At Atasehir

Low-cost mass housing grows out of the surrounding plains like dragons' teeth in the Asian outskirts of Istanbul.

Enormous apartment complexes such as these ones in Atasehir house more than a hundred thousand people each. Such mini-cities usually come complete with their own shopping malls, schools, post offices, etc. This way, you can live in Istanbul without ever needing to see the Bosphorus.

...and they are still building more and more. Perhaps not the best sight in the world, but then again how are you going to acommodate a population of seventeen million people?!

High and Dry

A skill in joint-wrapping is essential if you want to impress indie girls in the back alleys of Taksim.

Faded Glories

An old, wooden mansion in Kadikoy is decaying in neglect.

Superimposed Ads

This combination of overlaid ads and decaying paint has unintentionally turned the facade of this old building into a work of Pop Art.

Sculptures from the Depth of Time

It might appear that this statue is a Giacometti or a Moore, but it is actually five thousand years old. Built by the mysterious Cycladic civilization in the early bronze age, thousands of such idols litter archaeological deposits in the western Aegean and Cyprus. They are thought to be ceremonial in purpose, perhaps for burials, but nothing is certain.

Most Cycladic sculptures are uniform, having similar humanoid shapes and proportions. But this one, with a frikkin' snake's head is an exception; a puzzle in an already puzzling realm. What did it represent? A snake-god? A demon? A one-off flight of fancy? We can never know. Both are from the excellent Museum of Cycladic Art in Athens.

Heavy Machinery

Massive cranes unload a shipment of excavators on the docks of Haydarpasa. These docks have become the focus of a recent debate involving an urban renewal project that planned building huge, ugly skyscrapers over the area.

Jam-Packed

Are these people trying to get into a jam-packed techno club? Nope, this is one of the ubiquitous mini-buses that you can see all over Istanbul.

A House Centipede

Just look at those stripes! I saw this house centipede (Scutigera coleoptrata) on the pavement two days ago. These centipedes, unlike their mostly blind, fossorial cousins, have well developed eyes and long legs that enable them to run and climb with ease.

They start life with eight legs and gain new leg pairs every time they shed their exoskeleton, so I'm guessing that it must have had four or five molts. It must also be leading a life of adventure and danger, since some of its legs have been broken off at the hands of unknown predators.

At the German Hospital

The German Hospital in Taksim was built in 1852, when the German Empire was pursuing its Middle-Eastern ambitions by pimping the Ottomans big time. (See my previous post on the Haydarpasa station in Kadikoy)

Having once been charged the equivalent of €100 for two measly stitches on my forehead, I can readily attest that the "pimping" is still going on in this hospital.

"Zula"

Yet another "vintage boutique" in Cihangir that sells useless shit you don't need and can't afford.

Emo Turco

Two Angry Turkish emo-girls...

...and the object of their affections, a skater boi. From Besiktas square, home to skaters and punks of all ages. The tomb of the notorious Turkish pirate Hayreddin Barbarossa is also located here.

Happy Hedgehogs

When returning home from someone's birthday at around four AM last week, I chanced upon these hedgehogs having kinky insectivoran sex. I guess this solves the age-old mystery of how they manage to do it with all of those spikes.

Life Before Computers

A Russian made, infernally complicated Greek typesetting machine serves as a shopping attraction at an Athenian arcade. Modern printing processes have made such machines obsolete.

Froglet Love

Happy froglet! Bufo viridis tadpoles are the cutest during that special, brief time when they have their hind legs and nothing else.

A Multi-Species Fountain

On the European shores of the Bosphorus, around the neighborhood of Rumelihisari, you can see this amazing fountain built by a certain Mr. Necip on 1967. Mr Necip appears to have been so charitable that his fountain has special water bowls for cats AND dogs. The inscription on the left says "Hello stranger, whether you drink from my fountain or not." On the right, there is a kind warning for passers-by to "turn off the water if you find it running."

Bios

A view of Bios, one of the most artsy venues in Athens, where you can see E-boy exhibitions, ultra avant-garde electronica concerts or screenings of Turkish Star Wars in any given day.

By complete coincidence, another artsy-fartsy Bios exists in Smyrna. Perhaps there is something in the Aegean seawater that causes this.

Engines of War

A horny Artoo unit? Easily one of the most impractical weapons in history, this Krupp-Schuman 57 mm. armored gun carriage seems to be a hasty "garage kit" attempt to produce a tank equivalent. It was captured by the Greek Army from the Bulgarians in 1918. From the War Museum in Athens.

At Ortakent

I saw this man and his truck when passing a lonely beach near Ortakent, Bodrum.

Bodrum Ravioli

A charming mantı (Turkish ravioli) restaurant at the back streets of Bodrum.

An Apartment at Cihangir

The door and logotype of this apartment in Cihangir reminds me strangely of green Coca-Cola.

