Disembarking from the Louis Olympia, and boarding a bus immediately was a bit like a slap in the face so early in the morning. But we were off to Corinth.

On the way we had a photo stop at the Corinth Canal, a 6.3km canal joining the Ionian and Aegean seas between the Athens area and the Peloponnese. Construction took 11 yrs, begun by the same company that built the Suez Canal, but finalised by a Greek company after the first one ran out of money. The canal can accommodate small to medium size craft, and is 79 metres high, 24 metres wide with a water depth of 8 metres. It was lovely to see a couple of craft proceeding through.

We were then on to another fantastic opportunity to see a place where Paul had such influence. Like all ancient Greek towns there was an acropolis [high edge place of the city] which has various eras of construction. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to go up to the acropolis so photos from the base had to suffice. In the first century Corinth was a very cosmopolitan city with philosophy and the pursuit of wisdom as paramount.

Corinth had a long history before Paul went there, and we were amazed to see substantial columns from the Archaic era, about six centuries before Christ, still standing.

Paul stayed in Corinth about 18 months and had massive influence across the town. We saw the place where it is likely that he worked as a tent-maker with Priscilla and Aquila in the line of shops leading up to the main gate. The ruins are inconclusive as to where the Jewish synagogue may have been, but in the museum there is a stone with carving of three menorah, showing that somewhere in the area there was a synagogue, where Acts tells us that Paul was every Sabbath, reasoning with both Jews and Greeks.

As a tour group we sat in this beautiful location, with the acropolis behind and the ruins in front. Chris read from 1 Corinthians 1:18-25; other tour members read a few verses from Acts 18 & I Corinthians 13, several shared various reflections on our tour and on Paul and what we have learned, and we prayed together. A very special time as our tour was drawing to a close.

Driving back to Athens our final afternoon was spent on the great Acropolis of Athens, but on the way through the city centre we saw the hourly changing of the guard outside the Greek Parliament. A very impressive sight, with a certain unique marching method.

Arriving at the Acropolis, we first climbed Mars Hill [the Areopagus] where Paul preached to the people of Athens:

Acts ^17:22   So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious.  ²³ For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.  ²⁴ The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, ²⁵ nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.  ²⁶ And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,  ²⁷ that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,  ²⁸ for

“‘In him we live and move and have our being’

 as even some of your own poets have said,

“‘For we are indeed his offspring.’

²⁹   Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.  ³⁰ The times of ignorance God overlooked, but know he commands all people everywhere to repent,  ³¹ because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” 

What a magnificent marble outcrop this is with a view across all Athens. This was the place where the ancient city had its court of justice. Climbing up it was actually very dangerous, as the thousands of years of use has smoothed out the marble to be extremely slippery. None of these ancient sites in Greece have protective barriers nor warning signs, which is very different to bush walks and lookouts in Australia. And rightly so, as to put up precautionary safety measures would detract from the antiquity. We were extremely careful as we clambered over the rocks to fantastic views across Athens, looking down on an ancient agora [the public or market place], the Temple of Hepheastus, as well as modern Athens.

As we stood on the ancient marble on the top of Mars Hill, we considered all the centuries of wisdom that have been proclaimed there, but most of all to know that the truth about

Christ was declared through the mouth of Paul was truly amazing.

We then continued to the top of the Acropolis and on the way viewed the Odeon of Herodes, which is still regularly used for operas and concerts, then climbed the very slippery steps and walked through the Propylaea [along with crowds of others] to see the Parthenon in all its splendour, undergoing a long standing and painstaking process of restoration. The attempts to find and replace the ruins, as well as do appropriate works of restoration is a costly and interesting process to witness. To the west of the Parthenon is the Temple of Athena, with a beautiful restoration completed in 2010.

We saw the sanctuary of Pandeon, which now proudly holds a Greek flag. On our way back down we looked out across the amazing theatre of Dionysus.

