Neolithic Sites in Turkey – May 2026

Neolithic Sites in Turkey – May 2026 May 19 Leave PDX on Icelandair. Good flights, but the seats in Iceland First Class are scarcely better than other airlines’ Premium Coach – cluttered leg space, too-hard seats recline only a few degrees. On the second flight I was in the front row, too close to the wall for legroom but luckily there were two empty seats farther back so I moved there. The second airplane was much more comfortable than the first. One regret - in the drinks menu I noticed several very distinct Icelandic gins, and failed to try one. Unique botanicals, one brand turns pink when you add water (including tonic). I've been avoiding liquor on flights but still... how many chances will I get to try pink gin? May 20 Arrival, The Berlin to Istanbul flight on Turkish Air was a huge step up. Seats more comfortable with decent recline. They served the best meal I’ve had on an airplane in ages – delicious appetizers, excellent fish, a very nice rice pudding dessert. Arrival was a mess. There were only a few signs in English, and my brain was in worse shape than I realized. (I'd just as well have had the gin - it couldn't have been any worse.) In retrospect it’s comic – “giris.” in Turkish means “entrance” but I read it as “girls” - nonsensical and rather funny in retrospect but it slowed me up getting through passport. I think not having my distance glasses with me contributed to the frustration – in the future I will carry them. Then I couldn’t find the right luggage conveyor, and I couldn’t get the ATM to give me any money. 36 hours with no sleep only an hour or two half-dozing is not enough for brain function. So I gave up on Metro and took a rather expensive cab to the hotel. May 21 Free day. I got a decent 4 or 5 hours sleep, not enough but a start. I had booked an island tour from a marina across the golden horn but couldn’t figure out how to get there – the desk clerk said take the tram but I couldn’t get the ATM to give me cash – didn’t realize the tram gate would just read my WISE card. Ended up walking around the neighborhood, took a different boat tour that was disappointing. But as the day progressed I gradually felt more energetic, with the fog clearing from my brain. May 21 evening - meet the tour group Big shock: There are 19 persons, ordinarily way too many. The tour leader, Juneyt, seemed well-organized and competent but I couldn’t see how one person can possibly handle that big a group. I was told it would probably be 12 or less. Half of them reached the hotel a half hour after the planned intro meeting, so the initial meeting with the science expert, Sinan, was postponed until the next evening. We walked down to the tram then walked a few more. blocks to a nice restaurant with a view over part of the city. Juneyt was good about telling the restaurant about my dietary restrictions; they served my salad first but served my main course and dessert after everyone else. Half the party were nearly finished by the time I got my meal, and the beef was chewy, so by the time I had eaten even half my meal it was obvious I was holding everyone else up, so I gave up on it. The beef was served on a watery bed of greens, not terribly appetizing, so I just gave up on the last half of it. They served me a plate of fruit and I ate the ripest part in something of a hurry. (Fruit so hard and green it was inedible was a pattern during the entire trip.) This is why I dislike groups this large – meals, site and museum visits, it’s all the same. In my experiences people in front at least get to see what we’re there for, but they are pressured by the people behind and the people behind just struggle to keep up, hear none of the tour guide’s explanations and scarcely see anything at all because the group has already moved on. [These guides proved to be excellent at making sure everyone was included.] May 22 Istanbul sites. The group took the tram to Hagia Sophia – glad I saw it 20 years ago. They have installed a huge metal scaffold to support the dome, and the ground floor is designated as a mosque and restricted to Muslims. The second floor is still a museum, open to the public. I was quite impressed by both the few intact mosaics and (as I was throughout the trip) the calligraphy of Arabic. The Blue Mosque is beautiful but now it is totally jammed, very long line (but it moves fast). Again, glad I visited before it became so crowded. As the day wore along I felt my Istanbul schemas becoming active and getting around much more comfortable. With an early flight – to our first excavation site -- we had a 2:30 am wakeup. Nonetheless, we walked down to the waterfront, sacrificing over an hour of precious sleep time – but it was worth it. The restaurant is excellent – I shared a grilled octopus, whole grilled sea bass and plate of oiled broccoli with another guest; we all enjoyed great conversation & meal. As he always did, our guide Juneyt did a great job of taking care of me and the other guests with dietary restrictions, explaining to the servers and helping us with selections that were both safe and delicious. This, the second group meal, was much more satisfying than the first night meal and left me feeling much better about the situation. May 23. Konya and ÇatalhÖyÜk. Early wakeup, mostly easy trip to the airport except for one person who slept in and had to be called again. Fortunately the traffic was light, both to and in the airport. The flight was awful – over an hour in a narrow seat with my knees grinding into the seat in front of me. Konya is located on a large very flat plateau between two mountain ranges, both sites of former volcanic eruptions. The plain is dotted with mounds of various sizes, all known from aerial surveys to cover neolithic settlements. A few decades ago an archaeologist excavated one of these and found evidence of sustained human habitation. ÇatalhÖyÜk was very interesting. Beginning about 9000 BCE people built and inhabited a 23 hectare site, which remained occupied for a thousand years. They built with mud bricks, and plastered over, with paintings of animals and humans on many of the walls. The structures were adjacent, with no space between and with flat roofs covered with dirt and accessed from above. Some units were divided into two or three rooms, with a hole to crawl through but no door connecting them. Single rooms often have partial walls to separate areas dedicated to particular uses – including one for sleeping (with raised platforms) and one that is kept clean. Walls are often whitewashed and decorated with images of animals. Dead are buried under the floor of the home – and it appears that they are often not related. Children appear to have lived separately from parents. Cooking was done in outside areas. When a new home was desired for whatever reason the old was broken down and the new one built atop the rubble. That’s how the sites grew into mounds. The society appeared to have been egalitarian, based on some agriculture, hunting and gathering, and trade in obsidian and obsidian tools from volcanoes to north and south. The settlement at Çatalhöyük consists of rectangular, flat-roofed houses with adjoining walls. The houses were built side by side without any space between them. Entrance and exit to the houses were provided by a ladder, accessed through a square opening in the roof. This opening also serves as a chimney through which the smoke from the hearths and ovens is discharged; since there are no windows in the adjoining walls, the only light source is this opening in the ceiling. Given the limited illumination inside, it is believed that people carried out daily activities like food preparation, weaving baskets, and other tasks on the rooftops. Communal living and joint production were predominant; roofs were used to pass from one place to another and probably functioned