Turkey for me...Turkey for you..

So from December 1 thru December 12, my wife Sylvia and I, were in Turkey. "Wow", "Amazing", or "Super-duper" you may say...yes Turkey was all that. We went with some friends from Deercreek, our fellowship, and spent time in Istanbul, Izmir (Ephesus), and Van.

Let me just start off with my description of Turkey as being a strange and unique land filled with people that are obsessed with one thing and one thing only. Smoking their tender sweet cigarettes. I ceased to feel the slight bit sorry for the tarnished image tobacco gets in this country. The poor tobacco farmer of Virginia will always have a job as long as there is even one Turk alive! Jeez...my body shut down on day 4 of the trip because I was in a hotel that was so inviting to smokers, they allowed it in the elevators.

So one big part of the trip was that Sylvia and I got to spend some time in Ephesus, home of Big Paul of biblical fame. Fortunately for me and my strong feelings against taking digital pictures of once-in-a-lifetime visits to significant religious archielogic sites, I left my camera at the hotel. (Well atleast thats what I thought all day long...untill on the way back to the airport I discoved the camera in my camera bag.) But we did get plenty of video, which I hope to edit for my friends and families viewing someday soon.

After spending time in Istanbul, we felt it necessary to spend time in the eastern part of the country. Our friends from Deercreek, Stephen and Sarah, now live and work there. They were the most gracious of hosts, and showed us the beautiful city they live in. They even escorted us to Mt. Ararat of Noah's Ark fame, were we got plenty of pictures. Though I was man handled by some random police at the various checkpoints on the road, it was a beautiful run through the countryside. The numerous mountains and beautiful lake surrounding the city almost made me envious. Almost.

Here are some more significant pics from this trip...