Turkish Delight

The title of this post pretty much sums up how I felt about Turkey. It was THE most beautiful place! I don't know why I haven't heard more about it or why people don't go here more often.  Two of the highlights both involved food. There was Turkish Delight and fresh bread everywhere. I was in heaven. 

Yes... I did buy this all for myself

"I can see why Edmond, in the Chronicles of Narnia, went back to the White Witch in exchange for Turkish delight."- my roommate.  It's pretty delicious.

Now for the real highlights. 

HAGIA SOPHIA 

This was one of the very first places we went in Turkey. It was the largest church for almost a thousand years.  It is one of the most incredible buildings I have ever seen!  It was made in the 6th century by Emperor Justinian.  It originally had Christian mosaics and paintings in it but when the Ottomans took over Constantinople they covered the paintings in plaster and turned it into a mosque (which is why it has minarets). Now it is a museum of some sort!  

I wish I had taken a picture of the outside as well but the inside is pretty incredible!

Liza. Love her.

You can see where they took back the plaster to see the paintings.

You are supposed to put your thumb in, turn your hand to the right, make a wish and hopefully you will feel the tear of an angel and your wish will be granted!

BLUE MOSQUE

This is a very famous mosque and there is good reason for that. It is GINORMOUS. It was built in the 17th century and it has a huge courtyard beyond just the actual mosque. Inside, blue Iznik tile is used to decorate it. It was built by the Sultan Ahmet I because he wanted something his people could remember him by, and he wanted it to be more impressive than the Hagia Sophia.  It's up on a hill overlooking the Bosphorus river so that a lot of people could see it very easily.  Also, the normal number of minarets for this size of a mosque would be four but that was not enough for the Sultan, so he had six!

Jess and Jess. Twins. In the courtyard.

You wear headscarves in order to go inside

Some of the girls!

The Blue Mosque at night!

This is an obelisk outside the Blue Mosque.  It's an Egyptian monument that was stolen from Egypt in order to show off the power of the Ottoman Empire.  It used to be twice the size it is now!

GALLIPOLI 

Gallipoli was where a battle occurred in World War I.  The battle was between the Allies (mainly the ANZAC, Australian and New Zealand soldiers, and the Turks.  It went on for months. About 250,000 died on each side. Although the Turks won the battle, they still allow this memorial to honor the Australians and New Zealanders who died there. 

The headstones were placed here by family members of the soldiers who died. All of them were very touching and brought to life what had happened there.

I loved this quote on the memorial. It's from the Turks saying that when men die on their soil it doesn't matter what country they are from, they have become their sons as well.

TROY

Everyone knows about Troy.  So I am going to just going to show some pictures.  

The famous Trojan horse.

One of my favorite parts? We found "Trojan" puppies!

ASSOS- one of my absolute favorite places.

The Bible references it in Acts 20:14.  Paul went there on a journey. Also, there is a temple made for Athena with huge columns.  But my absolute favorite part, of course, was the landscape. The view was like nothing I have ever seen. I will post pictures but there is no way to do it justice. They gave us solo time. I was able to go off and sit on this huge cliff and look out at this incredible view.  Never is my testimony strengthened more and never do I feel closer to my Heavenly Father than when I sit and look at the incredible places that the Lord has made.  You couldn't look at this place and not know that a Divine hand created it.  

Temple for Athena

Lots of pictures of this place, but I honestly love it

EPHESUS

Ephesus was an important economic area because of it's closeness to the sea. It was a city that went back and forth from being Greek and Roman.  

The Theater

Going to study at the library

The Muses

PERGAMUM 

The myth is is that Pergamum was founded by Telephus, the son of Hercules.  It dates back to the 8th century and most of the structures are from the Hellenistic time period.  

The Theater

Temple of Athena

And of course I loved the view... and had to take a picture

It seemed fitting to take a Muse picture at the place associated with Hercules

PRIENE AND MILETUS

Both of these were important cities on the south end of Turkey settle by the Greek.  I have to admit, I didn't get all that much out of this place but we took some cool pictures!

The royal council

Boat Ride on the Bosporus

This was one of my very favorite things that we did. The pictures can't do it justice, but it was amazing.  We went on a boat ride on the Bosporus up along the European side of Turkey and then back along the Asian side. Put me on a boat in the sunshine with beautiful scenery all around me and I am the happiest girl. 

 It was there independence week and there were Turkish flags on almost every building

The buildings all look like the emojis of buildings on the iPhone

Sardis

This was another beautiful place. It's mainly from the Roman and Byzantine periods. When John wrote the Book of Revelation, he wrote it to seven churches in Asia and Sardis was one of them. It was a call to them to repent of their hypocrisy and a warning to repent because the Lord was coming.  

Isn't it beautiful?!

 We found a shepherd and he let us hold a lamb!

Some other highlights

We walked along a castle wall!

We enjoyed wearing the headscarves

This is Turkey my friends, it is BEAUTIFUL!

More poses

We saw LOTS of mud brick

There were ginormous dogs EVERYWHERE

Basically, Turkey was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to in my life. I don't know why more people don't talk about it more but I want to go back!