Hasankeyf

More of Hasankeyf now. Enjoy it for as long as you can (it was a truly awesome experience to visit!), since the valley and the remains of the city on the clifftop are again reputed to be threatened.

Civilisation

I have had the privilege of seeing firsthand, two of the cradles of our civilisation, during this autumn. Here are the Nile - taken at Aswan - and the Dijlah (Dicle, Tigris - whichever language you prefer) - taken at Hasankeyf!

Backlog

well, I'm still working through my backlog of photos, as you may have noticed. I do promise more of ongoing chronology still to come. I think you have begun to see it in recent weeks. But I can't not show you at least some of what I have! ;-)

Blooming progress

My blogging plans for tonight were actually restricted to my blooming Christmas tazett-bulbs... I really get carried away with photos you know! ;-)

Mardin

Speaking of Mardin, I can't keep this from you - the Mardin postoffice. Supposedly the most beautiful postahane in Turkey - I certainly haven't seen all but will readily believe the appreciatory label anyway. All these three pictures (2 Mardin, 1 Mersin) are from October too by the way).

Actually,...

... you may think from my blogging that Turkey is all picturesque touristy. That's all wrong. I can't illustrate the coexistent fragmentation within better than with these photos - a municipal garbage collector donkey in Mardin and the newly privatized port of Mersin!

An Ankara landmark

This is not a new picture, I took it back in October. But I realize I haven't shown you this important Ankara monument before. It is the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the Anitkabir. Atatürk (meaning the Father of the Turks) was the founder and first president of the Turkish republic, after the First World War. (This war had profound consequences for the previous Ottoman empire and the lands it controlled and laid the foundation for the whole modern state system in the Middle East, not to mention the conflicts within it. Atatürk was also an important model for other leaders attempting to modernize their previous empires into nation-states, with varying success. But I'm sure we'll come back to that some other time.)

Important anniversary!

Actually, yesterday was not only Christmas eve, but also our 3-month wedding "anniversary"! ;-)

Most of you have probably seen those pictures already, but if someone who hasn't (by accident? ;-) ) finds their way here, I'll give you a link with some pictures on.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

The flow of vaguely disturbing news from a troubled world never ends. Not even today. BUT, do enjoy the day and spend the MERRY CHRISTMAS we all deserve.

Christmas decorations improvised

Christmas has come to us also in Ankara and despite busy recent weeks we have brought some Christmas feeling to our house. You can see a sort of holly and "tazetter" (from bulbs brought from Sweden!) in these pictures...

Almost...

... Christmas now - have finally set up the tree for this year. Pictures to come! And started Christmas spirit with carols, too.

And we decided to go traveling again next week. So keep a lookout for news here.

Fulfilling a promise

I actually forgot earlier tonight, but I promised my husband to put a picture he took of me yesterday on the blog. But, I'll put one I took of him too! Any day, when I've time to edit this a little more, I'll give you the link of his blog too.

Picasso Istanbul'da (Picasso in Istanbul)

This morning we went all the way out to the Sabanci Museum (past the SECOND Bosphorus bridge, the Fatih) to see the Picasso exhibition currently on show there (Istanbul's first, actually). The museum also has a nice collection of calligraphy and a beautiful garden sloping down towards the Bosphorus (but the rain today made walking in it a bit forbidding).

Middle village (Ortaköy)

These pictures, of the mosque in Ortaköy, a little way up the Bosphorus in European Istanbul (see the first Bosphorus bridge in the background?), I took on Saturday. Look at the water, how windy it is and how it whips up on the quay! We found really nice little stores in this district and spent the first half of the day just walking around here.

Lucia re-run (favorit i repris!)...

So, today, on the RIGHT day, Lucia came again!

Lucia

Lucia, the Nordic winter queen cum Italian saint bringing light in the winter darkness came today! (2 days early)

Whirling dervisches

And last but not least from today's excursion - a look at the dervisches whirling through their sema (their religious service, designed to near man to God through movement and concentration). It's beautiful and awesome!


Before you ask - we have seen also woman dervisches whirl, although there were none today.

Mevlana Culture Centre

The fascinatingly brandnew (spanking new!) Mevlana Culture Centre in Konya, where the dervisch semas take place (since they moved out or the previously used basketball hall!). It's supposed to have been financed by donations, but I'm very curious as to who the donors are.

Jalal ed-Din Rumi

This is the tomb of the Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi (in Turkish, Maulana Jalal ed-Din Rumi in Arabic) in Konya. Next week it is 732 years since the death of Rumi, and we went to the annual festival today and to his grave.

Rumi was a prominent Sufi order leader in the Seljuk era, by the way. His poetry is known also in European languages. The whirling dervisches, his Sufi followers, may also be known to you!

At home...

My livingroom. And the view from my balcony - on a summer's evening when the sun just broke through. Do you see the rainbow?

Donations!

I support the Swedish Red Cross on a fairly regular basis. If you want to do that too, you can give your donation from this webpage (in Swedish):

http://www.redcross.se/

Outdoor winter swimming!?!

Oh yes! I did it! On Tuesday. In this pool - heated. It steamed slightly while it was almost raining and at least 10 degrees cooler in the air than in the water. LOVELY....