The Awesomest Pile of Rocks Ever

Whew, I'm starting to get behind on these blog postings! Time to try to catch up a bit. So, Monday.

Monday, the whole troupe (Uncle Alan, Aunt Sandy, Isaac, and myself) took a day trip to some of the (slightly) more distant places of Turkey; namely Thyatira and Pergamum (modern day Akhisar and Pergamon, respectively), two of the seven church locations from the book of Revelation. And I'll say right of the bat, I don't expect any of the other daytrips to even have a chance of topping this one.

We left around 10 on Monday morning and headed first to Akhisar, a little less than two hours away. It was a nice little town with a walking mall very reminiscent to the one in Winchester (albeit much smaller, as was the city itself). There the ruins of what many scholars believe to be a church building (one may or may not think it to have been the meeting place of the Thyatiran church) was hidden away by a large metal fence. After paying the fee to get in, Isaac and I climbed all over them, taking pictures and making fools of ourselves (though Isaac, being a hungry little boy at the time, was much less enthusiastic than his normal hyperly exuberant self). Nice little place, but not much there, really. And so we ate lunch and moved on.

To Pergamum!!
I'll say it now (and quite possible again, later on): Pergamum was one of my ultimate highlights of this whole trip in Turkey.
After driving through some absolutely gorgeous country, we arrived at the base of a small mountain. Upon arriving there, we drove up said small mountain. Upon arriving at the top, you had one of the best views I've seen so far. The parking lot had a beautiful view of a lake surrounded by other mountains on one side, and the whole valley spread out before you on the other. Right then, even before the fun started, I was completely drawn in by Pergaumum. But then the fun did start. Isaac and I went ahead into the historical area and were immediately met by rocks upon rocks soaring up the crest of the hill. So many ruins! We ran all over them, climbing every chance we got, trying not to touch the ground. I climbed around so much that I think I used up my whole trip's quota of energy on that one place. After much picture-taking, running, leaping, laughing, making fools of ourselves, and near-death experiences, we moved on to the real jaw-dropper of the mountain. The amphitheater. Ahh, that wonderful amphitheater! I simply cannot describe to you well enough the emotions that that stage causes (neither can the pictures of it which may be found on Facebook). But I'll try a little bit anyway. You walk down this steep (and very narrow) set of stairs into a short tunnel that leads out to the amphitheater. (It was a very efficient method of ticketing control.) And then you hit the exit and, BAM! You look out and see row upon row of stone seating soaring sharply down from your feet. And once you are finally able to pull up your eyes from the seats and the small but beautiful stage at the bottom, your jaw drops a little further (and in my case perhaps a little drool escaped) as you take in the sheer beauty of the valley below and the mountains immediately across. I simply can't do justice to it. I would say that after I caught my breath I moved down the steep stairs to the stage, but I don't think that I managed to catch my breath again until after we left. But leaving my breath behind, I did move on down the (very) steep stairs to the stage, raving the whole time (with Isaac dying of laughter at my obsessive reactions). After exploring for a while, we went back up to the top and just sat looking out at the view for a while. I fantasized about being able to buy the amphitheater and make it a working stage again (it involved invisible shelters, in order to keep the weather out, while still being able to enjoy seeing everything clearly, but I won't bore you with the details). And nothing looked the same to me after that.

So without further ado, we drove back down the mountain and into the valley to another historical spot still in the Pergamum area. And this was just icing on the cake for me. Imagine a beautiful temple garden area with lots of smooth white stone, and then throw in a healthy dose of the magic that the late afternoon sun has the ability to work on things, and you can see what I saw. Surreal beauty. After spending another almost two hours there (I had to take so many pictures, because that lighting in that setting was stunning), we packed ourselves back into the car and headed home.

Hardly any day trips in my entire life are comparable to this one.