Being able to see the whole vista of Athens from the acropolis, meant we got a great view of the Temple of Zeus, which originally had 104 columns and now only 16 are left. It was also great to have a bird’s eye view of Hadrian’s Arch, built in honour of the Roman Emperor.

Seeing such stunning architectural feats was truly a privilege we will not forget.

Our tour concluded with a lovely dinner together as a group and we thanked God for new friends, new experiences and again, more understanding and knowledge of the Bible and an increased conviction regarding our Christ-centred faith.

We boarded our cruise ship for three days visiting Mykonos, Kusadasi [mainland Turkey], Patmos, Crete and Santorini.

Never having cruised before, we were thoroughly looking forward to this portion of our tour of Greece, and there’s certainly something special about cruising this part of the world.

The thing that struck me more than anything else was the colour of the water. We all see photos of the Mediterranean and the Aegean, and it is easy to think that the colour has been enhanced. But as I looked out over the sides of the ship, the colour took my breath away. How could something that looks so artificial be so real. It was calm, it was surreal, it was fantastic. The only thing that could have made it better was for the hazy sky to be clear so that the islands around us were more distinct.

The first port of call was Mykonos and we arrived at 6pm. With still a couple of hours of daylight we were able to get into town fairly quickly and had a wonderful and uplifting walk around this quintessential Greek town on a quintessential Greek island. The sunset was absolutely amazing.

Our tour hostess on the ship, remarked that in all her 15 years of bringing people to Mykonos she had never seen the sea as calm as it was today. Mykonos is known for being a very windy place, which is why the windmills are a real feature of the island. Apparently the sea is normally quite rough and white caps are a familiar sight. Not today, and we really appreciated the beauty and calm of the sea.

Saturday morning was a very early one for us venturing back to Ephesus. Having docked at Kusadasi at 6am, we were in the restaurant eating breakfast by then as the disembarking for our tour to the House of the Virgin Mary and Ephesus left at 7am. We were very excited to be going back to Ephesus as it was certainly one of the highlights of our tour of Turkey.

As it turned out, we were very glad to have been there before, as the tour this morning was about half the time and twice the speed of our previous one. However we did get some additional information from this guide to add to what we had already learnt.

The visit to the House of the Virgin Mary meant going high up a mountain to the remains of an old Christian village, where it was believed Mary and the apostle John lived in a Christian community. The views again were spectacular. What is thought to be Mary’s house has been reconstructed from the lower level ruins, and has been made into a shrine by the Roman Catholic Church.

Saturday afternoon we weighed anchor at Patmos and used tender boats to get to the dock. Patmos harbour is too small for a ship the size of the Olympia to fully come in and dock.

We boarded a bus to see the grotto where it is believed the Apostle John saw his vision of Christ and was instructed to write Revelation. Again it has been made into a shrine by the Greek Orthodox and there are many buildings, including a church, built on top of the cave, and as you weave down the many stairs, it hardly seems to be the place for a cave, until of course, you get inside.

Patmos is a very small island in the shape of a seahorse, and has an interesting history. John arrived there around 95AD as an old man and seemed to have lived for a while in this cave towards the end of his life following his time in Ephesus.

About 1,000 years later in 1100, a monk, Khristodhoulos from Cappadocia knew about the cave in Patmos and wanted to build a monastery there dedicated to the Apostle John. He didn’t have the financial resources, but surprisingly the Byzantine Emperor at the time gifted him with the island of Patmos and gave him the money to build the monastery.

It was fascinating to see the actual long scroll of the deed of gift from the Sultan to the monk on display in the monastery museum. The monastery is built on the highest point of Patmos and the views down to the harbour can only be described as stunning. This has meant that historically the whole island has been dominated and influenced by this monastery. In modern times however, the whole island is no longer wholly owned by the monastery.

