Turkey: Part 1

 I just got back from an incredible week in Turkey! It was completely amazing. Naturally words and pictures don't do it justice, but I will try to give you an idea of what went down (I have 900 pictures--here are 28). Above is our first Mosque! After landing in Istanbul we explored on our own a bit before dinner (below). Istanbul is a beautiful city on the water with a skyline covered in minarets from Mosques.

On Monday we saw the Blue Mosque. It once had the most minarets of any mosque in the world. It looked like a castle! 

Inside we took off our shoes and covered our hair.  My jaw dropped when we walked inside. 

After the Mosque we went inside a ginormous cistern. It was dark and cold but really awesome.

Then we went to the Grand Bazaar! We shopped and explored all the shops. It was very similar to old Jerusalem.

Finally, we went on a cruise across the Bosporus! The view was spectacular. Istanbul is beautiful!

So that was days 1 and 2! We did so much. On day 3 we drove across the country. The 4 hour drive was worth every moment.

After a long drive and a ferry ride from Europe to Asia, we arrived in Troy! To our great sadness, the wooden horse was under construction. The ruins of the town were pretty cool, but I've posted plenty of pictures of city ruins, so we'll skip that for now.

Day 3 ended at the Ida Kale resort in Çanakkale, Turkey. We spent the night walking along the beach and enjoying the view. It turns out, it's winter in other parts of the world, so we couldn't swim.

Day 4: More driving and then a stop here at Assos. In Acts 20 Paul visits Assos. It is on top of a huge hill overlooking the island Lesbos and behind that is Greece. I was so close. . .

Then, you guessed it, we drove some more. This time we stopped at Pergamon. This was one of my favorite sites. We had to ride a gondola to get to it. There were temples and all kinds of ruins there overlooking the city below. My favorite part was the theater (the steepest in the ancient world) nestled into the side of the hill.

Alright, that is the extremely condensed version of my first 4 days in Turkey. It was beyond anything I ever expected. I love learning about these cultures--both ancient and modern!!