Once upon a time I went to Turkey! (:
We woke up and had breakfast at 3:30 am and then went to
catch an 8:30 flight! It’s crazy
because you have to plan for so much time at the airport, because of Israeli airport
security. You need at least 3 hours
to be safely on time.
We arrived in Istanbul by lunchtime which was so crazy—I had
about three or four hours of sleep, and for some reason I thought we’d just go
to bed when we got there! Haha but we only had 7 days in this beautiful amazing
country, so I was perfectly glad to dash from place to place, even though I
usually like to stroll.
First day we drove from the airport directly to the Hagia
Sophia!! It took about half an
hour, and on the way, the hillsides were just dotted with mosques. Every street corner there’s a mosque in
Turkey. It is a 98% Islamic country, so it’s to be expected, but WOW. The architecture is phenomenal. Each one is unique and gorgeous. I have
about a hundred pictures of just little mosques here and there throughout the country. The towers are called minarets, and
they broadcast the call to prayer from loudspeakers on the minarets, five times
a day. It never ceases to thrill
me, even though I’ve been listening to the call to prayer every day here in
Jerusalem. But it was different in
Turkey. It’s so very very Muslim
and so enchanting to hear them sing words of scripture from the Qur’an, and
show so much devotion to Allah every day.
Okay I better get going, this is a lot of stuff. So we went to the Hagia Sophia, (see picture) which is
originally a Christian basilica built by Justinian in the 6th
century, I believe. Remember,
Istanbul used to be Byzantium, and then Constantinople, after Constantine, who was Christian. So it has very
Christian roots, despite the huge amount of Muslims living there now. It’s an
amazing juxtaposition of culture.
The basilica was transformed into a mosque, and six minarets were built
around the basilica. It’s ancient
and glorious and so full of history.
There are gold mosaics of Jesus and Mary and the apostles that were
covered in plaster during the Islamic period, that were actually preserved by
the plaster, and are in beautiful condition. The Arabic calligraphy inside is also very beautiful. I love that both cultures and religions
sing to you inside the basilica.
Another awesome thing is that some of the pillars inside the temple were
taken from the Temple of Diana in Ephesus, where Paul preached. There is so much history, all in one
building. Our tour guide for the trip was awesome, his name was Necip, which rhymes with Egypt actually haha. We had headsets for the whole trip and he would tell us everything about everything. He was the coolest guy ever! Thus I often am wearing earbuds in these pictures, don't think i'm just rocking out to Tangled or something, i'm not (; hahaha.
There’s also a place where condensation builds inside of a
pillar, and they say that the water is angel tears, and if you make a wish and
reach inside, your wish will come true if you touch the water. Pretty cool! haha.
The Blue Mosque is right across the plaza, and it’s gorgeous
too. It’s a mosque that still
functions today, and so girls are required to wear headscarves for modesty, and
we all remove our shoes. It is so
very very pretty inside. I was
kinda shell-shocked from lack of sleep, but that didn’t keep me from loving
every minute of Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque.
After that we went to the Spice Bazaar, which was close by. They gave us samples of real Turkish
Delight. Soooo yummy. I like the
nutty kind, and the little pink and yellow ones. There were tons of little shops, and piles and piles of
different spices and herbs like saffron and jasmine tea. There were so many different scents. After that we went to our hotel and then
went to sleep finally!! It was
great.
Day
2 we went to a million museums and saw some amazing historical stuff. I won’t bore you haha. We went to the Topkapi Palace and some
cool places that are all basically museums now. There was this really cool underground cistern that we got
to walk around in too. I don’t know how many pictures I’ll be able to attach,
but I took like 1200 on the Turkey trip alone so I’ll do my best to condense.
After that we went to the Grand Bazaar—this huge market with 4,000 shops in
it. I loved it because it just
pulses with excitement and movement and wherever you look, there are people hawking
their wares, and everyone hurrying and making purchases and shouting, and
everything just weaves in and out.
It was so cool. I bought a
shirt with the Turkish flag on it, and a necklace, and a mirror, and a pink
silk scarf. And I never buy stuff,
so this was kind of a big deal haha.
