Turkey!

Back from a delightful long weekend jaunt with Sharlene, to celebrate the (imminent) submission of her thesis.

Act I. Istanbul
A fascinating foray into the crossroads of Europe and Asia. Our window from the youth hostel looked out over the Bosphorus. The Hagia Sophia was magnificent in its solidity and grandeur, but seemed to be suffering an identity crisis, settling on the compromise of being a museum after having been a church and a mosque. We also visited the very beautiful and still functioning Blue Mosque, where a group of jolly and eager headscarf-wearing women invited us to discuss Islam over spice cake and apple tea. I think they were disappointed when they discovered that we were 'real' Christians and just as ardent about our faith as they were about theirs.  They gave us a book and we exchanged addresses.


The Hagia Sophia as seen through an archway of the courtyard of the Blue Mosque.


The view from our hostel rooftop, looking out over the Bosphorus.


Here we are with our newfound friends, in front of the Blue Mosque, just as the Muezzin was beginning the evening call to prayer.

Act II. The Sunny South
We flew to Izmir (ancient Smyrna) and rented a car to continue our exploratory journey. We managed to visit each of the cities (or remains of cities) where the seven churches from the book of Revelation had been at the time of St John's letter-writing. Smyrna is still a happening place, but most of the others have been largely destroyed - a surprisingly high number of earthquakes in that region! - and many have not been fully excavated. Archaeologists, a treasure trove awaits!


All that remains of the once-magnificent Temple to Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.


Part of the great Library at Ephesus. More impressive than the Cambridge University Library, if you ask me.


The Roman Road. I felt almost as if I was in Italy or France... the uniformity of Roman culture imposed across a vast area was impressive.


The still-magnificent theatre in Ephesus, close up and from far off. Here Sharlene's reading the Letter to the Ephesians in the Bible. This theatre is where Demetrios the Silversmith opposed Paul's Christian teachings and incited the crowd to start shouting 'Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!' (cf. Acts 19) You can see how people would get carried away, what with the magnificent temple to Artemis just down the road. By the way, the acoustics of the theatre are amazing! As I walked across the stage area, I was startled by how clearly I could hear people speaking from way up on the third tier of seats. Presumably, they could hear me equally well. And to think- the Romans did all this engineering without the assistance of AutoCAD! Remarkable.

Act III. Girl Time
And because no girly-trip would be complete without at least a bit of pampering, we availed ourselves of the hammam:
the Turkish bath where the stress of travel was massaged away, and we
drank in relaxation in the steam room. We also swam in the hot springs
in Pamukkale, where the mineral waters are supposed to heal all
illnesses. The warm, bubbly mineral water was nice to swim in, anyway,
for this cold-blooded girl!


Here are the hot springs, just outside Laodicea, where the church was chided for being neither hot nor cold. The shelf-like pools are called Travertines and are caked with salt and mineral deposits which have been building up over time.