Come away with the raggle taggle gypsy-o
When Becky began her March Square challenge I wasn’t sure I’d manage to post every day, so I started a folder on my desktop and saved quite a few photos there. These are some of the leftovers, all taken in Turkey.If you click an image you can see a bigger view.
And my very last photo, one I know that my antipodean friend will love.
Beck, a great big thank you hug, so many people have enjoyed this challenge!
Inside the cave chapel of St Barbara, Goreme. Unlike some of the cave churches, St Barbara’s was simply decorated with red paint on white plaster, probably after the 8th century.
A square filled with circles for Becky’s March challenge, day 27.
The Ankara Museum of Anatolian Civilisations is a real treasure trove of ancient artifacts. i could have spent days there. I really liked this lion sculpture and luckily it is covered in round curls.
Not very fierce though is he? Becky’s been collecting lots of squares with circles this month, have you?
Cheeky moi? No way,
Honestly, they made me do it!
This is a scheduled post, be back soon!
I posted a photo of the library of Celsus yesterday in black and white, and my inquisitive friend Jude wanted to know what colour it actually was.
Perhaps 2000 year ago, it might have been brighter, a warm rosey shade, we’ll never know. But here is what my camera saw.
Mystery solved Jude? By the way, the lady is Arete, goddess of virtue!
I’m joining Paula again this week, for her black and white day Sunday challenge. It has the theme of ‘Ceiling’, and I was tempted to post somewhere local, but then came across this photo taken at the library of Celsus, Ephesus, Turkey.
As it’s more than 2000 years old, perhaps it’s Paula’s oldest ceiling this week, we’ll see!
Ben Huberman calls for order in this weeks photo challenge, and he has a tempting array of pastries in his well ordered photo.
The image below is one of my all time favourites and I may have posted it here before. This vast courtyard is part of the Ataturk Mausoleum complex in Ankara, the capital of Turkey. As well as the mausoleum which is the final resting place of Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey’s final resting place, there is a museum dedicated to his life.
Castelling is an ancient Catalan tradition, first documented in the early 1800’s, it began in Tarragona, but has since spread throughout Catalonia. I first saw it courtesy of the pink trousered one, Michael Portillo, in one of his tv programmes, to which I am addicted. As I was in Barcelona for ‘The Dia’ last September, I knew there was a fair chance of seeing it.
The Centre for Cultura i Memoria in El Born was one of the places it could be seen, the one that was easy to find, and close to a favourite little café!
After a croissant filled with coffee flavoured mascarpone, it was time to go out into the Placa Comercial,
Where preparations were underway.
And then it began.
In the background, you can see the first layer climb on the shoulders of the base level, or Pinya as it’s known. The Pinya is wide and formed by the strongest of the group, to make a base that can support the weight of the rest and be a safety net should anyone fall.
Several more layers are added, the Tronc, and finally, the littlest one scrambles atop, zoom in to see her nearly there, but I didn’t capture her with the camera, I was too entranced!
Once there, she gives a very quick wave, the crowd cheer and she’s back down the six layers beneath her, in just a few moments. Three troups performed that day, in competition, and each time I saw the wave, but my camera didn’t.
Paula’s Thursday Special this week is ‘pick a word’ from five. They’re quite difficult, but I’m going with indelible.
So, I have indelible memories of the landscape of central Anatolia, Turkey.
Lucid Gypsy 