cooking stall in the mountain town of Chitral, Pakistan

Although many appear unhygienic, those well patronised have a frequent turnover of freshly cooked food  and usually provide simple but tasty meals.

In the old town of Pyrghi, Greece, I found  fascinating façades featuring a wide diversity of complicated black-and-white geometric designs, each trying to outdo the other. Called xysta, the technique was achieved by coating walls with a mixture of cement and black volcanic sand, painting this surface with white lime and then scraping off desired parts of the topcoat to reveal the matt grey underneath. 

griffin on the Temple of Apollo, Didyma, Turkey

The goddess Nike at Ephesus, Turkey, and a relief in the museum.

my driver and first police escort in Chitral, Pakistan

I took this photograph of my driver and bodyguard as we spent time browsing in the morning market. These venues, for which I have a penchant, are a never failing source of fascination. 

Remnant with expressive faces at the Roman Theatre in Demre, Turkey.

Rock-cut Tombs at Demre, Turkey, hewn out of steep cliffs to resemble Lycian houses, even to the wooden beams. 

Lowari Pass Pakistan

This picture shows the winding road traversing the Lowari Pass.

fish barrow in Konya, Turkey

streets of cappadocia, Turkey

The unique landscape and dwellings of Cappadocia, Turkey

stone village in Pakistan

Continuing my journey through Pakistan, I was particularly attracted to the stone houses often created with materials from the surrounding terrain.

flocks of sheep were prevalent even in town

This is one of my better photographs taken recently in Pakistan. Sheep, goats and cows were herded amongst the traffic even in large towns.

charioteers with bows and arrows like those found in the monuments of Egypt, with animals cowering beneath the horses’ bellies. 

I am always intrigued by the great age of antiquities - these from the absorbing Museum of Anatolian Civilisations in Ankara, Turkey

treading the fruit and stirring the sauce in rural Turkey

I was intrigued to encounter many women in baggy pantaloons and headscarves making tomato sauce. The fruit, in an elevated box with a spout, was trodden with bare feet (accompanied by squishing, squelching and slurping sounds!) so that the resultant liquid ran into large pans, which were then placed over an open fire in the yard and stirred with long poles. 

Th

Antakya was the ancient Antioch of biblical times, founded in 300 BC. Vilified as the most debauched city of the Roman Empire, it was where Peter established the first Christian community, at one time headed by St Paul. The world’s first Christian church, St Peter’s Grotto, was here and St Barnabas also visited.

mosaic in the amazing Antakya Archaeological Museum

Maaloula, a veritable warren

I took a 45km side trip to one of the most photogenic towns in the Middle East, Maaloula in Syria. Clinging precariously to the slopes of the bare Al-Qalamoun Mountains, at an altitude of 1, 625m in the foothills of the Anti Lebanon Range, the prominent blue dome and squat tower of the fourth-century Mar Sarkis (St Sergius) Monastery lay at its centre. Mostly inhabited by a Greek Orthodox population, Aramaic, a dialect dating from the first millennium BC and the language spoken by Jesus, was still used here. Blue or white flat-roofed houses were cradled in crevices below dun-coloured tors with aprons of green and the blue canopy of the sky overhead. Wandering the maze of narrow stepped alleys, I was struck by dwellings built close together and almost on top of each other. Little lanes wound between high stone walls and under vaults, rustic ladders leant against the sides of buildings, and a few struggling shrubs were evident in tins on any available space. One row lined the roof of a room constructed above one of the many arches braced by heavy log beams that spanned alleys. Decorated doors were recessed into stone or whitewashed stuccoed walls (even some streets were whitewashed!), and there were several towers and domes topped with crosses in this Christian community. 

Excerpts from my first book can be found on my website. Here I would like to add passages from book 2.

The famous Roman waterwheels in Hama, Syria. In spite of news reports that they had been destroyed, they are still intact.

A typical Middle Eastern bakery, this one in Ajlun, Jordan

Also in Aleppo, this shop had a veritable curtain of metal wares in front of the doorway. I am now posting pictures from my second book. The quality is poor but the photographs are interesting.

Exhibit in the grounds of the museum in Aleppo, Syria.

a mother's love

This  picture, which I have titled a mother's love, is of an African pygmy bushman. Amongst the world's most disadvantaged people, it is a community destroyed by drugs.

Taken in Torres del Paine National Park in Chile

taken in Torres del Paine, Chile, this beautiful silver fox sheltered from the wind right beside me.

fruits and vegetables always made colourful pictures

Picked at optimum time, the produce was exceptionally good. This picture gives a slight indication of the litter in the streets.

chickens and offal were common commodities in the market

Often congregated together, there was much competition, but by the end of the day most had depleted stocks. Plucked chickens were also hung in the open.

butcher shop in Qissa Khawani Bazaar Peshawar

This is typical of the butcher shops in Pakistan; meat is displayed in the open, and shopkeepers often sit beside their wares.

amazing coloured mountains in Iran

These unique mountains extended for miles and exhibited a range of colours.

boy selling beans on a street in Peshawar

Even more basic are the vendors with vessels containing offerings heated over makeshift stoves on the pavement. 

‘restaurant’ in Qissa Khawani Bazaar Peshawar Pakistan

Peshawar is a timeless town, but even though much appears rudimentary, dilapidated or unkempt, restaurants like this serve surprisingly good food. 

the ultimate snowy peak

I have used this awesome picture taken in Pakistan as the cover photo on my Facebook page.