Turkey

Turkey is my new favorite vacation spot! We drove about 1500 miles while we were there, but based on the variety in landscapes that we saw I felt like I had driven across the United States. Gorgeous views! We stopped at 5 of the 7 churches talked about in the book of Revelations. We went to Ephesus, Miletus and the ruins of few other cities that Paul taught at. In Ephesus theater we acted out Acts 19 (yep, the same theater that that little scuffle takes place in). The ruins of Assos was probably my favorite site. It's a small acropolis on the top of small mountain overlooking the Aegean sea. To get to the ruins you have to hike through a rural village. Incredibly picturesque!

Istanbul was another highlight! The architecture and overall feel of the city felt like an east europe version of Paris. There are mosques and minarets all over. The mosques were pretty amazing!

The Blue Mosque. The interior is covered with intricate mosiacs.

Almost to Assos. We took a five minute bus-break here to take pictures. Such a gorgeous landscape. The Aegean sea is just beyond the mountains

Assos

We took a tram up to Pergamum and got hit by a pelting thunderstorm just as we got to the top. It was an awesome thunderstorm, but we had to cut our tour short.

Turkish Delight. Simply delightful. They had pretty much every flavor you could think of--chocolate, carmel, pistachio (they're really big on pistachios in Turkey and in Israel), macadamia, sour apple, strawberry, coconut, lemon, lime . . . and the list goes on. Needless to say, I tried lots.

Hagia Sophia: Originally built by Justinian as a Byzantine church, but later taken over by the muslims and turned into a Mosque.

Inside Hagia Sophia looking up at the main dome.







Istanbul. From our boatride down the straits of Dardenelles

Our boatride took us to dinner at a nice restaurant overlooking the sea. Naturally, the main course was fish: whole. Eyeballs and all.

Troy with Alyse Wheeler : )