Assos and Pergamon

Wednesday, October 9

We went to Assos today! Careful how you pronounce that...it's a bit tricky. It is an incredibly beautiful place. I can't believe how gorgeous it is. Every day here I fall more and more in love with Turkey. The Aegean Sea is RIGHT there and INCREDIBLE! The mountains surrounding were so gorgeous and we could see the isle of Lesbos. 

Aegean Sea and Isle of Lesbos

Paul is an amazing missionary who taught and baptized tons despite horrible persecution. It was a cool experience to study his life as I was here. I am so blessed to be on this trip. There was a dog here that followed us up the streets we had to walk through and all over the site. He was our little tour guide. Then he laid down and took a nap on the massive temple ruin there. What a life! The streets up to the site were steep and cobble stoned. It was breathtakingly beautiful. I bought some wool socks from a lady that were hand made from her grandma. She was adorable.

Me, Angie and MJ

After that we went on a forever long bus ride to Pergamon Acropolis. We took a cable car to the top of hte hill and it was so hot we almost passed out. It was awful. But a gorgeous ruin site! It had marble pillars everywhere that were beyond beautiful. This is the second largest library:

It also had the coolest and biggest amphitheater in the side of the mountain that could seat 10,000. It looked out over a huge and beautiful valley. Such a gorgeous site!! I went down to the stage and sang "Far Away" for everyone up at the top and they could hear me! Which was honestly a bummer for them, but quite the amazing feat.

We wandered around and found some rocks on the edge of the cliff. It was a gorgeous place I will never forget! Definitely made a great memory there!!!

After Pergamon we had another forever long bus ride. We played karaoke where you blindfold someone and put earphones in their ear and turn the Ipod up loud enough so they can't hear themselves and then everyone watches this person sing out loud to music they can't hear and it is hilarious and incredibly embarrassing. I had predetermined I wouldn't do that but of course, I got called up to sing a duet with Jamison. Everyone cheered so loud and Jamison said, "Come on Suga'!" in a really low voice so I had to. We sang "A Whole New World" but I sang the boy part and he sang the girl part. It was hilarious, or so I hear...I only heard the music. We got way into it and danced around as we sang. It was a great time and so embarrassing.

It started getting hot outside again which is kinda a bummer. I miss fall. I loved the fall weather in Istanbul. I definitely left part of my heart in Istanbul and need to go back sometime in the fall to get it again. It's such a beautiful place.

After way too many hours on a bus, we arrived at our 4 STAR HOTEL!!!! Right on the beach!!! It was amazing. Me, AJ, Becca and Karren wandered around and explored the hotel. It had waterslides into the pools, hammocks everywhere, basketball/soccer/tennis courts, a gorgeous beach, a bean bag hut, archery, and a mini zoo with bunnies and huge birds. It was so fun to explore!! We walked along the beach and then tried to find our way onto the roof. One of the employees helped us get on the roof and we stayed up there and talked with him and danced for a while. We also saw one firework go off while we were up there. That was pretty neat.

Just another great day in Turkey!