The following morning [Sunday] we docked at Heraklion, the capital of Crete. We chose not to do a specific excursion, but walked into the centre of town, treated ourselves to a fish spa, and then enjoyed a delicious coffee in a beautiful cafe. A fish spa is a tank with a seat beside and as you sit and place your feet in the tank, the tiny fish eat away the dead cells on the feet and lower legs. [Aren’t you glad you know that!] We had missed the opportunity for a fish spa in Turkey, so we gladly took it up as we wandered around Heraklion. The centre of town is called Lion Square, but it was interesting to note that the fountain was round and the square was a triangle.

Santorini —- wow … Santorini’s geological story is a fiery one. The ‘island’ is actually five islands which are the result of volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. The largest island is curved around a body of water which is called the ‘caldera’, a Spanish word for cauldron. This of course, refers to the core of the volcano. Cruising into Santorini was very picturesque. The camera got a huge workout! Even seeing the whitewashed towns from the distance, they could easily have been mistaken for snow-caps, which we knew was impossible at this time of year.

Again, it was impossible to dock at Santorini so tender boats were used to get us to land. We chose the shore excursion which took us to Oia [rhymes with ‘clear’]. Around the Caldera are vertical cliff faces so the towns are at the top. As we boarded the bus and drove the zigzag road to get to the top the various rock strata were very clear, finishing with a huge layer of pumice on the top.

Travelling along the top of the cliff face gave some wonderful vistas, but getting to the little town of Oia was such a treat. The marble lanes are very narrow, the hotels and villas are built down the cliff face, the shop fronts, cafes and other speciality merchants were all worthy of photos, but the whitewashed churches with blue domes were the picture stealers. Again … quintessential Greek island is the only way to describe it. Again, the camera was screaming for a rest.

We finished by going to the main town of Santorina, Fira, for another spectacular sunset, before we joined the huge queue to go down the cable car to get back to the tender boats returning to the ship. A beautiful day.

As the Greek islands are very close to one another, there is hardly opportunity to actually take advantage of onboard life. Being in two ports per day means for a very full and tight schedule. However, our overall our first impressions of cruising on this short and very busy three days is a positive one, and we would love to have the opportunity for a longer and more restful cruise at some point in our lives.

Wednesday September 10 was a day with some Biblical history, some Christian Orthodox history, and some geological awesomeness!

We firstly drove from Thessaloniki to Veria, the ancient Biblical town of Berea where Paul and Silas were helped to get to from Thessaloniki when things got a bit hairy for them there. This is a beautiful little town on a Greek hillside with so much appeal. We firstly went to a spot remembered as a place where Paul preached, and there was a plaque with the very telling verse from Acts 17, saying that the Jews there were more noble than in Thessaloniki, and that they received the word from Paul with eagerness. We walked to the Jewish portion of Veria, where there is a small but quaint synagogue.

We drove through some very mountainous terrain with picturesque valleys to get to Kalambaka, the town at the base of the incredible rocks of Meteora. Geological study tells us that these rocks were under water tens of thousands of years ago, and a geological event then drained the area of water and these rock formations appeared. From the 14th and 15th centuries there have been monasteries built on the top of many of these rocks, but now, out of an original 24, there are only six left, due mainly to Nazi bombing in the second world war.

The drive from the town to get to the top of these rocks had so many wonderful moments of oohs and aahs. We felt privileged to be seeing how awesome our God is to gift us with these amazing and wonderful sights. Also the ingenuity and skill of the builders of all the monasteries continually stunned us.

Of course, it was also wonderful to see the location of the James Bond movie, ‘For Your Eyes Only’ – the monastery of the Holy Trinity although it was not a monastery we visited.

We walked up 200 steps to visit Varlaam, and saw the very tiny orthodox chapel with every possible portion of the internal walls and ceiling covered with intricate paintings depicting Bible stories, and the life of Christ, along with many of the apostles.

Following that we went to a nunnery, St Stephen’s, and at the entrance greeting us was a young Aussie Orthodox nun from Perth.

It was only a short drive to our hotel on the outskirts of Kalambaka, and we enjoyed a wonderful dinner and breakfast there.

