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May 30, 2005
Rhodes Square, Greece
This is one of the many knight buildings that creates a corner to one of the main squares in the old town of Rhodes City. People sit on the monumental stair watching the tourists stroll by. There is a library underneath and some beautiful grand rooms above. Monumental stairs are scattered throughout the city. They are great sculptural elements that become dynamic with their carved out arched bottoms and protruding carved edges.
Posted by follett at 11:52 AM | Comments (121)
May 25, 2005
Rhodes Street, Greece
The streets of Rhodes are covered with these buttresses. They are supposed to hold the streets together when the earthquakes hit the island. Seems to be working, unfortunately one of the ancient wonders of the world did not make it, a Greek god stradeling the port water entry announcing ones arrival into the ancient port of Rhodes fell into the sea. I have not seen any remains.
Posted by follett at 11:44 AM | Comments (4)
May 24, 2005
Heroic Fireplace, Rhodes, Greece
You can walk straight into these fireplaces without ducking. Great sculptural elements in the huge rooms where the knights of St. John built their castle.
Posted by follett at 11:39 AM | Comments (503)
May 23, 2005
Rhodes, Greece
The little bays along the east coast facing Turkey are great for swimming. I took a few days to explore the water and cliffs of Rhodes. No heroic spaces in the water or caves.
Posted by follett at 11:34 AM | Comments (44)
May 22, 2005
Rhodes, Greece
The mosque and church towers dominate the skyline of Rhodes City at the top of the hill. Such is the story of Rhodes where the Knights of St. John once tried to hold a foot close to Jerusalem, their grip slowly loosing hold from Ottoman invasions.
Posted by follett at 11:29 AM | Comments (3)
May 21, 2005
Heroic Market Room, Tripoli, Lebanon
Little patches of square white daylight puncture the grand public space. I have found what I was looking for, monumental, pedestrian, and beautiful. Appartly this was the first market building created by the crusaders around 1200. I think the wood beams are missing, that is what those dark holes are. These vaulted spaces are like the ones in Turkey but smaller in scale.
Posted by follett at 11:20 AM | Comments (20)
May 20, 2005
Plan of Market Room, Tripoli, Lebanon
This market space incorportaed one of the main market streets of Tripoli. Tripoli is even better preserved than Aleppo. The public space here is the closest I have seen to what I have been trying to discover. Large public rooms that engage the street. A german architecture team had restored this space. I met them, the only thing missing is the fountain which I think was coming. There are many European organizations helping to restore Tripoli's monuments. The little spaces adjoining the big room with skylights is a nice little cafe with a friendly owner. I drew this drawing late into the night while they played cards next to me.
Posted by follett at 11:11 AM | Comments (28)
May 19, 2005
Pigeon Rocks, Beirut, Lebanon
It felt good to get back to the Mediterranean Sea. I went swimming here through the cave. Beirut is an changing city. There are building that have bullet holes in them next to the most modern of buildings. The people have an optimistic view in the future of their country and they are very proud to be Lebanese. I met many people here, they all urged me to stay, and they would take me whereever I wanted to go. So strange when you go to the American government website, they make Lebanon sound like a warzone that hates Americans. How the media can distort or view of things. People traveling have the same perception of American cities and people. As if we all carry around guns, pray to Jesus, believe our government controled media, and crime is rampant. I don't know, maybe we are heading that direction?
Posted by follett at 10:41 AM | Comments (8)
May 18, 2005
Baalbek Column Base, Lebanon
This is the longest my hair has been in a while. When I arrived in Tripoli a young Barber waved me over and gave me a haircut. We did not say much to each other, he knew what was needed. I think I could have started begging for money and they would have given it to me. More importantly, note the column base behind me, BIG.
Posted by follett at 11:00 AM | Comments (13)
May 17, 2005
Ottoman Fortification, Baalbek, Lebanon
The Ottomans used Baalbek as a defensive point against the crusaders. In doing so they made one of my favorite heroic rooms yet. The star shaped hybrid groin vault is a great creation. The way light enters and disperses within the room is grand and majestic. The form is simple in its construction, yet complex in its geometries and special shaped stone blocks which are massive.
Posted by follett at 10:31 AM | Comments (6)
May 16, 2005
Temple of Bacchus, Baalbek, Lebanon
The ruins of Baalbek are the grandest Roman monuments I have visited yet. The bases of the columns are as tall as me. The stone color and carvings are the best I had seen as well.
Posted by follett at 10:01 AM | Comments (18)
May 15, 2005
Crac des Chevaliers, Syria
Probably the most famous crusader stronghold and rightfully so. Many beautiful spaces within this huge castle set on top of a hill. The courtyard is nice as well with this pinching of elements. The surrounding landscape is beautiful with the view of the snow capped Lebanon mountains. No problems crossing the border here to Lebanon. The first time I had seen tanks and very big guns mounted on top of jeeps.