as a street or plaza for casual socializing as well as access. When Çatalhöyük was first established, hunting remained an important source of meat, but by the middle levels 80 percent of the animals found were sheep and goats. The now-extinct aurochs, which occupies an essential place in the community's world of symbols and rituals, was domesticated in Çatalhöyük only in late periods. The inhabitants probably resisted turning this wild creature of symbolic value into a domesticated animal, even though it had been domesticated in other parts of Anatolia. The people of Çatalhöyük had a sophisticated aesthetic sensibility and decorated the mud-brick walls by whitewashing them then painting them with abstract, human and animal images. These settlements are important for several reasons. They give a good sense of the early development of culture, predating true agriculture by hundreds of years, and the gradual use of domesticated animals and plants. After visiting these sites we went for a late lunch. As I tried to do everywhere I had authentic regional food for lunch, a salad of white beans, boiled eggs and tomatoes and a bowl of yogurt with some herb or spice I didn’t recognize. For dinner I had a salad of tomatoes and cucumbers both chopped rather fine, with garnish of green onions and parsley and a chunk of slow-roasted lamb – all delicious. Yogurt is often served with both lunch and dinner, usually sprinkled with herbs (dried or fresh) or containing small berries. It is sweeter than our yogurt and complements the spicier dishes nicely. Whirling Dervishes (Sufi) After dinner four of us went to a demonstration of Whirling Dervishes – which originated in Konya. The whirling is a kind of moving meditation, a ritual to connect with Allah. I found it quite interesting. I took several short videos as well as still photos. The feet move in a systematic pattern, and the arms are raised in a gradual ritual, hands beginning together at the waist. The dancer slowly raises them, beginning to separate them as they pass the face, and spreading arms wide beginning when the arms are nearly straight in the air. (As the introduction emphasized, the ceremony is a ritual, not a dance in the sense of artistic entertainment. That distinction is evident throughout.) Two figures did not join the whirling. One is a sheik, leader of the ceremony, who began it with a chant, then periodically blessed the others as they walked in front and bowed to him. The other figure simply wandered around the floor, between and among the dancers. Even watching it seemed contemplative. Having had less than four hours sleep the previous night I was glad to get to bed. I was wakened by an overamplified call to prayer at 4:30 after a good night’s sleep, feeling much refreshed. I am presenting the other sites mostly in the order visited, not in any historical sequence. By now I was beginning to appreciate our guide, who managed to keep the entire huge group organized, and always made sure everyone had plenty of time at each site, even if it threw us off schedule. May 24 Cappadocia ["C" is pronounced hard, like our "k") Immediately after breakfast we boarded the bus and departed for Cappadocia. Along the way we stopped at the largest and most beautiful of the Seljuk Caravanserais, built in 1229. It is a sort of inn, developed by a local Sultan to encourage traders to continue bringing goods from the east by providing shelter and protection from gangs of robbers. Surrounding an open courtyard are a kitchen, infirmary, saddlery, rooms for guests, and a large overhang to provide shelter for animals. The walls of the shelter area are lined with some interesting paintings in a unique style, and the support columns have bas relief carvings in a completely different style. AŞIKLI HÖYÜK This was another excavation of a 9000 year old settlement, not covered with a shelter, but just with plastic tarps. This was one of the earliest excavations, done and documented in the 1990s, before they realized that rain and melting snow would erode the site fairly quickly. The approximate location and shape of the buildings are marked with We found lots of worked and partially worked flint shards just lying on the ground indicative of the village’s role in the flint trade. Some were so thin they were translucent, and edges as sharp as a knife. The site provided few interesting photos, and was most interesting for how it demonstrated the development of archaeological tools and techniques. We drove on to Cappadocia and checked in to a hotel set among the fantastic jagged hills or eroded tuff that spread for miles in every direction, then walked down the hill to a small restaurant where I had a dish of stuffed mushrooms that was very nice. The best views of the fantasy rock formations are from the air (tomorrow’s report). After lunch we visited an underground city (one of many in Anatolia); five levels of dwelling chambers connected by small tunnels (I had to duck walk through most, crawl through some). During the early Christian era, several underground cities were carved out – the exact dates are uncertain. No-one is quite certain why they were built (probably to hide from anti-Christian violence) or how long they were used at one time. They were discovered mostly by accident (like a shepherd stumbling into one) in the 1960s and later. May 25 The day began early. I got up at 4, got ready and was picked up for a balloon ride. We reached the launch site in early twilight; a few balloons were already in the air and many were in various stages of inflation. I was dismayed to see that the passenger baskets were the size of a small bus, divided into at least 20 square compartments. Fortunately there were only three of us so they put us in a corner compartment – even more fortunately they loaded me last – into the very corner. We were strapped into our places, then waited in growing anticipation while they finished inflating the balloon. We felt the basket slightly swaying – and we were airborne! It was very beautiful – the twilight sky filled with balloons, each sporadically lighted by the propane jets inside. (They make quite a loud roar.) The ride was amazingly peaceful, slowly drifting past rock formations, sometimes brushing over a treetop. The pilot took us down into a canyon, past several moguls, then up over the rim, over a nearby ridge, up and up to about 6000 feet. The city lay below us like a planner’s model. I was quite tickled when I saw a hotel swimming pool shaped like Casper the Friendly Ghost. After a little under an hour, the pilot brought us back down near the ground. I was amused again when we came over a ridge and saw a photographer working with a model, a beautiful woman in a red gown with a long train, who waved and smiled broadly as we passed. Of course I couldn’t resist such a shot. The famous silence of a balloon ride was impossible with 28 tourists chattering away and a blast of the gas burners every few seconds, but in the beginning and end we could hear lots of birdsong, and throughout there was just a marvelous sense of calm. Then we drifted by a rock formation hollowed out into what looks like a single dwelling with at least three levels. I took a couple of stills, then video recorded it as we drifted past After I got back, had a late breakfast and joined the group, we drove to an “outdoor museum” – a section of the valley where early Christian monks had lived in caves, organized about 500 CE into a monastic community. There are at least ten churches – chapels would be more accurate – all in caves cut into the stone and decorated with frescos. Unfortunately most of the frescos were vandalized, both during periods of religious strife and through common vandalism. Many of the frescos high enough to be out of reach were still in good condition, and their quality is astonishing. What a loss the vandalism