Thursday morning we knew was to bring a long day of driving to get back to Athens. Quite early in the journey we visited a Byzantine icon workshop and saw the method of hand painting orthodox icons, from the preparation of the canvas, the wooden frames through to the intricate painting. There were three artists in the workshop and it was fascinating to see how they worked, and also to find out that every icon is hand painted, and not printed. Each one is a copy of the 11th or 12th century established forms of each parable, miracle, saint or Bible story. If any of the tour group purchased an icon the artist was there to personally sign the back.

Further on our long drive we stopped at the monument to the 300 spartans at the likely place of the Battle of Thermopylae. We walked up the walls of the fortification, which now simply look like, and are used as a walkway. The modern monument has a huge statue of Leonidus, the Spartan King wielding a spear. The Spartans held off the Persians for 3 days, and are remembered as great heroes of nationalistic fervour. The Persian victory was, in effect, hardly a victory as they suffered almost as much loss as the Spartans, but the impact of the victory meant that the Persians were able to conquer much more of Greece in the ensuing years.

We arrived back in Athens, after a long day’s journey and there were a few of us chose to go to our wonderful restaurant we found last weekend, near the hotel, rather than pay an exorbitant amount of money to go on the optional dinner excursion in the city. We had a wonderful evening together – a pair of Aussies and 3 pairs of yanks, joined in fellowship through the gospel.

We began our time in Greece with a couple of down days in Athens. We rested and didn’t really do very much at all except explore some of the centre of the city. We did find a great little restaurant about 10 minutes walk from the hotel, which had very cheap food and wine, and very generous hosts. We went there both nights as it was so good. First night we got tzatziki on the house, and the second night I got a glass of wine on the house. After every meal, you get free grapes, and free fresh, hot cinnamon donuts with honey on half, and chocolate sauce on the other half. No wonder we went back!! It was extremely good value.

We met up with our next tour group and our first day was mostly travel getting north to Thessaloniki, a beautiful city on the northern shores of the Aegean built around a very protected bay. We were very surprised by the number of toll booths on the motorway north. They just kept coming.

On our journey north we saw Mt Olympus, or should I say, part of Mt Olympus as the cloud cover was pretty dense. That mountain range is home to a huge number of species of plant and animal, including bear, boar, wolf, deer and eagle.

As we approached Thessaloniki we visited a panoramic view of the city from a high point of the old city wall. Following narrow quaint lane ways down the hillside we were in the middle of the city and visited an orthodox basilica dedicated to Demetrios, saw an arch and rotunda built by the 4th century Roman emperor, Galerius, and statues of Philip, Alexander the Great’s father, and Alexander the Great himself, the great Greek leader, who conquered so much of the known world.

Paul visited Thessaloniki on his second missionary journey, and preached for 3 consecutive weeks in the synagogue. His preaching and message to the people caused a rabble amongst the Jews, and he ended up being chased out of the city.

He wrote to the Thessalonians …

“ ^{1Th. 1:2}  We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers,  ³ remembering before four God and Father your work of faith and labour of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.  ⁴ For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you,  ⁵ because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.  ⁶ And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit,  ⁷ so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.  ⁸ For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything.  ⁹ For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,  ¹⁰ and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.”

It was raining as we drove from Thessaloniki to Philippi. We hadn’t seen rain in several weeks so it was a bit of a novelty. We were pleased though that it didn’t stop us from getting out, and when we came to the area of Philippi the rain had eased. We first visited a site believed to be where Lydia, the seller of purple goods, was baptised by Paul after hearing the gospel and responding. Acts 16 tells the story of Paul coming to Philippi, and going outside the city gates to the riverside where they were looking for a place of prayer, and found a group of women. The river we saw was a beautiful narrow stream that flowed over rocks, it was wonderful to consider the ministry that had happened somewhere near where we were.

We then went to the ancient site of Philippi, and walked among the ruins, seeing the Agora [market place], the remains of an early Christian basilica, the possible place where Paul was imprisoned, and the Philippian theatre.

