Sunday, July 24, 2011

Adventure to Cappadocia

We were told before we went that no trip to Turkey would be complete without going to Cappadocia. I must admit that, at first, the promise of seeing "fairy chimneys" didn't pique my interest like it might for other people. Now that I've been there, I will agree that no trip to Turkey would be complete without seeing this area. It is some of the most incredible scenery I've ever seen. The fact that this photogenic area was home to many of the early Christians makes it that much more fascinating.

We flew from Izmir to Cappadocia on the morning of our 4th day in Turkey. Cappadocia is an area, a collection of small towns and surrounding areas that have the same kind of geological formations. As our bus approached Goreme  (pronounced Gor-em-ah), the city where we stayed, I began to see the fairy chimneys along with the many caves that were cut out by early Christians. By the time we arrived at our hotel, I was entranced. 

Cappadocia is mentioned twice in the New Testament: Acts 2:9 and 1 Peter 1:1.



This post was the hardest ever to choose pictures for. I have hundreds of pictures from Cappadocia which I whittled down to 150. This post has about 40 pictures. It was tough!



This picture was taken in the streets of Goreme. Disappointingly, and after 2 days of searching, I didn't find any hobbits here.



The large fairy chimney, towards which I'm walking, was our hotel. It's called "The Fairy Chimney Inn".



This is the view from the front of our hotel. 



This is the view from the back of our hotel, just right outside our door.



We literally stayed inside the fairy chimney. They carved out this 2 bedroom suite just for us. Well, some monks did a long time ago and now it's a hotel.



Awesome stuff.



This volcano helped to make the fairy chimneys. I don't understand it all, but it did.



The fairy chimney on the far left is a house. It even has an address. People live there.



Cow.



This is the "open air museum" just outside Goreme. When they say "open air museum" they mean "a bunch of early Christian churches and houses carved out of these crazy rock formations". I wish I could show you some of the paintings inside some of these churches.



This is a meeting/dining room in one of the early Christian buildings. 



This was a convent for a long time.



This is a busy picture. In the foreground you see me. In the far background and a bit to the left you see Uchisar, the castle carved from stone. On the right is Pigeon Canyon. On the left are pigeons.



This is Uchisar. It served as a fortress to the surrounding area for a long time. Pretty cool to stand on top and see the entire area of Cappadocia which was settled by the earliest Christians.



We hiked from the top of the valley down to the bottom, where Goreme lies.



Scenery on our hike down.



Pretty sure this is Bilbo Baggins' house.



Scenery from the hike.



It was so refreshing to see so much vegetation!



This pottery dish is called "Testi Kebab". Yeah, weird name, but it is good. They bake the food inside this clay pot and then break it open for you so you can eat it.



 On our second day in Cappadocia we woke up early to go for a ride in a hot air balloon!



We crammed about 20 people into a basket and then went up. It got pretty cozy in there with so many people. It was fun to get to know the people near us who were from New Zealand and Italy.



A cool view of Uchisar.



Hot air balloons are a good way to see the beautiful landscapes.



This is a good view of our hotel. You can see the many doors leading to hotel rooms in the rock.


Fairy chimneys and hot air balloons.



 After the hot air balloons we went on a tour. Our first stop was yet another spectacular viewpoint.



 This is called the Selime Cathedral. The wholes are different churches that were made by early Christians.



Inside one of the churches of Selime.



I thought these looked cool. Near Selime.



We hiked down this canyon to see some early Christian sites and to see this beautiful canyon.



This is inside one of the churches in the canyon we hiked.



Under this area lies the Derinkuyu underground city. During times of persecution, the Christians would flee into this underground city where they could subsist for months at a time without leaving. This underground city is the largest in Turkey. Its deepest rooms are about 270 feet under the surface.



These tunnels go everywhere in the underground city! 



There are some big rooms.



This is a vertical tunnel that serves to supply air to the underground city.



Some of the tunnels are pretty small.



A random old lady stopped us in the streets and told us to follow her. She said there was a church that no one knew about. She took us here. Her family uses this ancient church to store food for their livestock.



