Gulf of Suez and Red Sea

Most of our 1000 mile trip thru the Red Sea was too far from land to see the shoreline. All but one of the pictures below were in sight of land near the junction of the Gulf of Suez and the Red Sea.

Leaving Gulf of Suez - approaching Red Sea

Mountainous and baren terrain

 Late afternoon in the Red Sea

 Oil well platform and tanker ship

More interesting landscape

Passing by the world's largest container ship

Transit of Suez Canal

Train tracks and highway parallel Egypt's Suez Canal

West side of Suez Canal more developed than the east side

Occasional house on canal's east side

Ornamental roof of gas station

Quite a bit of farming along the canal

Many small fishing boats all human powered

Typical military post every few miles along the canal

Suspension bridge across the Suez Canal  

(other brides are swing bridges)

Cargo loading/unloading area

Haifa, Israel - Baha'l Gardens

Terraced Garden Area

Administrative Building for Baha'l Faith and Writings

 

Grecian Architecture used in all the buildings

Izmir, Turkey

Ship arriving at Izmir which is Turkey's 3rd largest city with a population of 4 million.

Shopping district immediately adjacent to port area.

 A few shots walking around downtown Izmir this afternoon for about 2 hours:

                                       

Popular spot for the skateboarders -- much

appreciated compared with cobblestone sidewalks

                                                     

War of Independence Monument

Stumbled across this photo-shoot.

Fishing

 

Dikili, Turkey

Dikili is a charming small town with a population of about 10K located on the west coast of Turkey about 120 miles to the south west of Istanbul. It was interesting to visit Dikili's shopping areas catering to the local inhabitants in contrast to the shopping areas we visited in Istanbul which mostly catered to tourists. 

The town was clean and the people friendly which was consistent with all the towns and cities we visited in Turkey. 

Istanbul, Turkey

Istanbul with its population of around 14 million is the 3rd largest metropolitan area 

in Europe. It provides a huge variety of interesting shopping and cultural exhibits. 

Blue Mosque at Sunset

Hagia Sophia is a former Orthodox patriarchal basilica, later a mosque, 

and now a museum in Istanbul since 1935