Day 01 - Southern Coast: Antalya Harbor, Antalya Museum, Perga

Greetings everyone!

This morning, we received the welcomed wakeup call at 6:15 AM courtesy of the Ramada Plaza staff in Antalya Turkey.   

Before breakfast, a few of us went down to an underground tunnel beneath the hotel which takes you out to a beautiful view of the sea.  

After breakfast, we walked together to a park overlooking the seaport. Sarah Anne let us in our morning devotions and then Brady began giving an overview of the rest of the trip as well as some background information on the apostle Paul. 

Sitting down a bunch of rocks by the port, we watched many of the boats go in and out as they did daily tours AND celebrated 101 years of independence. They call it Republic Day. It is very similar to our July 4 holiday. Republic Day marks the creation of the Turkish Republic, which replaced the constitution of the Ottoman Empire after having won the War of Independence in 1923. On that day, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who was the leader in the war, became Turkey’s first president and proclaimed the date as “Turkey’s most important holiday”. There were parades in the streets and celebration was in the air!  

Next stop was the Antalya Archaeology Museum. This museum contained sculptures of various Caesars as well as Greek and Roman gods. Most all of these were recovered from the city Perga.  

After the museum, we went to the ruins of the city Perga. There we learned about the traditional components that made up every Roman city including the theater, bathhouse, street layouts, gymnasium, and more. 

Escaping from the heat of the day, we boarded the bus and drove 2 hours through beautiful mountains to arrive at the city Isparta for a relaxing dinner, a stroll around town, and a good night's sleep.