We went to Kavala for lunch, which is on the site of ancient Neapolis, where Paul arrived in Greece after sailing from Samothrace. We walked a short way around the town and saw a viaduct initially built by the Romans, and renovated and renewed by the Ottomans. It was in great condition, and very impressive, as was the view from the top of the hill, looking out over both sides of this gorgeous little Greek town towards the Aegean Sea.

We continued back to Thessaloniki for our second night and before dinner we took a walk down to the water’s edge and back through the city centre. A lovely way to conclude our time there.

Phil. ^1:3   I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, ⁴ always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy,  ⁵ because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.  ⁶ And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.  ⁷ It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.  ⁸ For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.  ⁹ And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment,  ¹⁰ so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,  ¹¹ filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. 

The diversity of Turkey is an absolute inspiration. Leaving the vastness and eeriness of the rock formations of Cappadocia, we retraced our road inward to turn north to the Black Sea region for our next accommodation in Safranbolu.

Instead of mountains, the road took us through incredibly flat areas, where our view of the horizon seemed endless with no interruptions at all. This was such a contrast to our last few days of travelling through some amazing mountain ranges.

This central part of Turkey has a huge salt lake, Tuz Gölü. There was a small amount of water, but this lake is similar in salt content to that of the Dead Sea, and contributes to a growing salt industry in Turkey. In summer, as this lake dries up, it reveals a 30cm thickness of dried salt. This was fascinating to drive past, and even more fascinating to walk on.

We drove on to Ankara, the capital of Turkey, and found a huge well-planned modern city with many amenities. One of the points of pride for Ankara is that this is the place where Mustafa Ataturk is honoured by a huge complex acting as a memorial for this war hero and first president of the Republic of Turkey. This man was formational to modern Turkey as he led great reforms during the 1920s, saw the downfall of the Ottoman empire and the reigning caliphs, and brought Turkey to its independence in 1924. Ataturk’s mausoleum is housed in an amazing building, under which is a significant and moving war museum, with a huge diorama of the Canakkale campaign, which we know as Gallipoli. Mustafa Ataturk certainly gained our respect as we read about his life and achievements. Our understanding of Turkey and its nationalism reached a new level as we took all this in. It was very impressive, as it appears this man was. We found the war museum very powerful, especially seeing the 1915 situation from a Turkish perspective. We arrived as the changing of the guards was happening – another quite impressive formality.

We continued on to yet another new insight into Turkey as we reached the saffron and turkish delight haven of Safranbolu. This little town is in the Black Sea region of Turkey towards the north, although we were still a distance from the actual Black Sea ourselves. This old village is an historic beauty as its building were built in a distinctive ottoman style from the18th century. Not much of Turkey’s architectural history uses wood for its structures, but this town certainly has its own flavour. We stayed in an old Ottoman mansion, made of timber, which has now been converted into a hotel. It was very quaint, and we walked up cobblestone lanes to reach it. We had ample time to wander around and simply take in the atmosphere and engage with the locals. We kept walking these lanes and found the local blacksmiths, all having their shops in the same locale. One specialised in axes, another in door & window latches and another in pots. Fascinating to see.

We had a lovely evening meal in an outdoor garden setting at our hotel, and again, felt thoroughly spoiled.

The next morning we journeyed back to Istanbul and had the afternoon at the Grand Bazaar, a huge covered building with about 4,000 shops and many lanes and alleys to explore. We felt underwhelmed by the Grand Bazaar in many ways. We wanted it to be more authentic, but found it to be much more modern in its commercialisation. Our general assessment was that we enjoyed the Spice Bazaar much more. Perhaps if we were more inclined to ‘spend’ we may have gotten into the mood, but we chose to leave after about 45 minutes and found a nice cafe for a latte.

We finished our tour with a beautiful night out at the restaurants at the Istanbul Fish Market. Chris described it as Lygon Street on steroids! It was a terrific night, with singing minstrels serenading, and a perfect way to end our marvellous tour of Turkey.

