Sep
26
Posted under
eclipse, by admin
Walking around Istanbul: Visits to the Grand Bazaar, Basilica Cistern, Museum of Archeology, Taksim Square, Galata Tower and Bridge, Theodosian Walls, Eyup Mosque, and an amusment park.
Before and after the Pacha tour, we spent about a week wandering around Istanbul.
Grand Bazaar:
Largest covered market in the world. And,oddly enough, every shopkeeper's brother sells kilims.
Basilica Cistern:
…was built by Justinian in 532 AD, and it is the largest surviving Byzantine cistern in Istanbul.
Museum of Archeology:
Artifacts from the Greek, Roman, and Byzantine civilizations …overwhelming!
A walk from Taksim square (the heart of modern Istanbul) to our hotel in the old quarter. Highlights are the Galata Tower overlooking the Galata Bridge that spans the Golden Horn.
A walk along the ancient wall:
In 412 the Roman emperorTheodosius II surrounded Constantinople with a wall that stretched 6.5 kilometers between the Sea of Marmara and the Golden Horn.
Duration : 12 min 6 sec
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May
01
Posted under
eclipse, by admin
Trailer for the Blennylips Bonaire trip to Turkey to view the total solar eclipse of March 2006.
In March of 2006, Roger Burnham and Marcia Leatham (Blennylips Bonaire) went to Turkey to see the total solar eclipse of the sun. We were lucky enough to join a Pacha Tour ("Super Value Western Turkey Tour") for two weeks of touring around. We spent another week on our own, before and after the tour exploring Istanbul.
Just let me say that I cannot conceive of a better tour guide than Atilla. His breadth of knowledge and ability to communicate it in an entertaining manner was a true joy and made the trip so much more than we had anticipated.
As is usual for Marcia and I, we made a DVD of the trip, that we hope you will enjoy.
Duration : 1 min 2 sec
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Nov
17
Posted under
eclipse, by admin
Goreme, eclipse, Yeralti Sehri, Red Valley, Oh My!
A busy day that started with the balloon ride (previous video), then:
Goreme:
…a town in Cappadoccia ("The Land of Fine Horses"). During the Byzantine period some 360 churches and monasteries were built by excavating the earth pillars (volcanic tuff – "fairy chimneys"), and their walls were decorated with ~religious paintings.
Eclipse:
For Marcia and I, all this was for the following 3 minutes…
Yeralti Sehri:
On the four levels cleared since 1964, kitchens, stables, and a winery have been found, as well as a chapel. The complex, believed to go down 20m, was home to about 15,000 people, with air shafts, water wells, and storage to last several months.
Red Valley:
One of the most attractive valleys of Cappadocia with its fabulous volcanic rock formations. Hermit churches, cut from rock, with frescoes and paintings fit with the valley's meditative atmosphere.
Duration : 7 min 10 sec
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