They expect you to haggle over the price, and I did pretty decent (:
It’s these big blue eyes of mine. Haha just kidding (:
After that we went on a little cruise on the Bosphorus
Strait, the strait that links the Aegean Sea with the Black Sea. On one side is the European side of
Istanbul, and the other side is the Asian side of Istanbul. Two continents collide. It’s crazy! So I guess I’ve been to Europe too now!
Haha. The cruise was beautiful, as
was the sunset, and as we came into the harbor, the moon and Venus looked so
beautiful next to the Blue Mosque, and I just had to take a picture. Or like
20. It was so gorgeous.
Day 3! We went
to Gallipoli and had lunch on the bay, and then went on to Anzac Cove. Here's me and my friend Michael at Gallipoli right before we went to the cove. That's the Aegean Sea! We were right next to Greece. Amazing, right?!
Anzac Cove is absolutely
stunning. It’s a WWI monument/cemetery for the Australians and New Zealanders
who gave their lives at this harbor in 1915. It was a very somber, beautiful place. Looking at the beach, you’d never think
what transpired there. After that, we took a ferry across
the Dardanelles Strait, kind of a shortcut back to the mainland, and then drove
to Troy! (By the way this is tons of bus driving to all these places. It’s crazy. But we do have a great group of people on this trip. I
didn’t really mind all the driving.)
Troy was cool, they have a Trojan horse there from the movie Troy and we took pictures. I look like a
weirdo though. Anyways. That was cool, we looked at all the
stratigraphy of the tel, because that’s what we do hahaha :P There’s a ton of layers of civilization
in Troy. But not as many as say,
Jericho. Sorry okay back to normal
stuff. OH best part of Troy was when some friends and I did a photoshoot and
pretended to be Helen. Hahaha. It
was so great.
Don't judge this picture...haha that photoshoot made for some good memories. Unfortunately, I am not at liberty to share any other pictures from that photoshoot, on pain of death.
Okay so then we stayed in a hotel on the beach and it was
awesome! But we didn’t swim
because it was late and freezing.
Day 4 we woke up early as usual and went to Assos, a port city where
Paul stayed. It’s mentioned a couple times in his letters. Assos was really pretty, you climb to a
precipice and look down over the harbor.
It was lovely. You could
almost see Paul sailing in to meet the saints of Assos.
After that we went to Pergamon, which is a huge acropolis on
top of a mountain (see above). You have to
take a tram to get there. It was
an amaaaazing view. Pergamon is
mentioned in the book of Revelation, as one of the seven churches of Asia. We went to five of the seven, I
think. Anyways. There was a lovely amphitheater where
we sang a hymn—High on a Mountain Top—and just explored and took pictures. That was a really fun day. My darling roommate Amanda and I took pictures at Pergamon together...enjoy (: We just love our antiquity!! hahaha.
That night we got to stay in the ritziest resort ever, on the beach of the Aegean. I went swimming for a bit right at sunset, when we got there, but it was frigid!! Still super fun though. I liked the resort, it was really fancy and nice, but the people…they had hollow eyes. It’s like over time, they have been entertained out of their minds, and so they go on doing the same fun, exciting things over and over, not really caring anymore. They just need the gospel… Then they could enjoy more fully the sunlight. Who needs gorgeous beaches and all-you-can-eat buffets when you can sit for a while and watch a thunderstorm roll in, or feel the sunshine and smell the flowers. Those things take time, and those people seemed to always be in a rush to do the next fun thing to fill their empty lives. It was really interesting, and kind of heartbreaking.
That night we got to stay in the ritziest resort ever, on the beach of the Aegean. I went swimming for a bit right at sunset, when we got there, but it was frigid!! Still super fun though. I liked the resort, it was really fancy and nice, but the people…they had hollow eyes. It’s like over time, they have been entertained out of their minds, and so they go on doing the same fun, exciting things over and over, not really caring anymore. They just need the gospel… Then they could enjoy more fully the sunlight. Who needs gorgeous beaches and all-you-can-eat buffets when you can sit for a while and watch a thunderstorm roll in, or feel the sunshine and smell the flowers. Those things take time, and those people seemed to always be in a rush to do the next fun thing to fill their empty lives. It was really interesting, and kind of heartbreaking.
