In April 2014, I flew to Turkey with a group of fellow Instagram influencers for a two-week exploration of that amazing country, so beautiful, so full of history. Sponsored by Come See Turkey, the trip was designed to boost tourism to the area, and it was led by wonderful human, Mustafa Seven and his team...

I strolled up famous İstiklal Avenue, one of the great walking/shopping/window-shopping streets in Europe, enjoyed a quick ride on the historic little tram, took one last look at Galata Tower, then crossed the Golden Horn for final photos of the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sofia as the sun set...

Gaziantep is an industrial city in southern Turkey full of life and spice and work. Walk its boulevards and alleyways and you get insight into a place that's a world away from Istanbul and the Mediterranean coast... 

Near Gaziantep in southern Turkey is the Birecik reservoir along the River Euphrates. The waters covered the ancient town of Zeugma...

We returned to the Euphrates, but further south, along the Syrian border. There we had a wonderful local lunch and basked in the warm, humid air. In the shade of course.  

As we traveled in southern Turkey we stopped for a few minutes along the beautiful, tranquil River Euphrates. A Chinese tour group was stopping there at the same time as us. And a stray dog ran up to both of us looking for a handout...

How I loved this city, particularly Balikli Göl, the Pool of Abraham. History sits everywhere in town like dust in the air and on the streets. The buildings, the music, the sounds, the aromas, I felt like I had stepped into my childhood copy of One Thousand and One Nights...

The Zeugma Mosaic Museum in Gaziantep, Turkey, is full of mosaics and other artifacts moved from the ancient Roman town of Zeugma, which had been flooded by modern damming of the Euphrates... 

The Bridge of Severus, or Cendere Köprüsü, was built by the Roman army nearly 20 centuries ago. The Tomb of the Black Bird, or Karakuş Tümülüsü, was built even earlier, by the Commagene rulers; yet its eponymous bird still rests atop one of the ancient columns...

Not far from the timeless glory of Mount Nemrut in southern Turkey is the modern city of Adıyaman. We got to wander for a few hours there through their markets and parks, including stumbling upon a card game. Then it was off to Nemrut....