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!!!
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| 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. |
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| Cappadocia is known for it's pottery! In the background, you can see old cave houses. |
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| Mike and Kristen in the underground city. |
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| The happy couple standing in front of the "fairy chimney" rock formations. |
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| We even had a little snow during our visit to Cappadocia! | | |
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| To finish our time in Cappadocia, we partook in our first Turkish bath!!! We had a blast and were VERY exfoliated!!! | |
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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!
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| Visitors can drink from these springs located directly in front of Mary's house. They say these springs hold healing powers. |
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| 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! |
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| Kristen and I posing in front of Nike, the Greek goddess of victory. Do you recognize the swoosh of her pose??? |
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| 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. |
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| 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!!! |
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| An old school version of the little boy's room...Roman style! |
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| 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! |
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| The three of us in front of the library ruins. |
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| 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. |
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| Exterior of St. John's Basilica. |
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| Hotel Bella...the perfect little hotel in Selcuk! |
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