Hail from Tarsus

Sorry it's been a while, we haven't had internet access for a little while. But we are now settled into our new apartment in Illinois (more on that later) and I can catch up with our last few adventures in Turkey!

One of our last excursions was to Tarsus, but first we stopped by the Women's Market in Adana. Probably one of my favorite things we did in Turkey. It's a bunch of women, gathered under one pavilion, selling what they do. There was food and jewelry and tablecloths. Hair pieces and wooden carvings. Women sitting around crocheting the very blankets that they were selling. Awesome.

I got this hair piece from the market. Ok, it's not handmade, but it is cool and I love it. So sue me.

After the market we headed to Tarsus. First of all, MAJOR props to Spencer's mom for driving us there. Turkish people are NUTS drivers. It's like there are no rules. So she had never driven much outside of around the base where they are stationed. But she dominated, I was seriously super proud.

Honestly? There really isn't much to Tarsus. They did actually find what used to be the main road that ran through Tarsus in the days of Paul, Caesar, Cleopatra, Mark Antony, and Cicero. Funny story, they actually found in on accident when they started digging the base of what was going to be a new building.

There is a well, that is actually dated from the time of Paul, that's cool.

There is Cleopatra's Gate, an actual standing remnant of the city's wall. Supposedly it was just outside of this gate that Cleopatra and Mark Antony first met.

Then you have Saint Paul's church. Sigh. Just read the sign.

Ridiculous, right? This church was built in the last quarter of the 18th century! Um, Paul was here when? Oh wait, he wasn't. So why is this church a tourist site and charge money for entry? Because it's the only church that has Paul's name on it. Oy vey Turkey, that's stretching it. But we went. Note to future visitors? Don't go to Saint Paul's Church.

But our last stop was my favorite. Not because it was a perfect end to a ridiculously hot, sticky day. Not because I got to sit and rest my feet. But because it was BEAUTIFUL!

Ok, and because it was COLD and felt so good. The Berdan River and Waterfall. Story goes that Alexander the Great bathed here, then shortly developed pneumonia and died. Sad. But I believe it. This water almost hurt to step into. But it was just what I needed.

Happiness.

I Went Up To Hell And Down to Heaven?

This last weekend we went on another excursion, it was awesome. Our first stop? Heaven and Hell. To get to Hell you take a short walk up a hill where you very suddenly come across a huge hole in the ground. A crevasse, if you will. There is no way down, just straight drops all around, so you can't go to the bottom. But to give you an idea of how deep it is? We dropped a small rock over the edge and counted 10 mississippis before it hit the bottom. It's deep, and I couldn't get a picture to even show the top of the hole.

Heaven is a huge gash in the earth, which creates a deep valley area filled with trees and caves. It really was very beautiful. Unfortunately, you have to descend 455 steep and uneven steps to get there.

At the bottom is the ruins of an ancient church, and behind that is a huge cave, with more wet and slippery steps to climb down. I'm stupid and forgot my shoes, and flip flops don't do well with slippery, so I waited near the top while the others explored the cave.

The worst was going back up those steps. Whew, that's when I knew I was really out of shape.
After our short trip to Heaven and Hell we headed out for Uzuncaburc. This place was cool. It's the site of multiple Roman ruins, and was actual a plot of land designated for the gods, and the main feature was the temple of Zeus. I know, Roman ruins for Zeus? We can't figure it out either. All we know is that they're old, and they're cool.

The thing about ancient sites here is you can climb all over them. There is really no sense of preservation, like in the States. Unless it's behind glass, you can touch, sit on, climb, kick, lie on...whatever. But it sure makes for some fun times.

After Uzuncaburc we went to Kizkalesi which is a beach town. After a late lunch on the beach (check out my GINORMOUS sandwich)...

We checked out the local landmark, the Korykos and Kizkalesi castles. That's right, one landmark, two castles. The story is that the king at one time was told that his daughter would be bitten by a snake and die before her sixteenth birthday, so he built a castle for her out on the sea so she could avoid her terrible fate. Turns out the week before her sixteenth birthday the princess was bitten by a snake that had made its way into a basket of grapes that had been sent over, and she died. Sad huh?

From one castle looking toward the other

We didn't go out to the castle on the sea, but it was so fun to climb all over the ruins of the one on land.

And then we walked along the Mediterranean, enjoying the cool water and the amazing sand.

The sand was really brown, even looked like dirt, but it was so soft and fine!

And then Spencer stepped on a bee...

Haha, Spencer's dad even brought it home with him

Classic. But it was beautiful. The perfect end to a great day.

"And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch" Acts 11:26

It is so cool to be in a place that is where real Bible stories actually occurred. For instance, I was reading the last section of the Doctrine and Covenants the night before we went to Cappadocia, when Joseph F. Smith is pondering on the Bible stories and mentions Cappadocia by name, it was so cool to then go to that place and understand a little more about it's history and to have actually seen it's name somewhere before. That was Antioch. There really isn't a whole lot to see there, I'll be honest, but it was so cool to be where the first saints were gathered, named as Christians.

First we went to St. Peter's Cave Church, which is a natural cave that was turned into a church in later years. It has been recognized that Paul was very unlikely to ever have actually been in that cave, but it is possible that early Christians could have occasionally met there when they were forced to meet in secret. I've noticed in Turkey that there are a lot of assumed realities or created landmarks simply to attract tourists and make money (like in Istanbul where they claim to have Moses' staff, which is about 4 feet tall and as round as a nickel, or St. Paul's Church in Tarsus that was actually built in the 18th century and has painted marble columns instead of carved ones?). Sorry, sidetracked. Anyways...

It was a beautiful mountainside and it was rainy and gorgeous outside.

And rain brought snails. These things were almost the size of squirrels, I kid you not. Ok, maybe I kid a little, but they were HUGE!

Antioch also boasts the second largest mosaic museum in the world (second only to the one in Gaziantep, which we are going to see tomorrow) so we got to stroll around and see some of the most famous archeological finds in history.

Then we went to the bazaar and ate lunch, my personal favorite meal of this trip thus far.

The best purchase of the week...these awesome hand-carved bowls that start out flat and become 3D as you lift the handle. So cool!

Antioch may not have been the most exciting of cities, but we had fun and I loved just being there and enjoying the history. I'm so proud to be a follower of Christ, and so grateful for the freedoms that I enjoy that allow me to believe so freely.


P.S. Antioch is only about 10 miles from the Syrian border. Kind of scary, but kind of cool.

Too Funny To Not Share

When you go into the Basilica Cistern in Istanbul they have a little corner where you can pretend to be from Ottoman times. The results? Well, they're just too funny to keep to ourselves. So enjoy.

Krystal and her seductive eyes...hahaha

Hilarious

Bah, he is so freakin handsome, even when he's trying to look like a scary Turk