Turkey

Turkey was SO MUCH FUN. We were able to spend 8 days touring the whole entire country. Our bus recorded driving almost 1000 miles touring

different parts of the Asian and European side of Turkey.

Seriously just loved every second of this exhausting trip :)

On Sunday March 8th, we woke up at 3 am to get ready and load the buses by 3:45a. We departed Ben Gurion Intern'l airport in Tel Aviv at 7:10 am for Istanbul, Turkey! Turkey is the 6th most touristed city in the world and is most famous for: MAGNUM ice cream bars, fresh crisp bread, red Turkey flags EVERYWHERE you look, Lokum (turkish delight), silk, souvenirs, mosques (the country is 97% muslim), and of course the apostle Paul's mission to the 7 churches. We got to visit 5 out of 7.

Sunday March 8th, 2015

Arrive in Turkey around 10:00 am--met our awesome guide, Negypt. He greeted us with Turkish Delight and told us the itenerary for the week. After this we drove to have lunch at the Citadel Restraunt overlooking the Agean Sea. We then crossed the bridge to the European side of Turkey. After this we toured the Hagia Sophia and the Istanbul Archeological Museam.

Istanbul Archeological Museam

One of my favorite finds at the Istanbul Archeological Museam was a stone from the 2nd temple period (King Herrod's temple) and the Siloam inscription ORIGIONAL cut out from Hezekiah's Tunnel which we went through three weeks ago.

Monday March 9th, 2015

Hippodrome

Blue Mosque

Basiclica Cistern

Built in the 3rd century AD. Used in James Bond Movie. Largest Cistern in the middle East. Has over 200 columns and can hold up to 2,800,000 cubic feet of water.

Grand Bazaar

Over 1,000 merchants selling stuff to tourists

popular buys: tourist attractions such as the evil eye jewelry, pottery, scarves, t-shirts, basically anything you can think of. I didn't buy anything here (Nothing stood out to me) :)

Private Boat Ride on Bosporus Strait

My cute cousin, Mary! I love spending time with her. I always learn so much by her example. She is currently helping me learn how to cut hair for some of the guys in the center! :) The boat ride lasted about 1 hour and a half. Very relaxing but very cold. Apple tea is a big trend here--tastes like watered down American Apple cider. :)

Tuesday March 10, 2015--Istanbul to Troy by bus

Gallipoli Battlefield Memorial

Sister Strathern gave an amazing devotional at this site talking about the famous world war 1 battleground. This site is a peninsula on the northwest side of the Dardanelles Strait, which connects the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara to the Aegean and Mediterranean Sea. Very touching experience.

This picture really made me think of the promised land that Nephi and his family went to. Such a gorgeous view I couldn't even come close to capturing!

One of the gravesites that really touched me.

Lunch: maydos restraunt, Canakkale

Ferry ride across Dardanelles

Long bus ride to TROY (Troas)

I was the only one awake for like three hours! haha :) This was a very intensive week of all day touring, I'm so thankful Heavenly Father answered my prayers and blessed me with strength and energy to get the most out of every day we were in Turkey.

TROY

War that took place during the Late Bronze Age. Paris (prince of Troy and son of King Priam) kidnapped Helen (queen of Sparta and most beautiful woman in the world) and took her to Troy. The greeks, led by agamemnon and Achilles, sent their entire fleet to rescue the queen from Troy. After a 10 year war, the united Greek army withdrew and left a massive wooden horse at the gate of Troy. After this, the greek soldiers emerged from inside the horse, defeating Troy and took Helen back to Sparta.

Wednesday March 11, 2015--Canakkale to Seljuk

(Long bus day)

Assos

The apostle Paul and his companions stopped at Troas to preach. While Luke and the other missionaries sailed from Troas to Assos, Paul walked the 25 miles overland (Acts 20:13). Paul taught the gospel to people living along the road from Troas to Assos. When Paul arrived at Assos, he probably walked through the massive columns at the city gates on the west side of the city. We had a wonderful devotional here and I learned so much about the apostle Paul. What an example he is to me of courageous, brave faith and perserveriance! Also, I can't wait to be a missionary :) The view was indescribeable. I'm just so lucky to have gotten to experience this!

Lunch: Asklepion Restraunt, Bergama (Pergamon Acropolis)

Thursday March 12, 2015

Church of St. John

Miletus (Priene)

Overnight: Richmond hotel right on the Agean Sea. Picture perfect :)

Marty throwing Ben in the water!

Sean and I on the beach!!! We had a giant race and just played a lot of sand games. My new goal has been to get a personal picture with everyone. We'll see if I can do that in the remaining time! :)

Friday March 13, 2015

(Long bus day)

Ephesus

Paul visited Ephesus and found others who, although they claimed to have received the baptism of john the baptist, did not know about the Holy Ghost (Acts 19:1-3). Paul knew they had not received proper baptism and re-baptized them and gave them the gift of the holy ghost (acts 19:4-6). During his two year stay in Ephesus, Paul taught at a school and performed many miracles. Paul wrote his first epistle to the COrinthians while he was staying in Ephesus (1 Cor. 16:8) in which he said he "fought with beasts at Ephesus". Look at the back of the bible dictionary at the picture of Ephesus--I was just there!! ;) Our tour guide was so smart to visit super early in the morning before the cruise tours came to visit. So we had the whole thing to ourselves. :)

Theatre paul preached at

Silk Market in Bursa Bazaar

The guys were so proud of their new suits from Turkey. Real confidence booster for them ;)

Saturday March 14, 2015--Bursa to Istanbul to Jerusalem

Grand Mosque

Bursa Bazaar

Constantine's Palace

Ayasofya Camii Mosque

Iznik

Airport-Arrive in Jerusalem at 1:30 am Sunday morning

Things I bought while in Turkey: Souvenir shirt with Turkey flag, Silk scarf, a silk tie, magnum bars (they only have them in turkey... best treat in the entire world!!! already missing them), knock off beats headphones (actually sam bought these for me.. so nice of him), and the prettiest yellow pastel mission skirt! Super funny story I will add in later but basically I saw it and bought it within 3 minutes. My cousin Mary was with me and we had 5 minutes to make it back to the bus. It is seriously so gorgeous and got such a good deal for it! :) I was so happy!

Only spent about 120 TL (turkish lira) which is about 50 dollars. It was such a fun trip!

BEST WEEK EVER!! Turkey is truly an amazing country!!!!

more pictures to come :) Also, gave a talk today on Keeping Covenants. What an oppurtunity to speak at the pulpit Presdient Holland has spoken at. It really went well. Off to study for New Testament, dinner, then going to the city for the night! Have a wonderful week :)

XOXO, alyson :)