Day
5—we went to Saint John’s Basilica (or what’s left of it). It’s a church shaped like a cross, and
it still is very beautiful. After
that we went to my favorite place!
Ephesus! Where the saints
lived, who Paul wrote Ephesians for.
And he was there. We went
to the Temple of Artemis (Diana) where he gave a great sermon. The picture #31 in your scriptures is
right there!! That was really
exciting. I figured out where it
was and then took about 20 pictures of various people in the same spot.
After that we went to the lovely Miletus, also mentioned in
the scriptures, and went to a lovely ruined church there. Actually I think it may have been a
mosque. There were trees growing
from the floor up to the long-lost ceiling. It was pretty.
Day 6 we went to a number of places. We visited Thyatira, and some place
with a name that escapes me (it’s
all such a blur) and we saw some beautiful ancient architecture. After that we drove to Bursa, and
visited another active mosque (thus the headscarf was necessary). The best thing? Bursa is the textile capital of Turkey,
so of course we had to go to the Silk Bazaar! It was gorgeous.
I bought five scarves there.
Oi. I know that’s a lot,
but they were so cheap! Some were only like 5 lira, which is like $2.50
American. And they were silky and
gorgeous. Ooooh and I got a
skirt. Happy happy happy day.
Haha. Bursa was fun. Not super educational, just fun. And, I needed that. Sometimes my brain gets overloaded with
information here (Jerusalem too, but definitely the whole time in Turkey), so
it was nice to take a break and not feel the need to memorize and analyze every
piece of information we hear.
Day 7: Nicea.
This was our last day in beautiful Turkey. We did a lot of driving, and got to the ruins of Nicaea in
the afternoon. It was really
pretty, there was a small, ancient mosque there that is still functioning, so
we wore our headscarves. It was
the location of the 7th and last Ecumenical council to debate the
doctrines of Christianity. It’s
very pretty and old, and they’ve restored a lot of it to use it as a mosque
again. I really liked that
mosque. There’s a mihrab in it,
which is a niche that points you in the direction of Mecca to pray. That’s like my favorite thing
ever. You see them in like every
mosque. They’re fun to look for,
it’s like playing eye spy. If I
ever take my kiddos here, we’ll have a competition, and see who can find the
most mihrabs. My kids are going to
be so weird. Haha.
Then we went to the location of the famous Council of
Nicaea, held in Constantine’s palace on the shores of Lake Iznik, where around
300 bishops gathered to discuss the basic doctrines of Christianity and the
nature of Christ. The palace is
gone now, and the foundations are submerged beneath the lake, so we went out on
a little peninsula, which is as close as you can get.
Brother Belnap gave us the most amazing lesson on Nicaea and
about our Savior. He had us read
Joseph Smith’s First Vision story and talked about how wonderful it is that we
can know our Savior personally. It
was the most spiritual part of our trip, even more so than Ephesus, which was
pretty amazing. I totally cried (I
always cry lately...Everything is so intense on this trip. My emotions are just magnified and I
express myself through tears. Hahaha it’s ridiculous.) I loved Nicaea so much. You could kind of feel the thought of
those men there, 325 years after Christ, trying to understand Him. Some people vilify the Council, but I
really could imagine their good intentions, which I’d never really considered
before. Anyways. If you don’t know
much about the Council of Nicaea, just Google it. It’s quite interesting.
Then we drove to the airport and took a ferry back across
the Bosphorus. Then we were back
on our plane, and back to our beautiful Jerusalem!
It’s sad that I don’t actually miss Turkey very much, like
everyone else, because Jerusalem is almost all I’ve ever wanted (The only thing
missing is family and friends. You
guys should move here and we’ll start a kibbutz or something! Haha.) But Turkey was definitely a place I
would go again. It’s so cool. Mom and Dad, you should totally go to
Turkey for your 20th wedding anniversary. Not Hawaii. Who needs
Hawaii. Just kidding! …Mostly.
Thanks for listening to me ramble guys. Wow. Haha if you made it this far, you are
either crazy, or you really love me. Haha. Hopefully everything's all in order, these pictures are taking FOREVER to load. Love and
miss you all! Until next week!
Love always,
Love always,
Rapunzel
