Argentina & Chile

(2009)

Canada

(2007)

Canary Islands

(1999-2008)

China

(2009)

Cyprus

(2003)

Germany

(2002, 2005, 2007)

Greece

(2001)

Iceland

(2003)

Indonesia

(2009)

Iran

(1999)

Jordan

(1997)

Morocco

(2008)

Netherlands

(1990-2007)

New Zealand

(2005)

Spain

(1989-2002)

Switzerland

(1999)

Turkey

(2003, 2005, 2006)

Vietnam

(2008)

UK

(1994, 2001, 2005,

We always like to visit miniature cities and sights, especially when we have already seen some of them in real. Miniatürk isn't an exception. A large part of the park is dedicated to Istanbul, so we recognize a lot of buildings. And we have also seen some of the other famous sights of Turkey during our earlier trips. It is a pity there isn't much decoration, like people-figures, cars and so on. In the brochure we find that they are usually there, so perhaps they are removed for the winter.

The Topkapı Palace and the surrounding parks and building take a lot of space in the historic centre of Istanbul. The palace itself is formed by several buildings, like the kitchen which was used to cook for several hundreds of people every day. Now, here you can see exhibitions of gold, jewellery and ceramics owned by the sultan. There are pavilions were the sultan could have a cup of tea while looking over the Bosporus. There are other buildings were you can now see costumes (of the sultan), weapons (of the sultan) and so on. Strangely, there is also a building with religious items, like some teeth of the prophet Mohammed, some dust that laid close to his chest and so on. This is a place of worship inside the palace, and all the time some-one is reciting verses from the Q'uran.

You can also visit the harem. You have to join a guided tour, but because the group is very big, guided means mostly you are not allowed to stay behind.

We did manage to hear some of the information the guide gave. Like at one time there lived about 1,000 women in the harem. They came from all over the country the sultan possessed, so at the best times from Persia to Spain. And they lived for 7 years in the harem. After that, they could either retire and leave to marry some guy who didn't mind, or go to the palace for retired harem-girls somewhere in the middle of nowhere.

In the middle of the 19th century, sultan Abdülmecit thought the Topkapı palace was a bit out of fashion and he decided to build a new palace: Dolmabahçe palace. It is situated on the shore of the Bosporus. Strangely enough, the architect didn't make great use of that aspect. There are some places where you can look outside the window over the water. But the palace is symmetrical over the axis along the water, so at the other side there must be a window looking against a boring hill. At least, at the time the palace was built. Now it looks towards some ugly office buildings.

After the changing of the guides, the one who has to guard the palace for the next couple of hours is inspected to the last detail. Well, it has to be done, but in front of fifty annoying children ??? We would buy our military time off, even if it has to cost 20,000 euro.

The name of the Yerabatan Sarayı translates as 'sunken palace'. This underground water deposit is built in the 6^th century and can hold 80.000 m³. In the water live all kinds of fish, big and small, grey and orange. The Osmans, who captured the city in 1453, didn't know the cisterns were there, until they saw people catching fish through small holes in the street.

You can walk between the dim-lit columns over wooden walkways. At the end you find two heads of Medusa, one upside down and one tilted. No-one knows why, but they are sure this was done on purpose. You can read all the stories when walking to them. 

The Sultanahmet mosque is better known as Blue mosque. Not an original name, as lots of mosques are called that way. On the outside it is vaguely blue because of the roofs, but it is supposed to be called blue because of the tiled dome on the inside. We think Sultanahmet is a better name.

Because the mosque is well known and in the historic centre, there are a lot of tourists. Actually, it is pretty crowded here. And you have to carry your shoes in a bag, because you leave through another exit than you came in. Both contribute to a less-liking of this mosque. But the doorknobs are great. 

North of Mustafapasja the landscape for which Cappadocia is famous really starts: sharp cones of rock, formed by erosion. The rock varies from pure white to pink to grey, this region is not by change called Scarlet Valley. 

Between Cavusin and Avanos the greatest rocks are found: with a little roof still standing on top. This area is more touristy than around Ihlara. That means that at a car park you can sometimes see two or even three buses at the same time ! Although in summer it will probably be even busier than this.

Most Iranians really love to be photographed (always ask first !!), so we came home with a lot of pictures of Iranian people. On this page you'll see a selection of Iranians in everyday situations.

In Iran, there used to be over a thousand caravanserais. About every 40 km along the old caravan routes, you could find these places, where you could eat, sleep and drink and where was a place to put your camel.Just like a motel. Today, there are only 128 left, and most of them are in ruins. We visited one of them, in the middle of the desert a few hundred meters from the road from Yazd to Kerman.

This caravanserai had recently been restored in its old glory. We could imagine easily it had once been a very lively place, because the day before we had lunch in a restaurant that was reconstructed from a ruined caravanserai.

On the airplane to Tehran there was an Iranian lady sitting next to me. She asked if I was one of those tourist who would expect Iran was full of camels. I did my homework, so I was not. She told me anyway that I wouldn't see any camels at all. But we did see them and funny enough it was only a few 100 meters from the caravanserai. I hope one day the lady will see this page and remember me.