We were able to go to an underground restaurant/theater to have some great food and to watch some of traditional Turkish dancing. These guys are called "whirling dervishes". It is a traditional dance of Turkey and has some spiritual meaning for the journey of life.



It was pretty cool!



Part of our Turkish dance night turned into a dancing around a fire with a bunch of drunken Europeans night.
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Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Adventure to Ephesus

Ephesus is probably the most well-known biblical city we visited in Turkey. It is mentioned in Acts, 1 Corinthians, Ephesians (of course), 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and is one of the 7 churches in the Book of Revelation. Paul lived there for a couple of years and it is also thought to be the place where the Gospel of John was written. Some rumors also state that Mary the mother of Jesus lived out her days in Ephesus under the care of John. Long story made short: Ephesus was an important early Christian city.

According to legend, around 900 BC the prince of Athens left to look for a new home for himself and his followers. The oracle in Delphi (the most popular oracle of the time) told him that "a fish and a boar will show you the way." So after they had traveled from modern-day Greece to modern-day Turkey they decided to have some lunch. When they were cooking their freshly caught fish, a fish jumped out of the frying pan and into the bushes, igniting the bushes. A boar then ran out of the burning bushes which the prince chased and killed. He took this as the fulfillment of the sign given by the oracle in Delphi and thus the city of Ephesus was born.



 This picture shows modern tourists on the main street in Ephesus. During its heyday the streets might have been just as busy.



 Once again, the overused map. I just don't want you to lose your bearings.



 The amphitheater seats up to 20,000 people. I also spend about 20 nerdy minutes walking through the field of stones you see in front of the amphitheater trying to read the Greek inscriptions.



 A little something for the kids. They have staged gladiator fights in the mornings. Ephesus has one of the largest known gladiator cemeteries. 



 Look at photo #31 in your LDS Bible.



 I just liked this picture of the pillars and the library in the background.



 This is the Library of Celsus. It wasn't built until after the apostles would have walked the streets (135 AD) but it is a beautiful building that housed the third greatest collection of books in the ancient world (after Alexandria and Pergamos).



 Next time you want to laugh when a group of girls goes to the bathroom together you should consider that this is actually an ancient ritual. Men in Ephesus sat cheek to cheek and talked about business while they did their business.



 They discovered a series of houses on a hill in Ephesus that are now covered to preserve the beautiful painted walls and mosaic floors. These houses would have belonged to government officials and merchants and today.



 It's amazing to me that these 1st-3rd century AD houses are in such good shape.



 This wall painting, now in the Ephesus Archaeological Museum, is from one of the houses and is an image of Socrates. He's a pretty cool guy and I've recently enjoyed reading the Apology, Crito, Phaedo, and Symposium (books written by Plato about Socrates) so it was neat to see an early artistic depiction of him.



 This is a picture of the second amphitheater and the road alongside.



 I thought it was cool to see this cross on the doorway. I wonder what the early Christian who chiseled it might have been like. 



This is the Prytaneion, a building that housed the sacred flame dedicated to the goddess Hestia. I thought it was interesting that the pillars had inscriptions all over them in Greek. 



 Just around the corner from Ephesus is the site of the Seven Sleepers, a legend from early Christianity which is also found in the Koran. During the 3rd century AD when Christians were being heavily persecuted by the Roman Empire, seven young men from Ephesus sought to escape the persecutions by sleeping in a cave. They ended up sleeping for about 200 years. After this point the cave became a pilgrimage site.



 This is where the ancient Temple of Artemis (or Diana) was. Before it was ruined in 401 AD it was one of the ancient seven wonders of the world and was the largest temple of the ancient world. They say it would have made the Parthenon look like a play house.



 Here is a model of what the temple might have looked like. At it's biggest point it was 450 feet long, 225 feet wide, and 60 feet tall. It had 127 massive pillars.



This is the statue of Artemis found in Ephesus. She was kind of a big deal to the Ephesians. As you can tell by the many egg-like breasts, she was a goddess of fertility.
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