threw us out at closing time. All three were keenly interesting. Daniel had seen all these museums before, but he was a good sport and tour guide for us newcomers.

Here are pictures from the Hagia Sophia: Going in by the early excavations (12 lambs), a mosaic, scaffolding up to the center dome, some windows, and lots of mosaics - one with Stratton & Joseph, close up of the same 12th century Deesis mosaic (Mary on left; John the Baptist on right), another mosaic, one with Princess Zoe (3rd husband Emperor Constantine Monomachos IX on left - 11th c), the angel Gabriel, and with Virgin Mary with Emperor Constantin IX on the right.

April 23, 2003 We were all invited by two Turkish students (they spoke no English) to go to an island in the Sea of Marmara: Büyük Ada. We were off early for the adventure, taking a ferry (see route) to this island where transportation is on foot on horse drawn carriages. We hiked to the top of the island to an Orthodox church along with hundreds of others on a pilgrimage up the road of suffering on St. George's day. Here is the view of the nearby island Heybeli Ada from the top. Some journalists interviewed Nick and Daniel, and they appeared in the newspaper! Here we are after descending from the church (small plaza); then we walked back to town for lunch (view of security on the way back). After a long adventure and lots of walking, we returned. This was also a national holiday in honor of founding of the modern Turkish Republic, led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Buildings were decorated for the holiday.

April 24, 2003 Finally we got back to see Topkapi Palace in old Istanbul. We toured the entrance gate and inner courts, library and ambassadorial interview room (latter out of focus), and then a quick lunch with view of the Bosphorus. Nick and Sarah joined us after mid-day for the parts they had not seen earlier. We went to the harem (another view) (sultan's family private quarters - this room might well be 16th c Imperial Hall), their private courtyard and secluded bathing pool, and the treasury. Here is an interior picture of some windows. The Ottoman Empire certainly accumulated a lot of fine items from all over Asia and elsewhere. Having not done enough walking, we found the covered Bazaar before going back to Marmara University.

April 25, 2003 Joseph and I left Göztepe by taxi in late morning to fly home from Atatürk airport. We had a 15 hour layover in Amsterdam (got a hotel room overnight) before our nonstop to San Francisco, arriving the afternoon of April 26. That completes our trip.

When Daniel returned to the U.S., he brought back a kilim for Joseph and another rug for Stratton, both from his rug man in Istanbul.

If you want to read the full narrative (text only) of our trip, you can read my long trip report.

Updated: November 9, 2004 (Created May 6, 2003)