Turkey!

Bodrum, Turkey is beautiful. I spent a week there with friends, around the city. We stayed in Gumbet, in the Jasmin apartments for a very budget package holiday. The harbor and city were idyllic, the sky perfectly clear and the temperature very high and dry like a desert. The sea water was warm, as was the swimming pool. Suncream applications became almost habitual, they had to be. The evil eye was everywhere, in jewelry and trinkets, and all manner of decorations, you couldn't go anywhere without seeing it somewhere. The 'nazar boncuğu' in Turkish.


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The eye was everywhere, on trinkets like this.



Gumbet Harbor



The nearest beach to our apartments. I'm pleased with how well some of these pictures turned out. I do like photography and capturing the feel of a location through imagery.



The nearest beach wasn't too pretty once you looked close enough, the sand was more like builders sand that the regular beach sand but the views were still spectacular.





I had a delicious Turkish vegetarian casserole on one of the evenings.



Bodrum Harbor



Bodrum castle, or Castle of Saint Peter, and, according to wikipedia, one of the last examples of Crusader architecture in the East.



On the Sunday we went on an all-day boat trip around the local islands.



View from the boat



Testing out my underwater camera case off the shore of Black Island (or I think that was what it was called)






We stopped at some caves that we could go inside





Floor of the cave area



Pictures of the boat





We rode camels!


More underwater camera fun!







The firedancer that night was really cool, so is this picture as you can see the movement of his arms and the flamed sticks.



Beautiful sunsets





We came back one day and the maids had made swans with our towels because we were nice to them and geve them a good review.



RINGO!



This was so fun, I fell off, tash managed to stay on but barely. I think he was trying to throw us off with his mad twists and turns!



Bodrum Castle and the Museum of Underwater Archeology:












The peacock feathers reminded me of the evil eye. I told you, its everywhere.




Gravestones. I love the characters on them, they're all different and have their own personalities.




These theatre masks were great, they look as though they're in mid shout.




In the gift shop they had these miniature houses the detail in them is amazing, even down to the pack of cigarettes on the table!




These were also very cool, little stained glass figures.



Panorama of the castle roof.



Panorama of the apartment roof.


Overall it was a fantastic holiday, I'd love to do it again some time. It could be another possible location to use in my final major project. As there is so much regular imagery to use, it would be reletevley simple to get across. The white, square houses with flat roofs, the evil eye, the turkish flag, the dry desert surroundings, the clear blue sky and sea, the harbor full of boats...