Colossae

 In the morning, I went down to breakfast alone.  Allen was sick.

It was the rose juice!  that stuff was awful.....well, not really.  I mean it was nasty, but it probably wasn't the drink that caused his illness.  Don't know what he had, but several on our trip got it - achy, fever and stomach issues.  Not fun.

I sat down to breakfast with this couple, Janice and Mike.  We had never met one another before this trip.  As we began to visit, as often happens in Christian circles, you begin to make connections.

When they told me they had worked with Wycliffe, I asked if they happened to know Travis and Jenny.  And they did!  Jenny is my son-in-law's sister.

Small world.

Have you heard of the "small-world phenomenon, or the 'six degrees of separation' between people”? It is often true.   This was less than 6 degrees. 

We packed up to leave.  Al slept on the bus. 

Sheep farm

The bus stopped at a gas station to fill up.  And we all went to get some goodies and hit the restrooms.  Jim always wanted us to sync our bladders!

A pistachio nut chocolate bar - pretty good! 

 salt factory, I think, or a soda cracker factory - ha ha!  or soda pop factory?

The bus stopped in the middle of nowhere.  From the front of the bus window, all we could see was a big mound of dirt and a big field.  Actually, this is the location of ancient Colosse, situated in the Lycus valley.  It has yet to be excavated.

We got out of the bus to look around.  Al stayed put and continued to sleep.

Paul wrote the letter to the Colossians who lived here from his prison in Rome (where he was under house arrest.  We got to visit that place too!)  In this picture below, the modern city of Honaz is in the background.

A couple of hundred years before Paul, Colosse was a leading city, but by his time it was a second-rate market town.  Laodicea and Hierapolis (next post) had surpassed Colosse in importance and in power.

 The church in Colosse had come under heretical attack and Paul wrote the letter to address those concerns.

The hill is the Acropolis - the main center of the city.  A river used to run through the city.

I love the book of Colossians.  Many years ago, Juli Franz (now Dirks) and I tried to memorize it - or maybe it was just part of it.  I am not very good at memorization!  The book is so rich and it is heavily underlined in my Bible!

Turkey, from the bus

We left Pisidian Antioch, in the mountainous region of Galatia.  Paul would have sent the letter to the Galatians to these people (previous post).   After a visit at the museum, the bus left for Isparta, where we would be spending the night.

These photos were taken from the bus.  They aren't the best photos, but they give you an idea of what the country looks like.  It is a beautiful country and the people are so interesting!

There are many girls who do wear a head covering but the majority we saw did not.

                               Kimberly and Mary

Jim, our teacher, and Belgin.  

Belgin was a wonderful guide! Please pray for her and her family during this crisis in Turkey!


When we were there, we were told that tourism was down 95%.  Can you even imagine what will happen now since the attack at the airport?  This really affects people like Belgin.

 Our Wichita companions.

  

 The mountains are just so pretty!

 Turkish nationalism.  We saw flags everywhere!

 When we arrived in Isparta, they had such beautiful landscaping in the medians.

Belgin told us that this area is known for its roses.    There were roses everywhere!

Notice that the stop light pole is also lit up.

Even the buses had roses painted on the side.

 Aren't roses a symbol for love?

When we arrived at the Barida Hotel, they offered rose juice (non-alcoholic) to us.

I took one sip - it tasted like roses, or rose perfume.  

I wasn't a fan.

Our room was modern with the towels shaped like swans, all fancy like on the bed.

Something that was surprising to me was that even with the modern set-up, they don't have the infrastructure to let you flush toilet paper.  It was the same at most places in Turkey, Greece and Rome.  Modern - but not.

The view from our room.