. I knew absolutely nothing about Turkey. In fact, it would be more correct to say that I knew nothing at all about this part of the world. When I set out in my Landrover, I first took photographs of all the frescoes I saw along the way in Yugoslavia. Then I arrived here and was overwhelmed. What I saw then surpassed everything I had learned up to that day. Everything was extremely exotic. Especially the teahouses! After taking colour photos of the mosaics, I had to send them abroad for developing, and that meant waiting two weeks. I resolved to keep moving, so I collected up my dog, jumped into the car and boarded the ferry. I didn’t stop either when I got to the Asian side. I just kept on driving... First to Ankara, then Gaziantep... I continued on through Diyarbakir and Urfa and before I knew it I was in Tehran.
Travelling alone in those days took great courage.
I wasn’t courageous, I was curious. Everything was extremely moving. Wherever I looked, I was amazed. I took photographs of everything I saw. When winter came, I returned from Tehran. I had set out on a two-week journey, but it took much longer.