Coconuts and Cuttlefish

Göreme Open Air Museum. The little holes in the rock face are where the early Christians used to keep pigeons. Guano was highly valued as a fertilizer by the farmers in the region. Cappadocia, Turkey.

Dessert at the Four Seasons Hotel in Istanbul, Turkey.

The interior of the Blue Mosque. Unfortunately the dangling lights rather ruin the photo. Istanbul, Turkey.

Göreme Open Air Museum, where the early Christians carved churches into the soft rock. Cappadocia, Turkey.

The Blue Mosque. Istanbul, Turkey.

They have a lot of random artifacts to sort through at the Istanbul Archaeology Museum. Istanbul, Turkey.

The Imperial Hall in Topkapi Palace. Istanbul, Turkey.

A doorway in Topkapi Palace. Note the truncated icosahedron. Istanbul, Turkey.

Fairy chimneys in Monks Valley. Monks Valley is located in Cappadocia, which is a touristic term for the central part of Turkey. Fairy chimneys have a thin layer of hard volcanic rock on top of a thicker layer of tuff, which is soft and easily eroded. The chimneys form when the softer rock is eroded away faster than the hard rock, until eventually the hard bit at the top of the “chimney” falls off.