Beautiful Sites

    Turkey was full of amazing overlooks and ruins. I am going to just put pictures of all the beautiful things I saw in just one week.

Assos

This is the port that Paul would have sailed out of to go to Greece

How gorgeous is that sea! See that island in the background? That's the island of Lesbos part of Greece. That's how close I was!

 

Pergamon

Taking the lift to the top

We love our theaters. Especially when they look out over the mountains of Turkey. 

Street to the theater. 

Temple to Trajan

Ephesus

The Church of Mary. This is where one of the Ecumenical Councils took place. 

Ancient toilets from a public restroom. Not much privacy. 

I feel like I put a million pictures of theaters but seriously! Look at that! It is beautiful. Not only do you have this giant stone structure but you have a killer view of the sea in the background. It doesn't get much better than that.

The library in Ephesus

It was so neat to be able to recreate the bible picture! Since then, I've been able to do many more. I don't think I'll ever look at those pictures the same way.

St. Jean

I honestly have no idea what happened here. But we saw some cool things!

Prienne

This stop was one of my favorites! It is just left in ruins. It is always fun to see great and grand buildings that have been reconstructed but it was really neat to see one that hadn't been. This is what all those cities look like when they are first found. 

 Columns were laying around everywhere

It was a rainy cold stop but still one of my favorites

More ruins

Laura and I hiding under an umbrella trying to stay dry

Sardis

Synagogue

Gymnasium. A few of the boys even wrestled there just for old time's sake.

I really loved this brick. You don't see a lot of that here. 

Nicea

Another Ecumenical Council took place here. The building is actually below the surface of the lake now. 

This was my favorite pen. I dropped it into the lake and watched it float away. It was a really traumatic experience.

Iznik (or Nicea) is known for their tile. This was all painted by hand! I watched a lady work on a bowl for a while. They are amazing artists. 

Temple of Artemis

These pillars were so tall! I had to get a perspective picture. I can't get over how big they were!

All the pillars had different decorations around the base. I love all the details. 

    Alright! Well there is a quick overview of what I saw in Turkey. There was so much more but there's just not enough room for everything. 

Until my next adventure, 

Lindy