Early rise this morning for the highlight of sunrise hot air ballooning over the ancient and amazing landscape of Göreme. Seeing the so-called fairy castle chimneys hewn by volcanic activity, rain, rivers and wind over thousands of years was simply awe-inspiring. The weather was perfect, all other conditions excellent, and the peacefulness of floating amid so many other balloons was simply fantastic!

The pilot took us both high and low, rising to 750m and then descending low through the valleys to see the rock caves dug out so many centuries ago. To view the ancient homes of ancient Christians seeking refuge from enemies, the tombs and the storehouses, the pigeon coops carved in the mountains so those tiny messengers from valley to valley could find rest, and the skill of the pilot negotiating the ‘chimneys’ made the morning so very special. There were many times when my heart was singing praises, and my voice was very close. But with 24 people in the basket it may well have been an intrusion! A quiet hum of ‘How Great thou Art’ sufficed.

The descent and landing was a real tribute to Volkan, the pilot. The support team meeting us at landing, had communicated their location and Volkan, with unspeakable precision landed the 24 person basket on the trailer of the vehicle for its return to base!

We then celebrated at our landing location with champagne, chocolate cake and certificates. We returned to the hotel for a more substantial breakfast before leaving yet again to visit some amazing viewpoints for photographs and then to see one of the many underground cities of this area, where Christians hid from persecution. Intricate tunnels, rooms, chapels, storehouses, ventilation shafts, wineries and kitchens, amazed us all. The tiny part that we saw was only 10% of that particular site, and there are many more scattered throughout this ancient volcanic landscape. We descended 77 metres, but our understanding is that the underground cities were much more expansive. Quite incredible.

Christians continued to live in these parts for the ensuing centuries, and the great Cappadocian Fathers, Basil and the two Gregorys hail from these parts. During our visit to Göreme [now an outdoor museum] we entered the tiny rock church dedicated to St. Basil. It was amazing to consider that we were in the location of the great man who defended good theology, opposed Arianism, and supported the Nicene Creed.

More and more carved out rocks were made into chapels and monasteries, with living quarters and eating quarters. Our minds boggled at the sheer determination and patience it would have taken to build these chambers, to live there, and to provide for yourself and others.

We praise God for his faithfulness in seeing that these early Christians were protected, were encouraged, and that they spread the faith.

Sunday August 31
It was difficult to leave the beautiful town of Fethiye, and the fantastic hotel. Fethiye is near to so many great places to explore and enjoy.

But yet another Turkish treasure awaited us. It was just a short hour’s drive to Saklikent Gorge, a beautiful fresh water narrow gorge which is fed by millions of megalitres of water from huge springs visible from the boardwalk. The springs gush out of the rock and become a freezing cold river. The force of water was similar to Huka Falls in New Zealand, but due to a very different reason. There are two months of the year when tubing down the river is not possible because of the melting winter snows, adding to the spring water. Fortunately that didn’t affect us, and we had a wonderful hour and a half of tubing down the freezing waters.

The story of Saklikent Gorge is an interesting one. It was not publicly discovered until 1949 when a shepherd lost a goat and came upon the gorge on his search. Since that time, it has been open to the public, and for the first 50 years, half the entry fee went to the shepherd, and the other half to the government.

The 4 hour afternoon drive through the Taurus Mountains was spectacular! It is obvious to the naked eye that these mountains have had a volatile history. At various points the strata was not just at angles, but quite often you could see that what was once horizontal is now vertical. Lots of ‘wows’ at various points. The scenery was stunning, but so hard to take good photographs from a bus.

We came to Antalya, a beautiful Mediterranean city, that is now a huge tourist destination. Antalya is the third most visited city in the world, mainly due to Russian and German tourism. We first visited a tremendous waterfall, from a river that originates in the Taurus mountains. The waterfall comes straight off the cliff into the Mediterranean basically in the middle of the city.

Our Antalyan hotel, the Baruk Park, has just finished a one year renovation, and it was certainly very stylish, with amazing decor and superb food. We felt very spoiled, and the view was ‘to die for’.

