Turkey time

Next stop: Turkey.

Our next stop was Kusadası, Turkey. It's really close to Ephesus, which is why we docked there. Ephesus, a place where Saint Paul preached often, was important to our Holy Land trip. Maybe you know the book of Ephesians? Yeah, they don't just coincidentally sound familiar.

Kusadasi is a Muslim city in a really Muslim country. Yet, the city is really modern. It's really beautiful:


So, we walked to meet our tour guide, who was super cute. The men ALL had crushes on her.


Well, she took us all around Ephesus and we learned lots of things about the city. We also learned that, odds are, Paul did not preach to the Ephesians in the huge amplitheatre there. I guess they didn't let Christians speak in there, since it was heavily Pagan city. Oh well. Bible-theory #1: CRUSHED. I guess it had to happen eventually. I mean, when you have religious sites from so long ago, you have to assume that some of them will be bogus. Still, it was amazing to see something so ancient and amazing.

Then, we were back in Kusadasi eating lunch, when a random man came up to us. At first, we thought he was the owner of the restaurant that we were eating in. Very often, when tourist groups are eating, owners will come over and give them free food. So, we were nice. Then we slowly realized that he was a carpet salesman. We had nothing else better to do, so we went to his presentation. It was pretty hilarious. Some GORGEOUS carpets, but of course WAY over priced because he knew we were tourists. I didn't really care, since I certainly wasn't going to purchase one. It was really hilarious to watch the presentation also. One of the most amazing things I saw there was this:

It may not look incredible, but a while back, archaeologists found these houses underground and they are excavating them currently. The picture above this shows hundreds of little pieces of marble that experts are piecing together. The houses were covered in marble, so they are reassembling them like a HUGE puzzle. Piece by piece. Talk about a lot of work.


Anyway, if I had to live in a Muslim country, I think I'd choose Turkey.