Some more stunners...

Very photogenique, wouldn't you say?

Adiyaman views

The surrounding landscape among the Taurus heights. To my amazement, the local population somehow managed to eke out a living from agriculture also on the barren-looking hillsides. It was more feast for the eyes, than the stomach, I believe...

Conspiracy theory

Make your own conspiracy theory!

We all hear them, we know they go around. Sometimes they make the world go around too. Some countries abound more than others (at least where I tend to go ;-) ). Conspiracy theorists frequently set the agenda. And now, you can even make your own...

The truth is out there!

Mt Nemrut views

The setting and scenery were mindblowing, and the whole project of heightening a Taurus summit for a grave also! But Antiochos continues to impress with his high-placed site, elevating towards the skies.

More Nemrut images

The lions were very striking, and there was also a relief of a lion probably symbolizing the astrological date of Antiochos, but I don't seem to have any proper pictures of it.

Now you probably think there was literally no end to the marvels, but there was, actually!

Reliefs in the cliffs

Apart from the giant broken statues, there are also some magnificent reliefs to be found on the two terraces (this from the western). Not least striking is of course the setting among the cliffs.

More Nemrut faces

Human and godly faces. Awesome!

Common ground?

This BBC poll gives us at least some hope in possibilities of building political and personal bridges over the divides currently shaping world affairs. It also gives hope that most people are in fact not extreme in their views. Help us build on this!

Eastern terrace

More images from the Eastern terrace of Antichos mountain-top shrine on Nemrut, in the Taurus.

Teheran photo special

This week's edition of Newsweek magazine has a photo special from Teheran, which you may enjoy. The photos are quite striking in black and white, but is, despite the name "Modern life in Iran" very focussed on religious and revolutionary aspects of life and the streets.

I have also done some work recently (if not all at once) on the links in the righthand margin. Take a look through them, if you find something to your interest.

Antiochos, Zeus and Ahura-Mazda

This very special mix of deities that filled the Commagenian universe.

Recommendations

Just to remind all of you in Stockholm (unless of course you belong to those of my friends who regularly hang out there already...) about the fantastic scene at Södra Teatern. Concerts, clubs, lecture series - you name it and they give it!

A friend also recommended this - a service that delivers a boxful of ecological fruit&veg to your Stockholm door every week. I am dying to try it myself, but will have to wait.

Mr Nemrut!

Here it is, the magnificent mountain-cum-grave of Antiochos of Commagene, a small Hellenistic kingdom in the Eastern Taurus, surviving by playing off the Romans and the Persians against each other. (read also)

The views and the site were breathtaking, but not least amazing on this December morning was at all getting up there. Usually, snow blocks the road in the winter season but we had very mild weather.



The Eastern terrace, with images of the king among his gods and ancestors, both Persian and Greek. Walking around among these deities and pondering the vanity of the builder and his success was quite an experience.

Atatürk dam

An early December morning, at daybreak, we stopped by the viewpoint to see the enormous turbines of the Atatürk dam, one of the prestige projects of the republic.



And here, the dam at sunrise.

The Ottoman Bank and other learning experiences

We spent a weekend in Istanbul and saw a number of interesting exhibitions. (find a list of Istanbul museums here)

Foremost, perhaps, was the Museum of the Ottoman Bank, located in their old Karaköy building. The vaults gave very interesting insights on social and economic issues during the last decades before the First World War, including photos and files on all their diverse staff in cities across the empire. Fascinating!

They also gave a special exhibition on symbols and aestethics in European nation-building in the 20's and 30's - comparing France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Soviet Russia and Turkey - which was quite striking. I can't find a web presence for it though, but will add it for you later if I do.

We also saw the Gengiz Han-exhibition on Mongol-Turkish history at the Sabanci Museum, in it's beautiful Bosphorus kösk. The Mongols in history have always been rather obscure to me, but is here illustrated well and as a coherent whole (even if I find some Asian religious imagery difficult to understand and digest).

Oud!

I have bought an oud! Or, at least I think it is one, even if it is smaller, more pearshaped than a traditional one and has a longer neck (pictures to come). If there is another name for it, please enlighten me...

This will surprise you, as I am not a musical person (at least not a performing one - I DO appreciate music! and especially so-called oriental music - find some traditional oud equilibrists in the link above for inspiration). The intention is actually not to learn to play, first of all (even if we may be inspired to that eventually, I guess) but for decorative purposes...

Another oud-link: here

Open internet

A friend reminded me today of the importance of an open internet. One of the frontlines of the struggle for that (even if I am sure there are many more) is in the Arab world today. Read this recent report on the situation.

Clark Kent in real trouble now...

I've been into this before - the difficulties in finding decent phone booths in which to turn into Superman... but this just confirms that the times are just against him!

Cool setting for a phone, though...

Doors or Urfa

Traditional carved wooden doors from Urfa. They could also be used as window shutters, creating a lovely screen around a balcony.

The park surrounding the ponds

A peaceful park, as I said, even if it was frequented by a lot of people.

Gold market

Travelling teaches you new things every day - I really didn't ever suspect a family member of mine had a gold shop in Sanliurfa! ;-)

Below is an interior from inside the covered bazaar.

Balikli Göl

The sacred fish-ponds have a very pretty setting surrounded by mosques and medreses and outside those, gardens with the possibility to drink tea or even have a meal. And with the fabulously warm winter weather we had, we took all the opportunities we had to hang out here, watching people, cats and fish! This is the main pond in the area and the one most depicted.

Ichtyolatry - the Abrahamic carps of Urfa

These are the sacred carps in the pond in Sanliurfa, associated with the profet Abraham in popular tradition. According to the legend, Abraham was hurled from the castle on the hill above into a fire below, but God turned the fire to water with the fishes in, thus saving him! Nowadays, the ponds are located in a nice park with teagardens and boats for families. Several mosques surround the area. A popular pastime is to feed the fish and watch them churn and jump to catch food being thrown in - fish-food is readily available from sellers by the ponds.

Holocaust Remembrance day

Today is the international day for remembering victims of the Holocaust.

Please do.

Sorrowful news this week, too

Ryszard Kapuscinski, a travel journalist of many years, books and insights of the world, died the other day. A Nobel Prize to him for a lifetime of writing was one of my favourite thoughts for the future prize awards. We will miss his acute observations. Rest in peace.

And my favourite radio-programme has an interview with him on their webpage (in Swedish).

Sheep!

Travelling in the week before Kurban Bayrami (Id el-Adha, for those of you more versed in Arabic than Turkish) sheep was a recurring theme!

Euphrates

Some images of the mighty river, the Euphrates! The glimpses in Birecik earlier the same day were my first actually, and it really lived up to my wild expectations, especially from Rumkale. The magnificence of the gorge is not lost...




Additionally, you can look at my earlier posts: Father Firat and Civilization

Halfeti mosque

The proximity of the village to the dam gives the whole place a slightly surreal touch. Nowhere was this more apparent than by the mosque, which was knee-deep in water as can be clearly seen in these pictures. (I'm still not friendly enough with the new blogger-version to change the order of them as I would have liked them though, for full visual effect...). It seems as though some kind of wall is being erected round it and we speculated that attempts to drain the water and regain use of the mosque were planned.