Picturesque Silk Shop

Here are a few images from a beautiful silk and souvenir shop in Bursa city of Turkey. The whole place is done up so quaintly and the colours were so pleasant that I had to share them with you.

The rooster and the hen pictures were an interesting way to mark the washrooms for gents and ladies!

Turkish Delights

Istanbul… amazing Istanbul, erstwhile Constantinople. The colours, the sights and the people! Indeed a cauldron of cultural confluence. Crossroads of religions, continents and races. Capital of the Byzantine, then the Romans and then The Ottoman Turks. A confident civilization, teeming with national pride. Stylish beautiful people. Asian flavours in an European atmosphere.

The ‘Cay’ (Chai or Tea), Turkish Coffee, Kebabs, ‘Raki’ (local alcoholic beverage), ‘Mezze’ (Turkish appetizers). Turkish carpets (remember flying carpets?) and silk from Bursa. Beautiful, mesmerizing, graceful Turkish Belly Dancers. The legacy of the legendary ‘Rumi’ and the whirling Dervishes…and the list goes on.

The whitish beverage in the picture is ‘Raki’, the customary local alcoholic beverage, an anise-flavoured apéritif. (anise: Indian-‘saunf’). You can also see people holding little glasses of 'Cay' in the background.
This guy, a waiter in this hip ‘Turquoise’ restaurant, in serving a kebab dish prepared sealed in an earthen pot which is broken open in front of the diners and served. Mmmm...Delicious and spectacular!

Seagulls over the Bosphorus

The ferry boat ride to the Princess Islands from Istanbul through the Bosphorus Strait into the Sea of Marmara is a spectacular one. The sights of the Istanbul City and its major monuments from the sea and the beautiful views of the islands as you approach them is simply unforgettable. And the seagulls! They follow the ferryboats in huge droves! And the reason? Passengers of these ferries toss pieces of bread at them and enjoy watching them catch the pieces of bread mid-air.

It was exciting to watch these birds swoop down and catch the food mid-air and sometimes even picking them up from the open palms!




The Artificial Intelligence Focus system in my Canon EOS 400D did a real good job in keeping the focus steadfast and gave me unexpectedly good firm shots of the birds.