was! We had a very late lunch (I had mushrooms stuffed with tomatoes and garlic in a tomato sauce) then Juneyt led a few of us for a walk through a narrow canyon lined with moguls, many of them set up as dovecotes. Before development of commercial fertilizers the farmers gathered the droppings to use for fertilizer. It had been raining every day, and portions of the trail were muddy, some with streams flowing down them. Otherwise, walking was quite easy. For dinner we walked a few minutes up the road to a restaurant where we were seated at a long table. We were served hors d’oeuvres – parsley, raw onions, four paste-like condiments, one of them quite peppery. I was advised to order a kabob pot,chunks of meat and vegetable in a tomato sauce cooked in a tall pot. It was very good. It was frustrating to try to hold a conversation because another large group at the next table was very noisy. It started raining again, quite heavily at first, then eased off and I started thinking about going home, but the guide told us we would have a dessert so I decided to wait. They distributed plates with knives and forks then, after another 15 minute they brought nice looking little tarts – for everyone on my side of the table except me. Nothing for the other side of the table, either. After 30 more minutes we realized they were not going to give any of the rest of us a dessert, so we all got up and headed home – I went ahead to walk faster, and the rain had eased off so I managed to get only slightly damp. May 26. Long drive to Ankara, broken up by the Hittites, Bronze Age, about 1600-1200 BCE. (Copper age about 6000-1600.) First we stopped at Yazilikaya, a Hittite shrine / temple built amid a rockpile with natural springs. There are two chambers, a smaller one leading to an inner area enclosed by high walls and a larger, slightly more open one. The larger one has bas relief and engraved images of deities in a procession toward an inner courtyard. The chief god and his son are both shown standing on the backs of mountain lions. Above the end of the chamber the chief god and another god stand on the back of lions. The much narrower passage to the smaller chamber is guarded by two demons, whose permission must be asked before proceeding further. To the right of the inner chamber, a slightly wider lane has other images of the gods, in one image holding a large sword. The entrance is guarded by demons, from whom you need to ask permission before entering. At first it was difficult to make out the images, but as the sun rose higher and moved westward, more details became visible. From Yazilikaya we walked back a quarter of a mile down the road to a small open-air restaurant for lunch. I had grilled trout, which was excellent, topped off by watermelon. Then we drove across the valley to Kaymakli, a very large Hittite city built on the side of a rather steep mountain. It was abandoned near the end of the kingdom, and all that is left are foundations, paving stones, a few partial sections of city walls and partially ruined city gates. Archaeologists have begun work to restore the wall. We stopped at the temple, three of the gates and the palace, located on a high hill overlooking the temple. I was surprised at the steep ground, quite different from my image of a bronze age city. Juneyt said that the city probably hosted 20,000 people at its peak. The top pictures show the lion gate and sphynx gate – note the obsidian eyes. The bottom picture shows the temple ruins from the rocky hill where the castle stood. We spent so much time at these sites that we didn’t get started toward Ankara until nearly 5:30. I have so much trouble with the limited leg room (8 inches between seats, like the cheap airlines) I had to sit in 2 seats to stretch out in. Fortunately our group didn’t nearly fill the bus. May 27. May 29. Gobekli Tepe and Karahan Tepe Historical background from a lecture by Sinan. Turkish people migrated from central Asia, enslaved by Arabs. In the neolithic period people began to settle from nomadic to agriculture around 10,000 B. Climate change from ice age around 14-10,000 BC permitted warm seasons, suitable conditions for agriculture. People already had some knowledge of animal husbandry & cultivation when they began to congregate in permanent settlement. This started in the Fertile crescent; parts of Israel, Levante, Syria, SE Turkey, Iran & Iraq. The core region of neolithic settlement and development. Around 10,500 BC, people began to domesticate sheep, cattle, goats; grains, pistachio, lentils, grains, all native to Mesopotamia. This developed into agriculture over several thousand years while it spread slowly through Anatolia, and later, via sea, to Europe by migration. Central Anatolia 7,000 BCE; Greece 6,000, Germany, 5,000 BC, England 4,000 Ceramics styles and DNA analysis support migration from Anatolia to Europe Pre-Neolithic sites, recently discovered, covering 9 hectares 3 layers: (1) surface; (2) 8700-9000 BC, pre-pottery Neolithic B; (3 – bottom) 9500-8700, pre-pottery Neolithic A, situated directly on a limestone plateau. Discovered in 1960s, its importance for both social and aesthetic development was not understood until it was excavated again in 1994. The area surrounding Gobekli Tepe lacks water and they found no evidence of agriculture, so they initially thought people never lived there and focused on temples. Newer excavations reveal domestic houses present from the beginning, built in layers atop each other like in the other sites from the same era, but the total population is still unknown Relative dating involves comparing tools etc.; Absolute dating, Carbon 14. Layers – the temples are built on bedrock at the bottom of a natural swale, a depression in the rock. Above them, domestic houses were built on higher levels of the swale. Temples consist of large subterranean circular structures on level 1, 9500-8000 BCE. The entire area is 15 meters high, 300 m diameter. In each structure T-shaped pillars face each other; some are embedded in walls and some free-standing, usually in groups of four; the height ranges from 1.5 to 5 meters - the T-shaped pillars may represent stylized human figures. Many have animals in relief; all are wild animals, many of which live under earth – snakes & scorpions, leopards, wild pigs; all in motion, all male. All are depicted with detailed anatomic details, especially penises and teeth. Surveys show at least 20 more such structures yet to be excavated. To build all this required enormous labor, indicating a high level of social organization. The stone was taken from a nearby limestone quarry – but moving these massive stones would require organized effort. Of many people. Level 2 has only one building; smaller and rectangular. It still has pillars, some with lions. The building is semi-subterranean, carved into bedrock. The T-shaped pillars are also carved from the bedrock represent stylized males. Only one figure depicts a woman, carved on the wall, probably carved later. The image I saw had been removed to a museum. Like many of the images of males, animals and men, the genitals are emphasized. The four structures studied thus far are mutually contemporary. There is no evidence of slavery; the work must have been motivated by a strong ideology. In addition to bas relief, we have 3-dimensional sculptures, detailed with muscles, teeth, ribs, penises. Some project out of the walls and others seem strategically placed. Fox Pillar building – smaller, depictions of foxes; contains a basin. Benches in the center. Enclosure C – Boar Building; T-shaped pillars are also inside. U-stone, narrow entrance and narrow corridor. Enclosure D is defined as a stone age zoo – all the animals are depicted: snakes, ibis, leopards, cattle … Central pillars form male figures, possibly priestly dancing One pillar is in the shape of a totem with figures