Eastern Journey

Connecting with a friend was so sweet!

On the ceiling of our hotel room...points towards Meca.

The owner of the hotel, whose dad passed away while we were there.

Me and Tonja on the bus :)

One of the beautiful Van Mountains.

Soooo sour - the name translates something like "Mountain Rhubarb".

A few in our group.

Lots of schools taking their students on field trips this day!

The old church on the island.

Sweet new friend on journey with us.

Inside the old Armenian church.

You can see the small cross on top of the church.

More of the mountain view.

The water was cold!

They say the alkaline content of the water is so high only one kind of fish can survive in it.

Here is the one kind of fish. Quite tasty!

Turkish Coffee.

Our group at a rug shop.

So many beautiful kilims and rugs!

A local museum.

All the stones with crosses were off to the side and behind the building. But we found them!

Ancient writing.

Locals cooking fish.

Tea time.

Umm...maybe the sun was too hot on his head?

Inside a local mosque.

Ceiling of the mosque.

Smiling boy shining shoes.

Can you tell one eye is blue and one eye is green?

Translation: Devil's Bridge.

Doesn't look too devilish, yet.

Bus driver walked us down under the bridge to the other side...

Me exploring and enjoying the lava rock.

Maybe this is where the bridge got it's name...the water drops at least 7 meters inside the rocks before it seeps out the other side...

Amazing waterfall on the way to our next stop.

This bridge...a bit scary.

Another view of the falls.

Three very sweet girls practicing their English with us.

The not-so-sturdy bridge.

Dormant Volcano and a close-up of the lava rock 'river'.

A cold rain storm blew through.

Local Pastry shop.

Um...

View of Mt. Ararat from our hotel.

Most of our group at breakfast, getting ready for devotions.

Local shop.

Seasonal fruit - yum.

Local logging business.

Ancient ruins on the mountain top.

Palace - amazing.

Marc leading us in devotion and prayer for the city below, the country before us, and the country behind us (on the border).

Pretty sure there were dragons kept down there... ;)

An ancient tomb at the Palace.

Framed view of the city from the Palace window.

Heading inland to a ski-town.

Those 'dome' houses are dung-domes...I'm guessing they are for fuel during the harsh winters.

The manequin at the top of the stairs in our hotel. Pretty much freaked me out daily when I got off the lift.

Roasted chickpeas.

Local produce.

The bazar.

Our group waiting at the bus stop....for a bus that never came.

Kaya.

On one of our walks...

He begged me to take a picture of him, then gave me this suave pose.

Sweet lady we met on the street - she invited us (all 12) to her house for tea! Maybe another time we can take her up on her offer...

Just having a camera meant we were the "Pied Piper" of the neighborhood.

More school girls practicing their English "I love you!"

And now we are definitely causing a distraction in the neighborhood :)

Six months a year there is snow in this city. As soon as the snow melts and the cold lifts, you see everyone's wool out to "sun". They use the wool to stuff comforters during the bitter cold months.

What a gentleman - he and his buggy stopped to pose for this picture.

Kids playing outside their home.

Double minurets.

This picture was taken to capture the security officer on the building behind me...the Prime Minister came on this day.

Specialty candy shop. This worker said he'd received a good-news book recently from people passing through the city. Said he was reading it and sharing it with others.

Kaya found a couple of friends.

The largest political gathering in the history of the city - Prime Minister is here!

We started thinking the women must have another entrance to the stage area...PM gave a long speech before his win the next day.

A whole lot of walking and I needed a bit of inversion...tp is present due to allergies...

Conversational English.

Visiting with recent Primary teacher graduates. Many are very devout in this city. Nearly all of our conversation centered around faith.

A rooftop view from the English center.

Double minurets. This building is a landmark for the city.

Marc asking the Imam questions about the ancient mosque and his beliefs.

Miniature replica of Meca.

The women's area of the Mosque - separate from the men's area.

The stairs leading to the woman's area.

Islm artwork in the mosque.

An ancient house preserved and serving food and drinks.

Inside the ancient house, having tea and cofee.

Sweet friends.

Another mosque in a popular square.

Our presence attracted a few curious by-standers.

The girl in the middle approached us with her video camera - she wanted to record us speaking English so she could practice. lol!

Our group (minus Tonja). In the tan shirt is a new friend with whom we talked about faith for hours that night.

Mountain village.

Sitting on the floor of the dolmus (taksi-van).

Ancient Ayasofya church.

Trabzon ancient church (Ayasofya)

Catholic church where a priest was murdered in 2006.

Picture inside the Catholic Church. Able to lift up our sister and a younger brother who were present at the church.

Trabzon colors.

The waiter really liked taking pictures with my camera...this is one of our group.

Sweet S.African couple.

Finally I took a picture of the waiter - so I could get my camera back.

Jumping for joy on our way to Sumela monastary.

Cold, rainy, misty, and beautiful

Looks almost pre-historic.

The view before our walk down the mountain

Tea garden.

Later I made a memory in this tea garden by falling on my bum - hard.

Tavla (backgammon) is a popular game here.

Enjoying hot Nescafe on this wet day.

A run-away sheep.

I loved the texture - hard and sharp iron with delicate spring leaves...could draw a metaphor to describe the city.

Local businessman 'quilting'.

First I'd seen at an airport.

Only one rug on which to pray...I didn't have to use it ;)

Took this for Si and Huddy to see the jet Mommy took home from her trip!