We want to have a house there.

This is our non-official Gallery entry.

Ooh ooh, can I do one? I asked Sister 3 this afternoon.

Going through all the entries at this week's gallery made me want to share the places I love here in Turkey, so I asked my sister if she'd mind very much if I were to post some pics of Cappadokia. Except she hasn't replied yet (new email address issues - that'd also be why she hasn't replied to her comments yet either!) and also, looking through my holiday snaps, I decided that what I really wanted to share, was photos of the Aegean, where we spend time in the summer. What with the sun coming out and all, it will soon be time to go there! (Sorry for those of you out there who're stuck in inclement lands...)

So here we go.

The first two were taken in Selcuk, at the St John Basilica. This would have been a huge place, with several buildings, bigger than Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, built by Constantine in memory of John who supposedly brought Mary back to Efes after her son's crucifixion.  A lot of Turkish sites are littered with huge clay pots like the one my daughter is trying to climb into. They definitely perk up
the ruins.

In the background you can see the Selcuk aquaduct running, and on one of the columns, a couple of storks have built a nest.

The next one is a view from the window of the kitchen of the flat where we stayed. The neighbours were particularly noisy first thing in the morning, making a sort of kak-kak noise.

We walked for miles to find a couple of sites we'd heard of. The children had to be bribed with ice creams every twenty minutes or so. But they were troopers. The first place was the city of Notion, which was perched on top of a hill, with just a few stones left. We climbed down a very stiff hill side to the beach afterwards.

A few miles up from that same beach (and God it was hot!) was a temple of Apollo being excavated. I liked this colossal statue of Diana.

We didn't just walk miles to see ruins, of course: there was the beach.

And dinner, in the small Greek village of Sirince.

So yes, we want to buy a house there.