To The Ends of The Earth: August 2013

After leaving Ephesus, we headed south along Turkey's coastline for some beach and sun and spent two days in Fethiye and two days in Kas. It was nice to relax by the pool and be out on the water and relaxing after so many days full of walking the week before. The boys all went scuba diving, we all got in lots of reading, took a sea kayak trip, snorkeled and had a great time together.

Exploring hill towns

Taking a walk above the hill town

These flowers smelled amazing!

Countryside

Just hanging out in the tower we found at the end of our walk.

Our Tower

Pretty water...pretty cold water...

The view from our boat tour

Snow capped mountains in the distance

Snorkeling

No words are necessary

There they go!

The whole group :)

So excited to be going scuba diving

Ready to go!

Beautiful

Me being silly

View in Antalya

Red was sad to be leaving the next day.

The Last Night in Turkey

Our last night in Turkey we spent in Antalya only because it was near the airport. We didn't get tons of sleep as unfortunately our hotel in the old city was near a club. It did however give us a chance to take a pic in front of Club Ally and wish Ally a happy birthday :). In the morning we parted ways: Red and Doug started their trips back to work in Yuzhno and Astana, respectively, while Natalie, Josh and I headed for Rome for more adventures. We had a fabulous time exploring Turkey in May and hope to go back someday - there is so much more to see.

Josh joined us in Izmir - hi brother!

He made it!!

I don't remember much about Izmir except that there was tons of traffic and I couldn't wait to get out of there. It was such a big city and modern and bustling that it was strange to transition so quickly from the tranquility of Cappadocia into that stress and chaos. Add onto those feelings the fact that our rental car was a bit (okay, WAY) too small for 5 adults with suitcases. However, nothing larger was available, so...we made do. (see hilarious photo of our awesome ride below).

We are crazy!

All of us! Next time we will all pack smaller suitcases and rent a bigger car :)

We stayed outside of Izmir in Selcuk, near Ephesus. We really enjoyed Ephesus. The guide was moving us on through the city and I was frustrated, but I finally understood why he was doing it when I realized the ruins of the city just keep going and going. There were a lot of people, but somehow, it still felt like untouched ruins: maybe because there wasn't much, if any, scaffolding...I'm not sure. We explored the Terrace Houses as well and marveled at the luxury of wealthy Ephesians as evidenced by large homes with beautiful and intricate mosaics covering every square inch of them. The star of the city is the Ephesus Library which somehow has managed to stay standing. The Ephesians were smart too, and even created an air conditioning system of sorts with a double outer wall with cooling chamber in between to help circulate air and keep the library cool. As usual, Red and I managed to get a little off the beaten path at the end of the tour and got to stand among the overgrown ruins of the not yet restored gymnasium. We saw the stadium where it is believed that Paul preached. I read Ephesus while we were in Turkey and as it was the first time I have been in a Biblical place (other than Cappadocia), I found it to be so interesting and helpful.