October 2nd Cruise: Turkey and Patmos!

So we had to wake up super early today once we arrived to Turkey! Therefore, since staying up late the night before (of course, we are on a cruise!!), I didn't even shower. Thank goodness before we left for the cruise, I had bought a hat, so therefore I wore my Greece hat to Turkey! Hahah. So I can basically say that I am in LOVE with Turkey. It was a blast! Our tour guide was so cute and funny. She would spell out words that she didn't think we knew in a cute little accent. Like the word cotton. "C-O-double T-O-N." Haha...we loved her. 

We learned that Turkey is composed of 99% Muslim people, and there is 1% that is either Christian or Jewish. Honestly, after my trip here, I feel like it is a place where I would love to do some mission work some day. We will see what God has in store for me, but I would love to go back someday and help make a difference in those crazy percentages :)

So the first place that we go to here is the ancient city of Ephesus from the 2nd century A.D. Which was amazing. First of all, it was really early in the morning, so the morning air, and sun just peaking out made the scenery beautiful! We walked through the whole ancient city. It was marvelous. I will talk about some of the things that stick out to me the most. First of all, the temple of Hadrian. He was a Roman Emperor who dedicated the temple to his lover (who was a man...yikes!). I also loved the ancient gates that we saw...I couldn't believe that they were still there. Wooden ones were beautiful! The Library was so huge, I couldn't even believe that that much of the ruins had been left of it! This is also where Paul would have been, which was amazing! Paul was standing where I was...wow. The library was the most important structure that was there in this city. One of my favorite parts here was when we sang in the theater of Ephesus. It is the biggest in Asia Minor and could sit 25,000 people. We sang some church songs, and Dr. Manor read some of the bible to us...the sound was amazing.

After we got done touring the ancient city, we went off to go to the city in Turkey. I don't remember the name of the city (sorry...i will try to figure it out). When we got there we went to a carpet shop. In case you do not know, Turkey is very famous for it's carpets and they are super expensive! We went to the upstairs of the store, the turkish owners and workers of the store had a whole presentation for us! That was really cool. Also, a tradition in Turkey is when you visit someone, they have to offer you a drink. So they gave us some warm Apple Tea...it was so delicious :) They talked about all their carpets. Apparently women work on them in their homes, and takes them MONTHS! just to make one carpet...and they barely get paid sqaut for it...it's crazy. Some people bought some carpets...and the people were really pushy for us too..but they were way to expensive. Like, $100 for just a really small one. Also, how the heck would you get it home? So I said no to that. 

All the girls at the Hadrian Temple :)

Kalie, Skylar, Ashlee and I in front of the Library at Ancient Ephesus

Ash and I shopping in Turkey :)

But after that we were free to travel around the city as we pleased until we were supposed to get back on the ship. So that gave us about a little over an hour to tour. This was my favorite part! The city was crazy. As you walk down the street, everyone is yelling at you (not meanly) but in order to get your attention to come into their store! Haha... so we went to a few. Ash and I bought some super pretty scarves for only 5 euros! Then, we went to this one shop and totally bargained! It was such a fun experience. We got a jersey (for her friend) that was originally 48 euros for only 10 euros....hahahah. She is good at bargaining. Also, all the men on the streets were saying how pretty we are and one said that I looked like Brittany Spears. (Uhm, I didn't really take that as a compliment...but yeah). Also! There was a Starbucks! Yes! Starbucks in Turkey :) Haha...but we didn't go. Then on the way back to the boat, we ran into this guy who was trying to sell us perfume. We didn't even want perfume but he kept insisting and we kept saying no. He wanted 25 euro for each bottle. Okay, so for something that we don't even want, we are NOT going to pay that much. So we kept saying no, but then he kept trying to put it in our bags. So we kept handing it back. We kept saying that we didn't have enough money and that we only had 5 euro each. So finally he was so ticked that he just handed us the bottle and I just gave him a 5 euro. He was ticked but hey....we didn't even want it in the first place :P Ah...that was one of my most favorite experiences. I LOVE BARGAINING! If only I could do that in the states...haha :)

Then we got back on to the ship, and sailed to the island of Patmos! This was also a very pretty island. In 95 A.D. St. John was in Ephesus during the Christian Persecution, and came to the island of Patmos as a prisoner. He stayed  here for 18 months and wasn't allowed to leave. He came to this cave that we were able to visit to worship and pray everyday. This is also where he had the vision of the seven letters. I thought this was really cool and I loved the designs and frescos (paintings) that were there. They were from the 17th and 18th centuries and were so pretty. Also, we saw a monk just outside the cave, and my friend Mandy talked to him for a while haha :)

Me and ash with our scarves from Turkey :)

some architecture

cute little window :)

this is one of the awesome frescos :)

me in front of some bells :) ahaha