including at least one human. Human heads are deposited carefully in the enclosure, often next to pillars. The dwellings may have been placed in tiers surrounding central “temples” Temples may have been deliberately filled in or simply filled by the debris from collapse of the surrounding dwellings. Unfinished T-figures were found in a workshop area adjacent to the site. Animal remains (mostly bones) include wild fox, horses, boar, gazelle (60%), wild goats, hare, crane Each season there was a massive migration of gazelle; this may have motivated site selection. They may have used these hills for hunting long before settling there. Plant remains – wild einkorn wheat, almonds, pistachio - no domesticated species Basins with residues evidence of beer production; may have figured in competitive (or ceremonial) feasting. “Trans-egalitarian society” – not strictly equal, not yet hierarchical. Karahan Tepe is contemporary and equally important but less famous so less popular, and it is allowed to get much closer to the enclosures (and several goats were grazing among them. Here are two of the enclosures from Karahan. May 27 & 28 The Ankara and Sanliurfa museums contained reconstructions of Gobeklitepe and other settlements, along with displays of stone tools that show how they progressed from simple hand-axes to knives, scrapers, and spear-points. Both museums also include extensive displays of bronze age, Greek, Roman, and Byzantine structures and artifacts, but most of us were too tired after two or more hours in the neolithic displays. I think it would take two or three days to do justice to either of these museums. I was particularly taken with a stylistically sophisticated statue of a man, with obsidian eyes that give him an almost surreal intensity. (Obsidian was often placed as eyes in statues of animals as well as humans.) One of the most interesting things about the Ankara castle is what Sinan called “spoilers” pieces of earlier sculpture and temples incorporated into the walls of the castle and ramparts for repair. Some of these are almost comical. There are two remaining parts of the castle, about .5 to 1 km apart; the intervening space has been filled in by more recent buildings May 28 & 29. Sanliurfa – old city Before leaving Sanliurfa we spent about an hour in the old city, at the base of a large citadel with two minarets. Legend has it that Abraham was thrown from one of these minarets onto a pile of faggots intended to burn him alive, but the fire turned into a lake and the sticks into fish; the lake is full of 12-14 inch long fish which, of course, are well-fed by tourists. Farther on we came to the cave, one of the supposed birthplaces of Abraham. May 30. Roman Bridge, Before returning to Istanbul, we visited a dam over a tributary of the Euphrates River, a burial mound, then a Roman bridge over the river. A notable feature of this area is a place just upstream of the bridge where the stream has deeply undercut limestone cliffs, first on one side then on the other side of the river. I could not help thinking what a hazard it would be for canoes and river runners. Mt. Nemrut Burial Mound. We walked around there for a while, then went on to a visitor center high on Mt. Nemrut, which is capped by a huge conical pile of rocks, matching the one that we had visited earlier, with the plan of watching the sunset. Juneyt was evasive about the distance to the viewing area, so I was set for a nice long hike but it took only 15 minutes, up a rather steep, wide path, part paved and part composed of stones well-polished by millions of tourist feet. There were wide paths up to the top of the mound, but when I started up one, a guard blew a sharp whistle – as I returned to the paved path I realized that it was a potentially dangerous path – not at all clear what it was for but it would be easy to cause a rock-slide. Obviously the rocks were piled up by human labor (slaves, probably) to serve as a grave marker for royal bodies. There are two viewing platforms at the base, one for sunrise, one for sunset. The one on the east has several busts of gods and heroes, with a more abstract stylized structure behind. (This is where I elicited a whistle warning for starting up a very clear trail). The western platform is larger, with a larger collection of statues, including Apollo and Hercules, along with several blocks that appear to have been shaped for use in a wall that did not get built (or was built and fell apart). We settled down on one of these blocks, but there was a gusty wind that was quite chilling. About the time the sun was setting it got much colder, and everyone wanted to go down to the warmth of the bus. There were still people coming up the trail and others pausing alongside the trail, but none of my companions wanted to stop or even slow down. Near the bottom the trail crossed a steep snowfield that was beginning to freeze again – I had little trouble crossing it (the trekking poles proved their usefulness) but some of the slower members of the party had difficulty on the freezing, shoe-polished icy snow. They reported that several guides had stopped along either side of the trail to help people cross. Everyone was glad that we went there for sunset, not for sunrise as the itinerary called for. June 1 Istanbul, Aybuke and Mehmet. The flight back to Istanbul on Turkish Airways was fine. I managed to request an aisle seat and the agent gave me exit row, so the trip back was much more comfortable than the outbound trip. To cap it off, after I refused the sandwich the crew was handing out, explaining that I am celiac, one of them brought me an extra (and very excellent) meal that was apparently extra from business class. Cudos for Turkish Airways! It was a busy week for Aybuke and her family – final exams at her university and several activities for their son, Meta. I did some more sight-seeing, including a visit to the Archaeological museum, then got on the metro (sub/surface way) that the hotel desk clerk directed me toward. I had already encountered (and recalled from my visit 16 years ago) the confusion of Istanbul’s streets – very few of them have street signs, so following a map (especially an on-line map; paper maps are virtually non-existent) is a challenge everywhere. Few people speak English and almost everyone gives vague, ambiguous directions (“that way,” with a pointing gesture. It turned out I had got on the wrong line – goes in the direction of Kotkoy but farther south. I had to double back and take a connecting line that was impossible to find – ended up taking a cab. Later, when taking me to the bus (at the local airport) to go to Bursa, Aybuke also had difficulty with the lack of signs, ambiguous directions, and unexpected relocation of the bus pick-up point to a location very difficult to reach. Negotiating Istanbul requires skills quite different from most European and American cities, skills I developed when I was there 16 years ago, and was beginning to recover when my visit was over. June 3&4 Bursa Bursa, two hours from Istanbul by car, was an early capital (before Edirne) of the Ottoman empire. Because Aybuke and her family were going to be quite busy on Wednesday and Thursday, I took a bus to Bursa and checked into a hotel a mile from the main area. Unfortunately I have few pictures because my cell-phone battery stopped charging early in the visit. Wednesday afternoon I visited the Grand Mosque, Green Mosque, and Green Tomb. The Grand Mosque is a sprawling stone building with many domes; inside, two of the domes are quite beautiful. A worship service was starting as I entered. I was struck by the musicality of the chanting – the Imam had a lovely tenor, and I found it uplifting even though I could only guess at the words. I lingered for ten or fifteen minutes to listen, before moving on to the other sites. My path took me through