Day 03 - Central Turkey: Pisidian Antioch

We covered a lot of territory today! We left Isparta early for a bus ride to Psidian Antioch. We rode through the beautiful Turkish countryside, through orchards, and past lakes and small villages. The weather was perfect.  While we travelled, our guide Ozan gave a fascinating lecture on the different regions of Turkey, its geography, agriculture and socio-political history. We learned that roses, hazelnuts, cotton, pistachio, anchovies, olives and much more are produced in this fertile land. We learned of the many cultural influences and peoples that make up the Turkish population and how Turkey plays such an important role in geo-politics because of its location in the world. This informative and very complete lecture gave us the foundation for our morning devotional by Rich Liverance --Acts 2 at pentecost, many of the people hearing the Good News in their own language came from this very diverse region.

We arrived at Psidian Antioch and walked through its ruins. This great city, built by King Nicator and named after his father or son , Antiochus, must have been spectacular in its day. We sat in the 7,000 capacity theatre and were able to imagine the gladiators fighting wild animals. According to Ozan, it is very possible that Christians were martyred here as well.  We then walked up to the Temple of Augustus and once again allowed our imagination to see the beauty and opulence of this place, built to honor and idolize Caesar Augustus.  

And once again Rich spoke from his heart and from Scripture about our propensity to suppress the one true God and build idols for ourselves and how all religions are evidence of man groping to find God.  

We then made our way to the ruins of a church that was built over a synagogue.  This synagogue is possibly where Paul preached his first sermon. There was a Jewish presence here and Paul was preaching the gospel without shame to the jew first and also to the Greeks. Again Scripture was opened and we learned of the Apostle Paul's role in spreading the gospel in this region.

We walked back along the ruins and pondered all we heard,  and sat for a delicious pic-nic lunch that awaited us: Turkish pizza and salad. 

Back to the bus for a quick ride to the Museum, where we saw some of the artifacts found in the archaeological digs in this area.  

Next was a 3 hour ride, continuing in the central region toward Pamukkale where the Rooster is an important symbol.

We were privileged to hear another lecture by Ozan, this time with a focus on history.  We stopped for a short break, had some delicious yogurt with honey and poppy seeds and did some shopping.

Before reaching our final destination for day 3 we visited a local glass making shop called Karma. The lovely artisan showed us how she melts and shapes glass to make beautiful artwork.  

We arrived at Doga Hotel and all I can say is that after this very full, very rich, very wonderful day I am ready for a swim in the thermal waters of Pamukkale.