Sunday at Nicea and Bursa

The site of the ruins of Constantine's Palace at Nicea where the first Ecumenical Council was held in AD 325

Greetings,





Several of the students gave me additional email address of friends and families, so you should now receive each blog post as an email. I will try to blog each day and tell you what we did. You can check past posts at http://pbaturkey2007.blogspot.com





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Today we traveled from Istanbul and crossed over to Asia from Europe. We visited Nicea the home of the first and last ecumenical councils (1 & 7). It is located on a beautiful lake. Then we traveled to Bursa we were scheduled to visit the Green Tomb but it was closed for restorations. We did visit the Green Mosque nearby and did some shopping near the mosque. Tonight we are staying at a very nice hotel in town.





Sincerely





John Wineland

Details about the First Day of Touring

The Image of Christ at the Chora Church, Istanbul Turkey

Greetings,

Here is a bit more details about the first day of touring (yesterday). In the morning we drove to the Chora Church which is a small but impressive place. It has spectacular mosaics and frescos on its walls and ceilings. One section has scenes from the life of Christ. It houses, what many consider to be, the best preserved and finest Byzantine mosaics in the world.

Then we visited the famous Blue Mosque, which was built in the 17th century. Its name comes from the blue tiles which decorate the interior. After we stopped for a group photo, we crossed the street to visit the Hagia Sophia or St. Wisdom. This church was built by Justinian in the 6th century A.D. It had the largest dome in the ancient world and it was the largest church building too. This record remained until the construction of St. Peter Basilica in Rome. It is decorated with beautiful mosaics and frescos.We then visited the Roman/Byzantine Hippodrome which seated 40,000 fans. Today the central part of the Hippodrome is preserved in a park. We saw an obelisk from Egypt during the reign of Thutmosis III. It was brought to the spina of the Hippodrome by the Romans. We also saw the remains of the bronze tripod which is made up of three intertwined bronze serpents which once stood before the Temple to Apollo in Delphi. We later saw of the three heads of the serpents in the National Archaeological Museum.
We stopped for lunch near the Hippodrome, most people ate in the Pudding Cafe.After lunch we visited the Byzantine Cistern which held 80,000 cubic meters of water. It is famous for appearing in the James Bond Movie "To Russia with Love" where they ran speed boats through the cistern. It was constructed during the reign of Justinian.We then walked to the National Archaeological Museum. There we saw the famous Siloam inscription and Gezer Calendar. We also saw the beautifully carved marble sarcophagus of Alexander the Great. It is called this because it has a depiction of Alexander the Great in battle. This sarcophagus was found at Tyre, Lebanon.

In the Near Eastern Building we saw several of the baked glazed tile animals and figures which once lined the entrance way to the Ishtar gate from ancient Babylon. We also saw the earliest international peace treaty between the Hittites and Egyptians, the Kadesh Treaty.Then we walked to the Spice Market for some shopping. Then we returned to our hotel for dinner.

John Wineland
Bursa, Turkey

Lady Selling Worry Beads Green Mosque Bursa

This lady did some good business with our group outside of the Green Mosque today. She sold her worry beads (on the left) for 1 Lira each. She would say "Thank You" in English. I think sold about 10-15 beads to our group (20 people).

John Wineland

Iskender Restaraunt

Wood fired cooking



The Trade Marked Logo

We ate lunch here today. It was very good eating. They only serve Donner Kabob since 1867.

John Wineland

Green Mosque Bursa

The Ladies in the group at the Green Mosque in Bursa with the traditonal head coverings.

Greetings from Iskendar Resturant

Hello

We have all just had the best Donner Kabobs in Turkey!! This is the place where they invented Iskender Kabobs. You can visit their website at www.kebapciiskender.com

This is along the road on the way to Bursa. They have wood fired Kebabs!!

We have just come from Nicea where the first and last (1st and the 7th) Church councils met. We will visit the Green Mosque and the Green Tomb in Bursa. Then we spend the night in Bursa and tomorrow we visit Troy, Alexander Troas, and Assos.

All is well with us, there is a 7 hour time difference (we are ahead 7 hours) and we are now getting adjusted to the time.

More later the bus is waiting for me

Sincerely

John Wineland
Near Bursa Turkey

Good Morning From Istanbul

Greetings,

All is safe and sound here in Istanbul. We have just finished breakfast and I discovered we have wireless internet in the lobby of the hotel. So I decided to make a fast post. We are leaving today for Nicea the home of the Council of Nicea. Then it is on to Bursa.

All is well here and it is a beautiful day, the air is cool and clear this morning. I will attempt to post this evening from Bursa.

John Wineland
Istanbul, Turkey