the narrow lanes of the famed bazaar area, fortunately only moderately crowded. The Green Mosque and Tomb are perhaps even more beautiful than the Grand Mosque, with ornate tiles and domes. The weather has changed radically and I found the afternoon heat somewhat enervating, so after lunch I headed back to the Culture Park, across from my hotel, beginning at the Archaeology Museum, which was quite disappointing – three rooms with a few interesting exhibits, but nothing to compare to the other recently-visited museums. I ended up sitting for over an hour in the shade of some beautiful, tall trees before going back to the hotel, settling in, and walking back to the main area for dinner. My plan for Thursday was to visit the old Ottoman village, Cumalikizic, then go on the cable car that would take me to the top of a local mountain top, then return to visit the central citadel. I could not find public transportation so took a cab – with no clear idea how I would get back. The village is built of stone, with streets made of (almost) flat stones – very difficult walking and quite steep, but quite charming. Many souvenir shops but none of them sold postcards (obviously a dying medium). When I was ready to go the tourist map looked like I could walk to the tram but one of the staff at the village told me it is 11 kilometers. Fortunately there is a city bus line that goes only there and back. On the way back several of the other passengers tried to help me with advice when to get off, all in Turkish + gestures. When I saw the Grand Mosque I started to get off but an old man said “no, no, I help you!” I got off anyway and found a place for lunch. By that time it was so late I gave up on the cable car idea and went to visit the Citadel instead. It consists of remnants of old rock ramparts, built into the cliffs surrounding an elevated hilltop neighborhood, beautiful buildings, mostly 3-4 story apartments and shops. Ride back – the bus company pulled another switch on us – but Mehmet figured it out and met me at the arrivals, as per the new instructions. The entire routine with the bus is typical of Turkey – few signs, changes without any advance notice, vague directions. The whole society has become tech-dependent, coupled with complexity and indifference. Almost every Turk I know personally is the embodiment of friendliness and generosity, but the system is bureaucratic and confusing. Kidzania. On Saturday Meta had a five hour appointment to meet his cousin at “Kidzania,” a sprawling fantasy-land for 8 year olds that occupies half of a floor of a shopping mall in a high-rise tower. I wasn’t able to go with them (Aybuke was the designated adult and anyway I had to try to get my phone fixed) but how it was explained is that it is a venue for pretending to be an adult. At the outset they receive a small amount of play money, which they can spend for various things – including an “education.” They can “earn” more “money” by “working” at various jobs. Among the possibilities, there is a flight deck of a real (retired) Turkish Airways jet where they can be pilots, flight attendants and passengers. While they were doing that Aybuke’s brother and Mehmet helped me find a repair shop to replace the battery on my iPhone, sat down for a beer and French fries (I also had a salad), then took the metro over to Kodakoy, a posh shopping district that has largely replaced the Taxim (after the government “reformed” it in response to anti-government demonstrations several years ago.) When we returned, after 5 hours of playing “adult” the two kids were still totally wired, full of energy.

May / June 2026 Cinqueterre

Cinque Terre I’ve been thinking about this hike for several years and it finally fit in with other plans. The scenery is ravishing, especially the little ridge-top villages (not part of the five) and the five that are mostly next to the ocean. The trails are uniformly tough, reflecting the steep, rocky terrain. They were all badly damaged by the heavy rain and flooding a few years ago, and it’s easy to see why they were impossible to repair fully. It’s hard to believe they farm on such steep slopes! Below the trail are vegetable gardens, olive orchards and, almost everywhere, lush vineyards, many planted in narrow strips of dirt between rock retaining walls. The local wines, product of these vineyards, are excellent. But I wouldn’t want to tend these vines or harvest the grapes – even hiking the trails above the vineyards is an exercise in (barely) controlled vertigo. It took me a couple of days to figure out the small (about 4 inches square) red and white blazes, which can be anywhere, and not always at the intersection, and learn to use “Bike With GPS” (which I found much more difficult and awkward by far than Gaia was before it was acquired and profitized by Outside. Even under corporate downgrading Gaia is still much better than Bike With GPS.) I was blessed with weather, lows in the 60s, highs mostly mid-70s, cooling breezes, a couple of cloudy days, no rain. After the first couple of hikes I realized that I really should have done this when I was first thinking about it, before aging started cutting into my speed, stamina, and endurance. After the second day’s hike I was beginning to wonder if these steep trails were going to simply kick my butt! There are relatively level sections, mostly packed dirt, sometimes partly covered with leaves, often partly paved. Pleasant walking, but getting up to and down from the ridges is steep and often badly eroded. It has been fun now but would have been a lot more fun 5 or 6 years ago, even three years ago, when I hiked 10 days in the Dolomites. I’m glad I got to do it now! The condition of the trails varies a lot. Some parts are paved with grooved concrete, including stairs, longer parts paved with stones, only a few of which are anywhere near flat, so even when on “paved” portions it is necessary to think carefully about almost every step. Many of the stones are black and polished by many shoes (I think they may be very low grade marble.) Unsurprisingly, given the steep terrain, erosion is a big problem, often leaving stairs and stair risers orphaned – either go around them or take huge steps up and down (two feet or even more). I’ve been asked if I was hiking alone. The answer is: like the most popular Gorge trails, it is impossible on the main trails of Cinque Terre to be alone for more than a few minutes. I took one trail back from my first day hike that differed from the recommended trail and didn’t see any other hikers for about two hours, but the crowds are entirely on the primary trails. The quality of this alternative trail was similar to the main trails, except it had no concrete, no pavement until a few broken and eroded stairs at the end, entering town. There are many songbirds in the forest and it was nice to hear them without the constant tourist chatter. I expected the paved parts and even some of the packed dirt stretches to be gravelly and slippery but was pleasantly surprised – in six days’ hiking I skidded on loose gravel only twice, both times for less than a foot. I wouldn’t want to do the rocky parts in wet weather. For a celiac, Italy is rather frustrating, and the section I was hiking more so. Menus are heavily weighted toward pizza and pasta, and meat and fish are usually breaded and fried. For anyone with a healthy gut it would be a gourmet banquet – great bread, frito misto and other breaded dishes including calimari, many varieties of pasta. I was able to have some great meals, but it took a lot of time scanning menus. The best seafood I found was a “warm seafood salad” – squid, octopus, and mussels chopped up with some celery and tomatoes, and a few salted olives that seemed a little out of place. In Porto Venera a few ristorantes also served grilled squid and grilled mixed seafood, both excellent. These