Now, on to Turkey! We had port stops in Istanbul
and Kudasai, which is the port for Ephesus. In Istanbul, I have been waiting to
visit the Hagia Sophia for the entire trip. The city, overall, was a cool combination
of European and Asian cultures. So, Istanbul is the only place that is a city
that is both in Europe and Asia, which I thought was very interesting! Istanbul is predominantly becoming a
Muslim state. We visited 3 mosques, which definitely was my favorite part. So cool and
beautiful. The Hagia Sophia was different in that it had become converted into
a mosque and then it is now a museum. Very interesting combination going on. They are in the process of restoration in trying to uncover where the other mosaics are under the plaster that was added when it was converted into a mosque.
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| View from our ship |
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| The Blue Mosque |
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| Hagia Sophia |
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| This is where the coronation of the Roman emperors took place |
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| The best part |
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| The Blue Mosque |
The other two mosques we went to were incredible. The color
of the tiles was unreal. Such beauty. The last thing we did was go to the famous
Spiced Market. It was a hoot! So many people, buying spices by the bagful and
negotiating prices. I got a very cool tapestry there. There was spices and
Turkish delights everywhere! It was a neat experience.
After Istanbul, the next day we were heading to Kudasai.
After we docked, we got in a coach that took us to the ancient city of Ephesus.
Ephesus dates back to the 2nd century. This is a place where Paul
spend some time, which resulted in the biblical book Ephesians. This is also where
Mary spent time and later was buried and also where John the
Baptist died as well. Very great ruins. Extensive too. There is a lot of restoration
work going on, but the coolest part was the library that they have
restored. The theatre was amazing too.
Over all a very cool, historical place.
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| They have cats all around Ephesus, just roaming around. They feed them so they stay around and just chill on all the ancient stones. |
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| One of my favorites |
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| This is the library. So cool. |
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| The impressive theatre. |
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| We took a trip to one of the oldest mosques in Turkey. Very cool too. |
I figured I should add the last port stop
because it was so short and also that I am going to separate the other two places in
Italy because we will be spending more time there. Our last stop was in
Naples, in which we took a taxi to Pompeii. Super cool place! So extensive and
massive. I guess I wasn’t expecting that because I figured everything would be
in ruins. Which it was but was extensive nonetheless.
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| My friend, Chris! |
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| The mountain in the clouds is Mount Vesuvius |
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| This is Naples! |
Overall, the cruise was a wonderful time. We debarked in a
port near Rome. Rome is next!
Xoxo,
Halle
