mediterranean sea, in the south of Turkey. I won't be able to post
this until I've left Turkey, since I don't have an Internet
connection, but I figured it would be a good time to catch up anyway.
I type out my posts on my email, then post them by sending the emails
in. So, I can type but not send.
I'm quite enthralled by this view. I can see below and around me for
miles. There's a town, Kalkan, on the other side of the cove, and
beautiful Mediterranean mountains and azure water below. It's been
75-85 degrees farenheit the whole time I've been here--a delicious
breeze gently taps at the corners of my books' pages, and young
swallows (European, mind you, though we're in Asia) chirrup the end of
spring and the start of summer.
A couple of days ago we went to the sunken city of Kekova. Apparently
it was knocked loose and sunk when an earthquake hit, so now it's
totally covered by water. We decided to bolster the local economy by
going on a kayaking tour over the ruins. We covered a Byzantine
church, roman baths and houses. It was pretty neat.
We noticed there were some boat tours available to cover the same
ground (or sea, I suppose) with a glass topped boat, but instead we
went on a day long cruise where we sailed out, stopped in a cove for
45 minutes and swam, snorkled and played around, then went to the next
spot. It mat sounds a little dull, but with phenomenal weather, azure
skies and turqoise (sp?) water it was amazing. The water isn't super
warm beneath the upper layers, so we all had to keep our legs up. No
one minded. I jumped from the side of the boat, off of one of the
tables we later ate lunch at.
Before all that water adventure, we did a quick trip to see all the
Greek ruins. Xanthos, Myra, Patara, and Latoon, were all on the list.
At Xanthos the entire local population committed mass suicide on two
separate occasions rather than allow themselves to be taken over.
That's dedication. I guess. But being taken over would have been
pretty crappy in those days, if Gladiator is any measure of a slave's
life. Even if it isn't, people weren't nearly as polite and civil
rights friendly as they are now. Myra is recorded in Acts 27:5 as one
of the places that the apostle Paul visited. That's interesting... I
climbed to the top of the amphitheater and wondered if he gave a
sermon there, and what the people thought of him. Did they feel the
spirit rushing over them, or did they only see a crazed foreigner
trying to subject them to him csrzed foreign religion? I wonder what
Paul was like on a day to day basis. He was clearly strong willed and
independent, a strong proponent of the truth (once he himself was
converted). I remember being exhausted at the ms of my mission. I
wonder if he felt that way when he was in Myra? They didn't have much
in the way of decent bedding, from the looks of it (though animal
hides are long gone by now). Always fun to think about. Patara is the
ancient capital / assembly place of the Lycians (a subset of the
Greeks, since there wasn't a "Greece" per se in those days), and there
were several amphitheaters and other ruins around. It was very
interesting. I can't really remember Letoon. I think I took some
pictures, but after a while crumbled walls and old bricks start to
look the same--it's all the stories and the memories whine them that
stick in my mind.
We are still at our friend's house for now. We have another day and a
half here, sitting and reading and enjoying the view and all, and then
we are going to Rhodes, in Greece, to see where the colossus stood.
I am particularly enjoying the birds and the gentle breeze. It's
phenomenal up here. I've got a great view. Very restful. Hooray!
Some more pictures:
Tree restaurant. In the mountains, we stopped at this restaurant that
was in the shade of Mount Olympus, that was built into the branches of
this really old, gigantic tree. It was pretty cool. Our only options
were fish, chicken or lamb. The appetizer and deserts were set. It was
really tasty (I chose the lamb). Mmm... Just thinking about it makes
me hungry. There was also this great bread that came out of the oven
looking huge, but then settled down to look like Indian naan bread. It
was great. I wrapped my lamb in it, and made a little sandwich (at my
host's suggestion).
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