options replaced frito misto, the fried mixture of fish I loved so much when I first had it in Venice many years ago. The gelato is consistently good, though some of the servers have shorted me on scoops (curling the gelato into a hollow ball). I found a gelateria with licorizia (the root is grown in this region) – a pasty tan color, an earthy flavor not as sharp as anise. A rare treat – I haven’t seen licorice or anise ice cream in the U.S. in 30 years. I brought a swimsuit with me but made the mistake of not bringing sandals or water shoes and a sunshirt to wear in the water. I could have worn a cotton T-shirt to protect my back from the sun but I wasn’t that motivated to join the crowd in the water. I had a rather amusing “Death in Venice” experience while watching people trying to ride surfboards on the two foot shore break (two of them managed to get a few short rides). I felt a light touch on my butt, looked around and a fortyish guy was walking away. A few minutes later he came back and struck up a conversation, pointing to the rocks by the breakwater: “Is that the end of the beach?” “Yes, I think it’s cliffs beyond.” “I heard there is a naked beach somewhere.” "I haven’t the slightest notion” -- and I walked away. I suppose a MAGA type would have felt compelled to deck the guy – but I’ve no sympathy with the MAGA concept of manhood – and that would be somebody else’s movie. The hotel in Levanto doesn’t serve breakfast until 7:45, which meant getting on the trail after it’s already warming up, and doing most of the hiking during the heat of the day. I was tempted to skip breakfast for an earlier start, but in this bread-centric culture it would be difficult to find an adequate substitute for the eggs, yogurt, ham, cheese, and fruit salad served by the hotel. Fortunately it doesn’t get hot enough to be a problem and there’s been a breeze most afternoons. I don’t think I’d want to do this in July or August. By day four my legs were beginning to get used to the steep climbs and descents. This was the day for hiking the central trail, the string of cliff-hugging villages of Cinque Terre itself. Going was slow and I stopped frequently to admire the views and find a dish of ice cream in one of the villages. The sixth day’s hike took me up to the top of a ridge , along the ridge top, and gradually down. The next to last kilometer clings to an almost sheer cliff, with several dicey rock-climbs both down and up, above sheer drops. Some of these were on well-polished stone outcrops. I was too busy negotiating the footing to take any pictures. That section of trail is not for vertigo sufferers. I was afraid it might continue along the next cliff but to my great relief it swings around the more gradual slope to the left. The descent into town was still quite steep. In the photo to the right two of the three islands can be seen behind the headland and its vertical cliff. The trail ends with a (typically steep and eroded) descent into Porto Venera (named after Venus, the goddess with a ruined temple at the far end of town). Apparently Lord Byron swam from this spot across the gulf to visit a friend. The bottom of the trail leads past what is apparently the remains of an medieval city wall, ending in a plaza in front of the old fort I walked around the small village for a while, took pictures of the church, then the next day caught a ferry for the small island a couple hundred meters away. The hike around the island was very much like all the other trails, less pavement, more packed dirt, but steep and badly eroded ascents and descents. A marble quarry that is apparently no longer used was an interesting feature at the far end of the island, and on the way back I got some excellent photos of Porto Venere itself. It would be easy to criticize the condition of the trails, but having done a lot of trail work myself it was apparent to me that repairing the flood damage and improving the ascent and descent would take a massive effort, and in places liberal use of dynamite. The trails are passable by any reasonably fit and competent hiker, the most vertiginous stretches could probably be avoided by long detours, and it makes for a very satisfying week of strenuous hikes interspersed with rambling walks through the narrow streets of ancient villages.

June 2026 Cave Art Sites in Spain

In May and early June 2026 I took New Scientist-sponsored tours of neolithic sites in Turkey and Mesolithic cave art sites in Spain, with a 5 day hike of Cinque Terre on the coast of Italy. Spain 2026 Tour of Cave Art sites in Spain The Guide, Beatriz, is loud, enthusiastic, and, like the guide in Turkey, deeply caring. The science expert, Emily Wilson, is a science-educated novelist and science writer, who previously worked on the staff of New Scientist as editor-in-chief. There was a total of 12 guests, all quite knowledgeable. I arrived too late for the first dinner and introductory lecture, checking into the hotel at 11 p.m. (the only direct flight from Milano), still steeped in the language and concepts of the metaphor conference. I was assigned one of the worst rooms in the hotel – one small window behind a curtain in the corner, opening out onto a dingy alley, dim lighting, obviously designed for the decrepit elderly (with a bathing chair in the walk-in shower, and a door stop next to the toilet – miraculously, in two days’ stay I managed to avoid stubbing my toe on that tripping hazard even when I got up in the night.) The room was so claustrophobic, dark and depressing that, during the hour-long “rest period” at the end of the first very long day, I had to take my laptop out and sit in the lobby. The caves El Pendo Cave. Very large chamber – was flat with a large opening to the daylight; roof collapsed covering several layers of occupancy dating back 80,000 years. Unfortunately visitors are not allowed to take any photos, even without flash. The back wall is covered with 19 drawings of animals, many of them incorporating features of the rock (bulges or cracks suggestive of an animal’s back or neck, with the rest of the shape either sketched or filled in by charcoal or mineral pigments (ochres), estimated dating 20,000-25,000 years ago. Some are very evident; the guide pointed to several others, helped us see the outline. Once a viewer’s eyes are trained on what to look for, most of these stand out. A few are so faint that they remained ambiguous. Several images of horses and deer, very elegantly done. One less realistic image believed to be human, not as elegant. It was quite cold (I’m wearing my jacket and beanie from now on!) but I could happily have spent another hour drinking it in. We were on a metal walkway – not allowed down on the jumbled rocks, partly for safety reasons, but also probably partly to keep tourists from breaking the rules and touching or photographing. We had to imagine looking up at them from the cave floor (now covered in a massive jumble of fallen rock.) Different periods of habitation are marked by layers of dark grey, charcoal from the wood fires, interspersed with brownish and reddish layers of mud and rock. The early stages, 80,000 BCE to about 45,000 BCE were inhabited by Neanderthals; from 40,000 BCE to the end of the ice age by Homo Sapiens – here they seem not to have overlapped. This cave apparently provided shelter; may also have served as a gathering place. Whether the art had other purposes beyond creative expression and decoration is uncertain; it is clear that the depicted animals were culturally significant, both food sources and some predators (lions). Most are so beautiful it is difficult to avoid supposing that we are looking at the work of prehistoric Michealangelos and Picassos. One of the group, Julie, had an attack of heart palpitations, had to be taken to the ER. While we were waiting around the guide suggested we could walk down