a house full of insanity: Mediterranean Cruise

And that brings us to Part 3.

I told you I was a terrible editor, picking my favorite photos is like picking a favorite child.

I just can't do it.

So on to Day 4 and 5 of of my trip.

The meat of the trip.

In both Ephesus and Athens, we had Private tours with the JESUS film. They included

visits to historical sites, readings from the Bible, and fellowship.

It is hard to remember everything we learned and saw in these two ports because they were

filled with so much history.

Day 4

Kusadasi, Turkey

I did not really think I would really like the Turkey visit.

To tell you the truth, I didn't know what the city of Ephesus was.

Then as I learned more, I discovered that the city of Ephesus is what inspired Paul to write the book of Ephesians.

{One of our many tour guides on our trip.}

The city of Ephesus was founded in the 11th century B.C.

That alone is amazing. The marble streets that we walked along were once lined with chariots.

Chariots. We are talking way back when before cars, electricity, or before even baby Jesus was born.

Only approximately 15% of the ancient city has been excavated.

The stone work and ornate columns are architectural impressive. It is fascinating that they created these awesomely large structures with their hands

The main streets are made of pieces of marble that leads to the library.

{what is left of the library}

A portion of the city (the homes) are under a shelter constructed to help in excavating this portion of the city. The detail and precision the archaeologists are taking to put the ruins back together is amazing. It's like doing a billion piece puzzle.

One of the many mosaic tile floors.

{the theater}

For lunch in Turkey, we ate outside at a Turkish rug factory.

The setting for lunch was amazing and the food was probably one of the best meals we had all trip.

We listened to Erick Schenkel and Henri Aoun, from the JESUS film, teach from the Word and it was all very inspiring. Then after lunch we were given a tour of the factory.

I had known that silk came from silk worms, but had no idea the silk came from their cocoons and the whole process of extracting the silk threads from the cocoons while the worms are still inside.

And each rug is made by hand and takes 9 - 13 months to make.

That is craftsmanship.

Then you look at the rugs. That in itself is entertaining. The men

just throw these rugs around and spin them in their hands just to catch different light. The silk rugs can catch the light and look one color, and then flip it and look completely different another way.

Stomachs full and our minds perplexed we headed back to the boat, our home away from home.

We got ready for yet another meal.

It is easy to see how one can step off the boat weighing much more than when they boarded.

Yet another sunset.

And another sunrise.

Day 5

Athens, Greece

We approached Athens very early in the morning. The moon was still out and the sun had yet to rise above the mountains.

Our first stop here, was the Ancient city of Corinth.

Think 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians.

Again the architectural structures were amazing.

The temple of Apollo.

This temple originally 38 columns of the Doric order (something I learned in Art History) but only 7 are standing today.

After visiting Corinth we headed to Athens and the Acropolis.

{The Parthenon on top of the Acropolis}

Art History came in handy once again, as we walked around the acropolis. It was a treacherous walk because none of the paths or steps are uniform or handicap accessible in any way.