Blogs from Turkey, Middle East - page 38

There are seven churches in Asia minor that are addressed in the first three chapters of the Book of Revelation: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. We were in/or near four of the seven today and we'll be in Ephesus later this week. I don't know much about the Book of Revelation, but this journey is transforming these abstract communities into real people with real struggles. As we speed down the highway after landing in Izmir (Smyrna), we are surrounded by beautiful mountains, fields of grapes, figs (fresh figs from the road side stand are way better than Fig Newtons), oranges and many other fruits. On this hot, muggy day, we had the chance to visit Sardis and Laodicea and walk among the ruins of the Persians, Greeks, Romans as well as early Christian ... read more

Wake up and I decide to do Troy this morning rather then the British landing at Gallipoli. Not really interested to see where they landed and failed but nothing was made of that one...... We drive down the side of the Dardanelles we stayed on to Troy and arrive after a huge history lesson of the world as it stands now. All this was meant to lead us into the story of the Trojan horse and Paris and his life. Much more educated now. Wandered around the site which is actually very interesting, especially the parts where the city has 6 levels, based on each level being destroyed by earthquake then rebuilt on top of the old city then another one appeared. Anyway, pics of the horse and off we go back to Istanbul. We cross ... read more

Today began with a visit to Hagia Sophia…Holy Wisdom…something that we all seek for a lifetime, here in Istanbul remains a shrine named after this ever so evasive virtue. May this visit to Holy Wisdom inspire me to continually seek holy wisdom along this pilgrimage we call life… This Christian basilica (and later mosque, now museum) was originally built in the 4th century from materials gathered from throughout the Roman Empire (rebuilt in the 5th and 6th centuries and regularly undergoing restoration). It was built by over 10,000 masons and before it was raided by the Crusaders in the 13th century contained over 17 tons of silver and 34 tons of gold. A most impressive structure, to say the least. Two years ago in my Christian History class at CTU, we were taught that part of ... read more

Mosaics and Frescos from the Chora Monastery (built and rebuilt since the 5th century) View from the Bosphorus Strait, which splits Istanbul into the only city on two continents. More reflection tomorrow...must get sleep...... read more

Geo: 37.8605, 27.2566We have now left the eurozone of Greece and have entered Turkey. It is still very hot in the 30s centigrade. Stefan refused to go to Ephesus yet again so we cancelled our tour and decided to have a lazy day aboard. Ephesus is fantastic if you have never been before but I have been twice now so agreed we needed some catch up time. We did go ashore into the town to find an ATM as we had forgotten to bring Turkish lira with us. There are loads of shops and lots of Turkish salesmen trying to get you to look at stuff. Little do they realize but we are put off by pressuring people. I want to browse without the shop keeper breathing down my neck. But quite frankly who wants to ... read more