to the village for coffee if we wished, so five of us se3t out. The sidewalk was paved with some odd little tiles, many of which had been pushed up by roots. I caught my toe on one of these and sprawled face down, landed on my right knee and elbow and, to protect face and head rolled over to my hip (into the edge of the roadway, apparently). I slightly skinned the elbow and knee (no blood) and badly bruised the hip and knee. The others, including the guide when she was told about it, wanted me to see a doctor, but it was apparent to me (after prodding the various wounded areas) that none of it was serious – just one more in a life-long series of tripping over unseen or unnoticed hazards. I walked without pain or limping, and the pain from the scrapes and bruises quickly faded. Santander Archaeological Museum. Among other attractions, they have a great collection of “portable art,” images mostly engraved on bones and bone fragments and found buried in the caves. I spent most of the hour we had before the museum closed at 2:00 p.m. examining these small objects. Some of the images were too faint to see clearly (they were all inside glass enclosures; the light in the room very dim). I discovered, once again, how much better the iPhone sees, so I took pictures of most of them. [The only time I’ve found to write this is on the bus on the way to the next site – very hard not to be distracted by the gorgeous scenery, green hills with farms and woods and small villages.) A few of the photos were spoiled (blurred or over-saturated with light) but most came out quite well. In several examples the artist incorporated features of the bone. I failed to photograph the explanatory labels but I believe they are from later than the art in the caves, possibly around 20,000 BCE or even later, near the end of the ice age. In the evening we enjoyed a feast, 8 courses spread over two hours. Great conversation and regional specialties I will probably never have again but I drank too much wine, ate too much food, and didn’t get to bed until 11, with an 8 a.m. departure. The mismatch of “dinnertime” cultures was a problem throughout the trip, as it so frequently is. I also woke up with pain in my knee and hip and had to get up to take some Motrin – should have known to take it before going to bed. When I woke up for good at six, the pain had not returned – and I handled the descents and ascents into caves without difficulty – Two 6 mg doses apparently did the trick. 2. El Pindo There are two sets of images 30 or 40 meters apart. They both have some abstractions – dots, vertical lines with attached blobs facing right. One has deer and a buffalo. Another seemed to me to be an image of a wild pig with the face formed of a projection from the wall – but the guide explained it as a deer, and indeed the head of a doe was also visible, in an upright position, disproportionately small. The buffalo had what appeared to be a spear embedded in its side. Farther along was an image of a mastodon, with the back and trunk quite clear, but legs and tusks less clear (even when the guide pointed to them I was unable to make them out.) This cave was once more accessible, and it suffered from some damage from people touching the stone (skin oils contain acids that attack the pigments.) For lunch I went with some of the others to a local café recommended by Beatriz, who helped me select two safe local specialties, a goat stew and a salad of shredded lettuce, olives, tomatoes and cubes of some local cheeses including one blue cheese. It was all good, but I skipped the potatoes and still managed to eat only 2/3 of the meat, leaving a long tough strand and the (probably delicate and tasty) morsels tucked in and around the knee joint. Tito Bustillo. This cave was discovered by a group of adolescents who found the small entrance remaining from a collapse of the original large cave entry – one of them died 3 weeks later in a different cave, so the cave was named after him. There are several galleries with important paintings, but many are restricted because of difficult access and to protect the art. We were able to visit only one gallery, considered the most important. It has several pictures of horses, including one identifiable as a breed of alpine horse – its presence suggests that the climate must have been quite cold at the time. There are also two pictures of deer, a stag and a doe. It took a while to identify all of these, but as usual once the guide pointed out the crucial outlines the fuller image became clear. The stag and one of the horses had faint lines in several places that made it difficult to see all the lines, but the others were clear, some immediately, some with a little study and others only after the crucial lines had been pointed out. One of the inaccessible chambers has several oval images with a line partway up the center, generally interpreted as a depiction of the female vulva. Others have other significant animals. Reproductions of these chambers are in the visitor center, which also contains some of the portable art and stone tools that have been found in the caves, as well as a video of a demonstration of techniques for flaking off bits of stone to create stone tools. The day ended with another dinner – with the start moved forward to 8:00 to accommodate us Anglo-Saxon wimps. (I was not the only member of the party used to eating at 6 or 7.) The Caves. Typically, entries were cut and expanded during the time when they were developed as major tourist attractions, and some steel / concrete staircases and walkways were built. But as the archaeologists came to realize how badly the tourists were damaging the art (touching it leaves skin oils and acids, People will take flash photos and even the CO2 from people’s breath damages the art. Consequently, the caves are all locked, access is restricted to a few people a day in small groups, and no photos at all are allowed – not even of the beautiful rock formations. Access to the deeper chambers is rough – hiking over uneven and sometimes slippery ground in near dark – and the newest chambers are closed entirely. They have built an imitation of Altimira, one of the best recently discovered caves, with meticulous reproductions of the art; I describe it later. Much of the art work is so faint that it is difficult to see. Often, once the guide used the laser pointer to trace even one line of an image, the entire image would pop into view, but sometimes the best I could do was see part of the animal – usually the head and sometimes the back or front legs. Many of the images are remarkably sophisticated in technique, but some are more like sketches. The artists used charcoal and minerals, iron oxide and other colored oxides, mixed with animal fats, and they worked by the light of burning animal fat with moss wicks. There is no evidence of soot in the deeper areas, indicating that they did not use torches or other wood or pitch fires. They must have worked by dim and flickering light. Many of the images are in places difficult to access; some are in quite high places, and these often use quite sophisticated perspective techniques so they look natural when viewed from below. Many of the paintings use features of the rock, suggesting that the artist first “saw” a buffalo or deer on the wall, a crack in the shape of an animal’s back or antlers, a bulge in the shape of a hind quarter or belly, and fill in the other details with charcoal, oxides, and sometimes by engraving lines into the rock. Santillana del Mar. Between cave visits and riding from one place to another on the bus we didn’t have much time to explore the charming little villages and ancient downtown areas but on the third day we had half a day in this little town, which features two streets lined with quite old houses, a 12th century monastery, convent and church. The monastery / church