The trip

This trip to North Eastern Turkey was so fantastic, the sights, sounds and smells were so different. We saw very little visitors besides ourselves. We were the star attraction because the locals have never seen Oriental people before. We were stopped everywhere we went for them to take pictures with us. We saw lonely churches in ruins, proudly standing as they have for almost 1,000 years. We saw another country across the plains (Armenia) but could not get permission to walk over and visit. We ate food we've never ate before. We saw people that were different from their countrymen in other parts of Turkey. This was the real Anatolia we were seeing. We had no trouble getting around even with our lack of Turkish language proficiency and they with their lack of the same for English. We used hand gestures and writing on pieces of paper when bargaining on the costs of taxi fares and other costs. I found out that this part of Turkey is so different and so beautiful and have some of the loveliest people. I want to return to it soon.
I came back and plunged into work. My laptop ran out space for more photos and I've been deleting the old ones to make room for the new. Finally I made enough room to upload some pictures.