Monday September 1
We left Antalya for another very long day of driving to get to Cappadocia. Our first stop was at Aspendos where there is a first century theatre in very good condition, and is still used today. There have been some renovations in the last few years. It is so wonderful that a theatre built 2,000 years ago can still be used for performances today and enjoyed by the public.

Driving through the magnificent Taurus Mountains again today was wonderful, but of course, slowed the trip because of the steep and winding roads.

We had a quick stop at a Muslim museum to look at the history of an old Islamic sect called the Whirling Dervishes. This sect was formed through disagreements early in the development of Islam, and the main characteristic is the style of dance which originates in focussing the heart on Allah. The dancer bows their head towards the heart, the right arm points up to receive from God and the left arm is down to share God’s blessing with the world. As the music starts, the dancer goes into a trance and then spins faster and faster, in an anti-clockwise direction.

Our afternoon stop was at a 13 century caravanserai on the Silk Road, where travelling traders had safety and shelter for the night. These caravanserai were about a days camel ride apart [about 30-35 km] and the one we visited was the 2nd biggest in Turkey, and in incredible condition.

We arrived in Urgup, Cappadocia about 7pm and look forward to our two nights in this unique environment.

Friday, August 29
A day of relaxation, swimming, and more Turkish experiences.

We left our hotel to go on a 1½ hr drive followed by a 40 minute waterway cruise to Turtle Beach, where the Aegean meets the Mediterranean.

At the embarkation point for our boat cruise, there were some spectacular carved tombs from around the 4th Century BC. Absolutely amazing, and was a tiny reminder of the grandeur of Petra, albeit a small percentage of the size.

Turtle Beach at Dalyan was a beautiful place and we had a great amount of time to swim in the sea. Very clear waters, gentle waves, a warm day, clear skies. Who could ask for more? We even saw a huge turtle swimming around our boat, who unfortunately didn’t co-operate with the photographers.

We then headed back on the boat to the marina for a wonderful meal of barbecued sea bream, followed by another boat ride in the other direction for a mud bath! Absolutely fantastic! This area has been famous for its hot mud and springs. The sulphur smell certainly reminded us of Rotorua.

Saturday August 30
Another day of beautiful holiday relaxation.

Our first stop was interesting and poignant. We drove to an old abandoned ghost-town of a village which evoked a sense of tragedy and great loss within us. When Turkey became a Republic in 1924 there was a population exchange between the Greeks and the Turks. All Greeks in Turkey were repatriated to Greece and all Turks in Greece were repatriated to Turkey. The plan was that each would be given the others homes in each country. However, it ended up being a painful and difficult process because of the anger in each community brought about by this compulsory policy. Each community had to leave everything and only take a suitcase to their mother country. The anger ended up being vent through destruction of property, so these towns are now ghost town ruins. It seemed such a tragic waste, and the futility of the policy was so sad. The human fallout of such a practice has ongoing consequences to this day. The sad history of the relationship between these two countries results many individual family stories. This particular village, Kakavoy, was first established in the 16th century. We could easily imagine its beauty even though today’s reality was anything but.

We then drove to Oludeniz, and the Blue Lagoon, a magnificent Mediterranean beach. It was a place where relaxation was so easy, and to swim in those waters was such a joy. Even I didn’t want to get out. It was a pebbly beach, and the water was beautifully clear. It became very deep, very close to shore, but the high salt content made floating so easy and fun. No waves at all …. my kind of beach!!

This small bay is surrounded by mountains and as the thermals are so good there are literally hundreds of paragliders taking advantage of the location. When we were in the water [without a camera] there were easily about 40 paragliders above us.

We took the option of being dropped off in the town of Fethiye and walking back to our hotel, just to take in the atmosphere and have a coffee and ice cream along the bay. It’s a very pretty little spot.

Tonight we all opted for a sunset cruise dinner. And why not?? It was a balmy night, with hardly a breeze, great food, great company, and God’s exquisite handiwork to witness. What a marvellous blessing!