Turkey - Land of History

     This week pictures from our trip to Turkey keep popping up on my Facebook feed showing 2 years ago.  That was such a great trip.  While living in Holland, Michigan we were able to travel to Turkey with GTI Tours and Brad Gray leading.
     Turkey is such an ancient land.  So much history has happened there.  You could spend years studying just one era of time and history in Turkey.  The ancient Hittites were located in modern day Turkey. The Assyrian Empire was headquartered in Turkey.  They were defeated by the Babylonians who spread their influence throughout the region.  Alexander the Great conquered the peoples of the Turkey peninsula  and  that region became the center of Hellenism/Greek culture, language and philosophy.     Under the Romans, Turkey became the center of Caesar worship. Christianity spread through Turkey.    Islam spread from Turkey. Istanbul, formerly Constantinople, is the only city in the world located on 2 continents.
     For the purpose of our trip, we were following the Apostle Paul's travels in that region and visiting the locations of the 7 churches that receive letters in the book of Revelation. 
We were told to be prepared to hike 5-7 miles per day.  Many days we were definitely off the beaten paths.

Our first morning in Turkey on the southern coast.

The harbor that Paul first sailed into as an apostle and evangelist.

Turkey is a mountainous region with many valleys between mountain ranges.

No Hellenistic town was complete without a gymnasium.

The town of Perga. It is amazing what ancient people could build.

The library at Ephesus

Ephesus

Gotta have something for the tourists!

The massive temple to Artemis (Diane) at Sardis.

Hagia Sophia, then center of Christianity for 1000 years before becoming a mosque.

The inside of Hagia Sophia.

     Turkey does border Syria.  With the crisis happening in Syria and the general terrorist threat in the Middle East, many were concerned about our safety while traveling.  We were far from the eastern side which borders Syria.  There had been a bombing at the Blue Mosque (next door to Hagia Sophia) a few weeks before which killed 8 German tourists.  Just a couple of weeks before there was a bombing in Ankara, the capital.  Many people were choosing not to travel to Turkey during this time.  The opportunity was just too good to pass up.  When I checked on statistics of possibility for harm, I discovered the most dangerous part of our trip was from Holland, Michigan to O'Hare Airport in Chicago.  Sure bad things can happen in the Middle East, but also just before we left a crazed gunman shot and killed random people sitting on the porch at Cracker Barrel within an hour of us.  The travel company takes trips to Turkey several times a year.  They have connections and take precautions to keep their travelers safe.  After all, they wouldn't send their people into danger thoughtlessly.  So, our decision was to take our chances!  
     We are so glad we did.  I felt like my understanding of the life and time of the Apostle Paul expanded exponentially.  I gained a grasp of the first century culture into which Christianity was birthed that forever changes the way I look at the New Testament.