Saturday, March 06, 2010

Turkey

I have been working on this post for 2 days now! This pictures have taken forever to upload!! Anyways, our stop in Turkey was one of our favorite. We took a tour through the cruise line because we wanted to see Ephesus (we ported in Izmir). It was so neat to walk the ruins and thinking about the church. We enjoyed reading Ephesians that night.


This is the bathroom. Apparently fresh water runs along the bottom and you bring your sponge with you to wipe. In the winter the marble would get very cold so the wealthy people would send their slaves ahead of them to warm up the seat. It was also a place to socialize. Look how close the holes are though.

The Library of Celsus in the background is the most famous sight. I can't imagine how much work it has taken to restore the ruins. Even though the main walkway is crowded with tourist we could almost picture it with the Ephesians getting on with their day. It was very bright that day and we loved the sun!
Where I am standing taking this picture is where the brothel is. They found a tunnel that ran from the library to the brothel.




The theater where Paul supposedly preached. Outside of this theater is where the silversmiths got mad at Paul for ruining their business of making idols (Acts 19).


At the end of the walking tour was a quick demonstration of what life was like. He is a street performer.
After seeing Ephesus we went to a Rug Warehouse. We got a demonstration on hand-woven rugs.

They were beautiful and I was sold! During this demonstration they just kept throwing out all different kinds of rugs. This little marketing ploy worked for me and we bought one. It was supposed to ship straight to our house but we haven't gotten it yet. Hopefully we will get it in the next few days and I can add a picture.
After our tour was over we still had a little bit of time so we walked down into the town of Izmir (Smyrna from the bible). We were hoping to do some more shopping (like my rug didn't cause enough damage) but didn't see much. Not all ports have a nice area in walking distance so we had to take advantage.

We decided to let Chase play a little. He did great on the tours but after a while he needs a break. Don't make fun of his hat, his blonde hair attracts a lot of attention so we made him wear it.

Next stop - Egypt!

2 comments:

Don and Barb said...

Oh, my! Dad beat me to this one as I was taking a little longer afternoon nap! He told me to go check your blog. What an encouragement to see the places that could be pointed to in the Bible and to 'walk where Jesus walked'! And the bathrooms . . . mercy, it makes me thankful for ours! Chase looks like he has done SO well with all this walking and looking that can't be THAT interesting to a 1 1/2 year old! I am REALLY looking forward to Egypt!!!!!
Thanks for putting eyes on your cruise for the rest of us - what a blessing!
Love & prayers, Mom & Dad

Carolyn said...

That theatre gave me chills! Paul is one of the most interesting men (to me) in the Bible. I always picture them in small groups here and there, but that blew my mind.

Great posts.