Posted by follett at 09:51 AM | Comments (55)
May 14, 2005
Bedbugs, Syria
These things are viscious. Never did I realize as a child what my father and grandmother would tease me about before going to bed would actually come true. Unfortunately you cannot see them and when you are tired from walking all day you ignore them till the morning when the bites inflame your entire body and make traveling not fun. There is no hitting them with your shoe, the only one who is black and blue is me.
Posted by follett at 09:41 AM | Comments (7)
May 13, 2005
Syrian President, Hama, Syria
The Syrian President can be seen stuck on every surface of Syria. This is my favorite with little Disney like doves circling his head. A carnival in the background.
Posted by follett at 12:01 PM | Comments (136)
Hama, Syria
The water wheels of Hama are great public monuments that give the city an identity that attracts many tourists within and without Syria. Covering the horrible Hama massacre that Syrians will actually talk about if you ask them. Syria does not feel like a police state, the people are open, inviting, and warm. With this massacre there was great destruction of the old urban fabric. It now feels modern with the few historic monuments still standing.
Posted by follett at 09:21 AM | Comments (453)
May 12, 2005
Aleppo, Syria
Can a mosque be mannerist? I think so, if Michelangello were to do a mosque, I think it would look a lot like this. All the elements colliding with distorted proportions. Muscular, obtuse, heroic, and strange in a tiny little corner of Aleppo. This is why I like Syria, hiden and undiscovered urban elements everywhere you look.
Posted by follett at 09:33 AM | Comments (36)
May 11, 2005
Aleppo, Syria
After waiting 2 days at the Syrian border for my visa from Damascus, they finally let me back in. I had to threaten leaving and going back to Turkey. Sleeping in the garden with five big Syrian dogs barking at me was getting a little old quickly. There is nothing to do at the border so I got a lot of reading done. I arrived in Aleppo at three in the morning. I wanted to document my stay at the border but I did not want to annoy the guards any more then I already had. The Turkish embassies were having burocratic wars so they would not give me a visa there. At any rate I made it back in and I was ableto document more of Aleppo. These wood elements line the streets of Aleppo and add a nice texture to the street fabric. Some have great details such as this one.
Posted by follett at 09:03 AM | Comments (19)
May 10, 2005
Konya, Turkey
I wanted to stand here to do the previous drawing but I would have been trampled.
Posted by follett at 04:07 PM | Comments (82)
May 09, 2005
Konya, Turkey
Ince Minare Medressi has the best gateway I have seen of the Seljuk architecture. Script from the Koran is sculpted in stone, wrapping around the gateway like any architect would want to do today. The gate is at once monumental in its form but the details suggest motion, twisting and distoring. The skin is more active then any of the rock star architects could do today, and better built.
Posted by follett at 03:56 PM | Comments (5)
May 08, 2005
Sultanhani, Turkey
A stopping point along the silk road during the time of Seljuk reign.
Posted by follett at 03:53 PM | Comments (4)
May 07, 2005
Mustafapasa, Turkey
Another great stone carved home in a Greek village of Cappadocia. The well crafted stone work breaks the massive stone wall of the house into a pedestrian scale reinforced with the elegently placed colored stone.
Posted by follett at 03:45 PM | Comments (120)
May 06, 2005
Urgup, Turkey
The many different colored stones of the valleys are incorporated into many of the homes. This house looks over the valley of Urgup.
Posted by follett at 03:42 PM | Comments (203)
May 05, 2005
Honey Valley, Cappadocia, Turkey
The many diffrent colored stone and pinnacles were created from three surrounding volcanoes.
Posted by follett at 03:37 PM | Comments (6)
May 04, 2005
Cappadocia, Turkey
The first night I arrived in Gerome I went to the mountains overlooking the many great valleys of Gerome. I watched lighting, rainbows, wind blowing the many flowers, and birds announcing the setting sun. Cappadocia is a magical place. I planned on leavi
ng the next day and I stayed for another week.
Posted by follett at 03:32 PM | Comments (164)
May 02, 2005
Kapali Carsi, Kayseri, Turkey
The covered bazaar in Kayseri tweeks the typical geometries of the Ottaman square into parallelograms and trabezoids. Space is torqued to accomodate the demands of the bazaar.
Posted by follett at 03:18 PM | Comments (7)
High Place of Sacrifice, Nemrut Dagi, Turkey
Like Petra, Jordan, Nemrut Dagi has a high place of sacrifice, but with many stone carvings of kings like the temples in Egypt. Complete with a rubble stone pyramid.
Posted by follett at 02:30 PM | Comments (2194)
May 01, 2005
Urfa, Turkey
The tight little streets of Urfa contain some great limestone homes so extended over the street with their stone corbels that they begin to touch at their tops.
Posted by follett at 02:25 PM | Comments (65)
