Greetings From Izmir

"Trajan" at the Temple to Trajan, Pergamum

The very steep theater on the acropolis of Pergamum

Group Photo in front of the Temple to Trajan at Pergamum

Tuesday May 29th

Hello,

I did not get to post yesterday because our hotel last night did not have any internet connection. Tonight we are in Izmir the third largest city in Turkey. Izmir has a large port and is the main city of Western Turkey it is along the coast of the Aegean.

Here is a recap of what we did yesterday, Monday May 28th

We began the day in Bursa. We departed early and drove to Troy. Everyone enjoying seeing the site connected with Homer's writings. We visited the area where Paul set sail for Macedonia after receiving his vision tell him to come to Macedonia while he was at Troas (Acts 16). Then we ate a picnic lunch along the Aegean Sea.

After lunch we visited Alexandria Troas, where Paul raised Eutychus from the dead after he fell from a window while Paul was preaching (Acts 20). There are some new excavations at Troas and part of temple and street have been uncovered.

Then we drove to the town of Assos which is located high above the Aegean Sea. Paul visited here briefly (Acts 20:13) during his third missionary journey. The city is most famous for its Doric Temple of Athena. Aristotle lived here before he became Alexander the Great's tutor. We spent the evening at a hotel along the shore of the Aegean.

Today we left the hotel early and traveled south to the city of Pergamum. This is one of the seven cities mentioned in Revelation. We tour the acropolis with its spectacular theater and the Altar to Zeus. There is also a large temple of Trajan on the site. We visited the acropolis of the city and then the Red Basilica which was a church building in Byzantine period and which originally had been built as a Temple to Serapis (the Hellenisitic Egyptian husband of Isis) . Later a mosque was built on the site.

Then we drove down to visit the ruins of the Asklepios shrine. This was city where Galen lived and practiced medicine. Asklepios was the Greek god of healing.

On our way to Izmir (Smyrna) (mentioned as one of the 7 cities of Revelation in Rev 2) we drove to Thyatira to visit the ruins of a Byzantine church. Thyatira is mentioned in Revelation chapter the churches mentioned in Revelation chapter 2.

Tomorrow we visit Sardis, Philadelphia, and the Archaeological museum in Izmir.

John Wineland
Izmir, Turkey

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





If some reason reason you do not want to receive these emails or you know of some else who would like to receive these email posts please let me know at mailto:wineland@kcu.edu





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