On the road to Antioch

After a good night's rest, we all loaded onto the bus.

Generally, it was breakfast at 6:30 and load at 7:30 (with variations).

Often we would grab cheese and bread 

off the breakfast buffet for sandwiches for lunch.

Each day began with worship.

 And teaching.

The road to Antioch was beautiful!  To think Paul would have walked these roads that had to be treacherous at times.  I took a lot of pictures of the countryside from the bus.  They didn't always turn out and I missed many shots I wished I could have taken.  But it gives a little insight into the country so here they are!

See the workers?  We saw a lot of workers doing landscaping along the roads.
Like the interesting plants they placed in the median below.

Lots of mosques.  Although the country itself would consider itself secular.  The current president wants it to become more Islamic, but we were told that the majority of people themselves have said they don't want that.

 We saw many farmers selling their crops along the roads.

After a couple of hours, we stopped at this beautiful mountain lakeside.
Jim always insisted that we all sync our bladders.

Al and Linda.  (Linda is Jim's sister, and also my friend Sarah's sister.)
Interesting fact is that Al's mom used to play piano for Linda.

 Look, Linda!  I found your vinyl record from the '70's in my cabinet!

Fish hatchery

There was a restaurant at this rest stop that overlooked the lake. 

After 20 minutes or so, we were on the road again.

 Can you imagine Paul having to walk through these mountain passes?

 Holsteins even in Turkey!

 Every place we'd drive through, we would find men sitting around tables having a cup of Turkish coffee or tea and talking.  Often playing table games too.

 

Our bus rides were always interesting.  

Fun to get to know the many people who came on this trip.

 Some were quite interesting...