is guarded by two lions, made of limestone and so eroded by the frequent rains typical of this region that they are barely recognizable. I was also quite taken with a lifelike statue of a cow in a little cheese and dairy shop. During the colonial period, many residents of the town migrated to South America, most of them to Mexico. A few of these did well and returned home years later with substantial fortunes, bought or built fine houses and installed coats of arms high on the wall where it could be seen by all, evidence of their success. The one on the right is one of the larger. Several of these houses have been inhabited by members of the same family since colonial days. Art reproductions from the Altamira museum / site reproduction. The cave art varies in quality – some of the drawings and paintings have a very amateurish, almost childish quality, but many of the paintings are quite sophisticated in both conception and technique. Some images are daubed in as dots, some smeared on, as if by some kind of brush, and some take the forms of line drawings; many of them incorporate features of the rock – bulges and cracks. Some of the artists found a relatively flat wall to paint but many of the images, occupy panels interrupted by cracks and other features of the rock. It’s hard to be sure what the image to the right of the deer represents. Many of the less sophisticated images are done in an almost child-like style. Two horses in the museum are done in charcoal, in a more self-assured style, one in an interesting pose, head down and facing toward the rear. A second horse is outlined in charcoal with done in color, with reddish pigment inside; a bulge in the wall gives dimensionality to the upper neck. A similar effect is used in several of the bison paintings. Other artists achieved some very sophisticated effects with charcoal, often supplemented by a thin (or faded) wash of pigment. Many engraved images are also found, some worn away and quite faint but some well-defined and easy to read. There are not many images of humans, and those that have been found are often rather distorted and even grotesque. Everyone in the group was taken by the two on the next page, where the artist saw faces in the rock and used a few strokes of charcoal to bring them to life. On the final day, back in Bilbao, we visited the recently opened Guggenheim, part of Bilbao’s turn toward a tourism economy. There were several interesting exhibits; I was particularly taken with the work of 20th century sculptor Ruth Asawa. One of these is origami-style folded paper and the other is made with a single strand of wire. The group

Catching Up

Catching up… I’ve fallen behind in postings, largely due to time pressures connected to the Eagle Creek fire (in the Columbia Gorge, September 2017), COVID, moving to Willamette View in 2020, and deciding to retire in 2024). I haven’t done many back-packing trips since 2017 but I’ve done a lot of hiking, some river rafting, and several more international trips. President’ Trump’s continuing attack on the institutions, norms, and practices that sustain our democracy have also precipitated considerable distress that requires a constant effort to fight off depression. In spring, several major events occurred. As a result of preparing to enjoy Portland Symphony’s performance of Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G Major, which I hadn’t heard in several years, I went online to listen to a performance of it, discovered Yuja Wang, and became a devoted fan. Our most recent trip was a visit to Denver (during a heat wave, alas) to hear her perform Barber’s Piano Concerto at Boulder’s Chautauqua Center. An earlier trip together took us to San Antonio, where a conversation with a high school music teacher, who was playing his violin on a street corner near our hotel. He assured me that I’m not too old to learn to play an instrument – so I have been studying piano with LaJean’s guidance ever since. July 17-21, 2026. We flew to Denver, rented a car, and drove to a small motel in Boulder where we checked in. After freshening up a bit we drove to Chautauqua Park, where we had to park a half mile from the auditorium. We made it to the auditorium and met our friends Kristella and Matt in time to have a quick drink in the restaurant before entering and taking our seats, just a few rows back, close enough to watch Wang play. I find her facial expressions while she plays particularly fascinating. The performance was as good as we thought it would be and, true to her custom, she rewarded the standing ovation with three encores (something I had never before experienced). For a complete account of the performance see https://seenandheard-international.com/2026/07/yuja-wang-and-the-colorado-music-festival-orchestra-deliver-a-stunning-barber-piano-concerto/. The next day we rose early and drove to Estes Park to get into Rocky Mountain National Park before 9 a.m., when entry begins to be limited to those with advance reservations. After breakfast in a local eatery we joined a half-mile line of cars, but still made it through the gate with time to spare. (Many sincere thanks to the efficient park rangers!) LaJean saw the park several years ago when she was in Denver for a conference but this was my first visit. Unfortunately, the heat (topping out in the mid-80s) combined with the 8-9,000 foot elevation to sap our energy, and we did only a couple of miles of walking, in three different stops. We drove to the 11,000 foot pass hoping to stop at the visitor center but the parking lot was full and entry closed. I enjoyed the scenery but LaJean had her eyes tightly closed most of the time. Much of the road hugs a cliff with a drop as much as a thousand feet, in some places on both sides of the road. We finished the evening with a rather late dinner at the restaurant – excellent food (we had braised buffalo rib) but I’ve never seen a restaurant so poorly organized. The second day we drove south to Red Rocks Amphitheater and Park. LaJean found the sun too intense and hot to walk on the only trail that didn’t hug a cliff face but I enjoyed a 2 mile hike, plus climbing the stairs to the amphitheater, which is truly spectacular. I hope some day I will have a chance to see & hear a performance there. After the park we drove into Denver, left the car at the B&B and took an Uber to Meow Wolf, where we spend 2 ½ hours. It is a fascinating place, with 5 stories, multiple rooms of various sizes organized around a central open area, and art of all sizes and shapes (much of it whimsical) tucked away. I’m sure I missed several of the little hidden rooms. We met Kristella and Matt for dinner at the Longhorn Exchange, which LaJean loves for its focus on game. LaJean and I shared an order of elk, buffalo prime rib, and quail (it was too much – I regretted not just sticking with the prime rib). We ordered before dinner drinks but my gin and tonic was almost pure gin, served in a highball glass, so I requested more tonic, but the main course came before I had drunk much of it – very poor service given the cost of the place! The meat was quite good but both salad and vegetables were ordinary, maybe a bit below ordinary. The server was rushed, slightly rude, and quite annoying. I don’t think I’d go back. To dodge the heat on the third day we visited the Botanical Garden, as marvelous as Meow Wolf, though in very different ways. They have placed contemporary statues and other art throughout the park in ways that the plantings and art reinforce each other. From there we went to the Capitol Mall / Art district and hid out in the art museum, where we focused our attention on (mostly contemporary) aboriginal artworks. We will probably go back to Denver – but not in the summer! The only reason we went this July was to satisfy our desire to see Yuja Wang in person, and that was worth the trip.