Kristen and Mike

My best friend from Clemson, Kristen, and her then fiance...now hubby, Mike, came to visit Turkey in November!  Unfortunately, Jordan wasn't able to take the time off to tour the country with us, but I had the time of my life visiting Cappadocia and Ephesus with the two of them!  We hit the ground running in Cappadocia and then flew to Izmir in order to reach Selcuk and Ephesus.  We all had such a good time, and it was so comforting to have a little piece of home come to visit!  Here's the tale of our adventures through some of our pictures...please enjoy!!!

Kristen and I at the Goreme Open Air Museum. The museum has more than 30 carved-from-rock churches with frescoes inside.  These churches date from the ninth century to the eleventh century.

Cappadocia is known for it's pottery!  In the background, you can see old cave houses.

Mike and Kristen in the underground city.

The happy couple standing in front of the "fairy chimney" rock formations.

We even had a little snow during our visit to Cappadocia!

 

 

To finish our time in Cappadocia, we partook in our first Turkish bath!!!  We had a blast and were VERY exfoliated!!!

 

Now on to Ephesus and Selcuk...Ephesus has been inhabited since 6,000 BC!!!  This town has so much history and so many stories.  Please enjoy the few pictures of our journey to this amazing town!

The Virgin Mary's house.  This is the last house where Mary lived.  There is more information here...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_the_Virgin_Mary

Visitors can drink from these springs located directly in front of Mary's house.  They say these springs hold healing powers.

Although Ephesus is known for it's thousand year old ruins and sites, we couldn't help but chuckle at this little souvenir shop's sign.  Oh Turkey...how you make me laugh!

Kristen and I posing in front of Nike, the Greek goddess of victory.  Do you recognize the swoosh of her pose???

More Roman ruins.  This street was walked by Julius Ceasar, Cleopatra, Marc Antony, etc.  In fact, Cleopatra's younger sister is buried within these ruins. 

This is the smaller of two amphitheaters located in the ruins of Ephesus.  This amphitheater was used for government meetings while the bigger amphitheater was used for the gladiators and entertainment.  The bigger theater is estimated to hold 44,000 people!!!  That's more than half of Clemson's football stadium...to put it in perspective!!!

An old school version of the little boy's room...Roman style!

The remains of houses built from 1BC-76AD.  These houses belong to the wealthiest of their time.  The mosaics are incredible and it's a wonder how they have all stayed in tact for thousands of years!

The three of us in front of the library ruins.

Inside of St. John's Basilica.  It was built in the 6th century and is believed to be the burial site of the Apostle John.

Exterior of St. John's Basilica.

Hotel Bella...the perfect little hotel in Selcuk!

First Visitors Arrive!!!

Jordan and I have been so very blessed to have so many visitors here in Turkey!  I never imagined we would have a revolving door of loved ones coming to our new land to explore it with us!

Our first visitors arrived in late October 2011!  Mr. and Mrs. DiPaolo are the parents of my best friend from college, Kristen.  I have always had such a special and close relationship with them and after a European vacation with them in college, I was told that I'm the preferred DiPaolo traveler :)! They have always promised that no matter where Jordan and I end up, they're coming to visit...and visit they did! 

We met the DiPaolo's in Cappadocia which is just a short four hour drive north of Adana.  We spent two days enjoying all sorts of adventures with them.  We toured one of the largest discovered underground city, the pigeon valley, cave houses and churches, and even stayed in a cave hotel!  In true Mr. DiPaolo fashion, we ate great food and drank great wine!  The highlight of the trip was a sunrise hot air balloon ride!  We couldn't stop taking pictures, so here are just a few to share our trip!

An early morning view from our hotel room!

The boys stop for hot cay (tea) on a cold hike through Pigeon Valley in Cappadocia.

Group shot out side of a cave church.  The early christians would hold church in caves to hide from the Romans.

Cappadocia is know for their clay and ceramics.  We toured a ceramic factory and Jordan was able to take a shot at making a clay bowl.  Check out his awesome pants!

 

 

Underground city...When the Romans attacked, the early christians would spend up to two months hiding in these underground city to avoid death and persecution.  They used low narrow tunnels as a defense mechanism from the intruders.

Ready for our very chilly, very early morning hot air balloon ride!!!

Beautiful!  This was the highlight!

We survived!!!

    

Remember that time I had a blog???

I knew it!  I just knew it!  I knew I wouldn't be great at keeping up with this thing!  My last post, as you can see, was in October 2011 after a whirlwind of a vacation to Istanbul and Munich with Jordan.  So many incredible memories have been made and so much has happened in the past 9-10 months that I feel I owe a much overdue recap to the people that do still check this blog on the reg hoping that I've updated it with my latest adventures and tales of life abroad (hmm...hmm...Lawren).  So sit back, relax, and enjoy the pictures, videos, and stories from our life here, there, and everywhere!