Thalatta!

OK, it was the Black Sea in Anabasis, but we are happy to be again on the middle sea, much of which we saw last winter in Spain and then France. It is comfortably warm and dry, and there are reminders everywhere that we are in a different place. We'll be along the Mediterranean and then the Aegean for the next several weeks and are looking forward to the seascapes, warmer weather, some greater variety in cuisine, and, of course, history and archaeology at every turn. We camped at a wide spot on the beach, just below Titus' Tunnel. A local fisherman said it was a safe place, noting that there was a military installation just round the bend. After dark, they came out, guns, helmuts, body armor, the whole bit, to check us out. They looked at our passports, said it was OK, and then welcome to Turkey.

On the beach

View out the driver's side

Fishing at sunset

We tore ourselves away from this spot only on the

assumption there would be better ones ahead; here, an

Armenian castle north of Adana

And camped in a citrus grove/rest area

outside of Tarsus

Everything in bloom