Our 2nd day of touring resulted in more rock tombs, me in the hot mud "pool" (and NO-you won't ever see that one-really, it was just my foot with mud on it)a VERY cold and wet boat ride in the rain(on the river where they filmed the 1951 movie "The African Queen") and a stork park where the storks that migrate from Africa nest for a few months. Which is why this is the best photo from the whole day. Instead of going to the "turtle beach"-the main part of the trip, the tour guide took us to a riverside village to receive reprieve from the weather. We spotted this fire pit at a restaurant near the dock and practically ran to it. It really was the best part of the trip!

What a difference a day makes!!! The following tour day we journeyed over mountains and valleys to reach our next destination. The weather was perfect and there was even snow on top of the mountains from the storm the day before. We finally reached the ancient city of Hierapolis. Paul mentions this city in his letter to the Colossians in chapter 4:13.
Imagine that these stone paths and ruins once formed homes and businesses. A thriving city filled with families, philosophers and doctors, now just fragments of the lives they once lived. This city was know for the production of purple dye which was highly regarded in many cultures of that era. Travelers with incurable ailments would come here in search of relief from the hot springs. Walking among these huge toppled stones made it difficult to imagine a bustling city at it's origin in 4th century B.C.

These are the ruins of the theater where nearly all the public events took place. I think they said that it had seating for 12,000-15,000. It was really pretty amazing to sit where some of the earliest believers may have sat during the spread of Christianity. This is the city where Phillip the evangelist was martyred. Unfortunately, we did not have nearly enough time to visit all the ruins here or to spend a large amount of time contemplating it's history.

No, it's not snow and this is not another skiing "adventure". This is a large area of travertine deposits that have formed over thousands of years. The waters that flowed over the side of the hill come from a hot spring underground. The content of the water is mostly calcium carbonate. Much of the beauty of this area has been lost because of past commercialism and tourism. It is still a major resource for tourism but now they are taking actions to protect this natural wonder for future generations to enjoy as it has been for centuries. We had limited time to capture all of it on our camera. If you are interested in seeing more (and better) photos, you can google Pamukkale photos and there will be several to chose from.

These are photos of "Cleopatra's pool"-(even though she never swam in it). We did swim here and we had some taken of us in the pool BUT because our pastor, Billy Abrams likes to put blog photos on the powerpiont screen at CGBC we declined to post them on the blog. As I mentioned before, the waters are believed to heal ailments and rejuvenate the body. We didn't feel any younger but we were lighter-it costs about $15 per person to take a dip in this famous pool. The "miracle power" is that they can get you to pay this price for a swim!!!

Our second day of vacation we took a boat trip of the "12 islands". We actually only went to 5 of them. The first part of the day was a little cool an overcast. It warmed up nicely later. The first stop was a neat little island. There were chickens all over one hillside. They came up to me when I went to take a picture. I thought chickens normally run from people. Anyway, they came close enough for me to get a great photo!

A beautiful day for boating!!! It started out a little hazy but turned out to be terrific!

No,we didn't have a pirate encounter on the tour. These ships can be rented for touring or a personal cruise of the Mediterranean.

More of the "12 islands" tour. One of the islands a had ruins of a Byzantine church partially submerged in the harbor. This island was really interesting and the water was beautiful! Unfortunately, we only had 30 minutes to explore.

This photo doesn't begin to show how huge this tomb is! It was a ways up to it from the street and you had to pay 5 YTL (per person) to hike up to see it. It was pretty impressive from where we were so we didn't feel like forking out more cash just to be up close.

These are ancient rock tombs carved into the mountainside. I spotted them from the boat as we were returning from the islands tour. There wasn't a lot of signs, but we found our way there. They date back to about 4th century B.C. Historians think the larger tomb was for a public official or leader. The largest one was pretty impressive. It was separate from the others and majestically overlooked the city. Some of them were at street level and you could look inside. It was a little creepy but neat to see something this old!

This little girl was so precious! I just wanted to take her back with us!
(To see other photos from Vacation Day #1 and 2 you have to view earlier posts)

More cute kids!

The kids just kept on coming for photos!

After I took a picture of the first group of kids, they kept collecting others for more pictures. I think if we had stayed longer we would have had the whole neighborhood. They were all so cute!

This is an ancient sarcophagus right in the middle of the street. It's so random because it isn't even close to any of the other rock tombs.

I guess it's a good thing there isn't much traffic on this street!

Welcome to the most peaceful spot on the planet!! (at least during early spring) We didn't para-glide off of the mountain but they were fun to watch!!!

The long awaited vacation has finally arrived!!! We were so glad to be able to travel to the beaches in the southern edge of our country. It was such a great time of touring and relaxing in the sun! This was the view from our hotel balcony. Our hotel was a great little place to stay! The next few posts will contain photos of the trip (there are a LOT) and some commentaries about the places we visited.

The water here was so Beautiful and clear. Also VERY cold!!!!

One of the most beautiful beaches in the world!!

Great little sea side getaway!!!! Taxis always at your service-for a price, of course.

More photos from our outing with friends. Here we are visiting a local cami. The following photos are the incredible details from this cami. We also went to visit a friend of ours at the local spice market. I took pictures of the beautiful lamps and ceramic he sells. I love all the colors but have No where to hang them!!!