Cappadocia, Turkey

Tuesday, April, 30 2013, we rode the bus to  Cappadocia, Turkey, approximately five hours south-east from Ankara.  A family of our branch lives in Kayseri, which is near there and arranged a tour for us and another humanitarian couple serving in Izmir.  We all enjoyed a day touring these amazing sights together.

Here is a little history I found on the Internet about the area:

"The earliest record of the name of Cappadocia dates from the late 6th century BC."

Sedimentary rocks formed in lakes and streams and ignimbrite deposits that erupted from ancient volcanoes underlie the Cappadocia region. The rocks of Cappadocia eroded into hundreds of spectacular pillars and minaret-like forms. People of the villages at the heart of the Cappadocia Region carved out houses, churches and monasteries from the soft rocks of volcanic deposits. The city of Göreme in this area became a monastic centre in 300—1200 AD."

The first period of settlement in Göreme (a settlement in this area) goes back to the Roman period. Houses and churches carved into rocks all illustrate history and can be seen today. An Open Air Museum is the most visited site of the monastic communities in Cappadocia and is one of the most famous sites in central Turkey. The complex contains more than 30 carved-from-rock churches and chapels, some having superb frescoes inside, dating from the 9th century to the 11th century."
 
Cappadocia contains several underground cities, largely used by early Christians as hiding places before Christianity became an accepted religion. The underground cities have vast defence networks of traps throughout their many levels. These traps are very creative, including such devices as large round stones to block doors and holes in the ceiling through which the defenders may drop spears. These defense systems were mainly used against the Romans. The tunnel system also was made to have narrow corridors, for the Roman fighting strategy was to move in groups which was not possible to do in the thin corridors making it easy to pick them off. "

 

Cappadocia is also mentioned in the biblical account given in the book of Acts 2:9. The Cappadocians were named as one group hearing the Gospel account from Galileans in their own language on the day of Pentecost shortly after the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Acts 2:5 seems to suggest that the Cappadocians in this account were "God-fearing Jews"."

Here are some pictures:

 

 

Left to right:  Sister Edwards, Elder Edwards, Bro. Hagobian,
Sister Weaver, Elder Weaver, Sister Hagobian, mother Hagobian

 

Having lunch

 

This is difficult to make out, but it is a religious painting of people,
and their faces have been marred and scratched out by non Christians
who later found these homes.


 

Ephesus

We visited the ruins of the city of Ephesus during the Christmas holidays - from December 25, 2012 to December 29,  2012.  We rode the bus from Ankara to Izmir, which is on the west coast of Turkey.  It took us approximately eight hours to reach our destination, and we enjoyed the beautiful farmland scenery on the way.  Ephesus in about an hour from Izmir, so we went on a tour and a bus picked us up at our hotel and drove us around. 

I did a little research on the Internet. "Ephesus was an ancient Greek city and later a major Roman city on the west coast of Asia Minor near Izmir.  Ephesus was one of the seven churches cited in the Book of Revelation.  The city was the site of several 5th century Christian Councils.  It became the third most important city for Christianity after Jerusalem and Antioch, and rapidly gained in popularity.  The town was partially destroyed by an earthquake in 614 A.D.  The city's importance as a commercial center declined as the harbor slowly silted up by the Cayster River." 

The following pictures will hopefully give you an idea of what we saw.  The city of Ephesus ruins were discovered in 1860 AD during some excavating, and restoration started around 1950.  An area of the city is sectioned off and restored, which takes approximately 50 years to complete, and then another section is started.  There is much left to do, but much has been accomplished.  This is a must-see when you visit Turkey.

My first thoughts were that all the ruins were made recently to look old for Hollywood, but this is the real thing!  It was amazing.

A wall where people write prayers and
leave them there near Mother Mary's home.



Our first stop was at Jesus' mother Mary's home.
 (It is not certain that this was her home,
but there is good evidence that it is.)

At Ephesus, the theater seats 23,000 people
 (Conference Center in Salt Lake City seats 21,000)

The library.  Magnificent! 

 

 

 

 

Restoration of a neighborhood.

Mosaic floors.  Thousands of tiny pieces of tile
were laid to make these floor designs.

 

 

 

 

 

Public toilets



 

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at a place where rugs were handmade.

 

 

Silk thread is being unraveled from cocoons for the yarn for rugs.

 

 

A museum in Izmir.

 

The next day we walked around the city of Izmir.