Hare Krishna Maniacs at Istanbul

Until last week I was happy in my coccoon, confident that although it was plagued by religious nutjobs, militant nationalists, suicide-bombing Kurdish separatists and politically-correct "oh, but it's their culture" democracy groupies, Turkey was still safe from the sinister threat of bunny-toting Hare Krishna maniacs. Until last week. Now, my dreams of security are shattered forever.

At Otto

A view from Asmalimescit, a district of Istanbul with many nice nightlife venues, restaurants, cafes and bars. It is also ultra-trendy, sometimes to the point of being annoying. These tables belong to Otto, a nice crossover between an Italian bistro and a nightclub. They also give you pens and crayons with every meal, so that you can doodle on your menus. They then exhibit the best pieces on their website.

Asmali Mescit Street Art

A street-art sticker I did in Asmalımescit, a notoriously artsy-fartsy district of Istanbul with more intellectuals, designers, fashion hags and art creeps than you can shake a copy of ID Magazine at. Translated from Turkish, it reads something like "STOP! You are crossing a state boundary! No entrance beyond this point without Japanese bang haircuts, filthy intellectual beards, a cocaine addiction, a huge ego or an affliction of post-modernity." I swear it makes more fun if you know the place.

A Nice Lady

Derya is not really a close friend, but I nevertheless felt a divine urge to post this picture.

At the Goulandris Museum of Natural History

Here we go with a big post on the Goulandris Museum of Natural History at Athens. Here is a random detail, an algae-shaped lighting fixture at the ceiling of the hall of botany.

Founded in 1964 by the Greek philantrophist Aggelos Goulandris, the museum has one of the weirdest reconstructions of the early theropod dinosaur Syntarsus rhodesiensis. With dinosaur reconstructions evolving as our information about these creatures increases, such errors have to be overlooked.

A fossil crinoid, or sea lily. My friend Stanton will doubtless be able to identify its genus.

Here is a skeleton of Testudo hermanni, the common tortoise. Poor turtle! I wonder what happened to his left hand. And right foot.

Back when people didn't believe species could run out, mounting rare birds in elaborately-arranged displays was very popular. These Quetzals (Pharomachrus sp.) are one such example.

I regret that I couldn't get the proper scientific names of these interesting crabs.

But I know what this is... This is Mormolyce phylloides, a violin-beetle. These beetles use their elongated heads to probe small cracks and crevices for prey. If you want to see more, visit this small but -packed- museum as soon as possible!

Peyote Bar

The terrace of Peyote bar in Istanbul is a popular drinking spot in the sweltering summer months.

A Dead Gecko

A dead lizard I found in front of the Megaro Mousikis (Opera House) in Athens. Its smashed up head suggests it was probably impaled (and accidentally dropped) by an unknown predatory bird. Its distinctive pad-and-claw feet identify it (ironically) as a Hemidactylus turkicus, the Turkish gecko. Rest in peace, friend.

A Roadside Casualty

Dorsal and ventral views of a Melonthinid beetle of the genus Phyllophaga I found squashed on a pavement in the European side of Istanbul a week ago. These creatures spend one year of their life underground as thumb-sized pale, gnarly larvae before emerging in the following spring. Aptly enough, they are commonly known as June or May Beetles. Rest in peace, friend.

Two More Friends

Two of my friends from the infamous Peyote bar in Taksim.

Wiped Out

New Year's on Kartalkaya, a ski resort in Bolu. Under a whipping snowstorm, my friend Neco is playing the guitar while Ela and the guy-whose-name-I-forgot dance around him. Naturally, such resistance to the elements is only possible when you are drunk.

Design Disaster

An orgy of MS-Word kitsch from an advertisement of Celsius, a local club. "SiNirsiZZZZZZZZZ" means something like "UnLiMiTEDDDDDDDD".

A Palatial Estate

A beautiful apartment building at Rumelihisarı, next to the second Bosphorus bridge. This building is currently in use as the Headquarters of Borusan, one of Turkey's largest engineering firms.

Pinnacles of Stone

This picture was taken on one of the numerous rocky islets around the coast of Marmaris in the south-western tip of the Anatolian peninsula. I'm no geologist, but I'd bet these colossal rocks are volcanic in nature.

Two Friends

My friend Aslı with her boyfriend in Taksim. Aslı's father is one of my biggest sponsors. The stencil on the wall behind them reads; "Bill posters and graffiti-sprayers will be prosecuted."

Calamari Overload

Just looking at this picture makes me drool. Must... eat... more... kalamaria! This was taken in a supermarket in Athens.

A Visit to Izmir

The skyline of Izmir. This distant view does not do this beautiful city much justice.

This is more like it. Such a wealth of beautifully preserved architecture is very rare in Turkey.

But today's Izmir is still a shadow of its former glory. After the Turkish army re-took Smyrna from the Greeks, they destroyed more than 33 churches and monasteries, including the iconic tower of Hagia Fotini pictured here. A bad replica of this magnificent structre still stands in the Athenian neighborhood of Nea Smyrna today.