Some shots of Alexander Troas

The harbor of Alexander Troas today--Paul probably sailed to and from this spot at least three times (See Acts 16:6-11; Acts 20:1 and compare it with 2 Corinthians 2:12-13; and Acts 20:5-13).

Some of the ruins of the ancient city where Paul would have gathered with a young church in a third floor apartment. Beware of sitting on window sills at an all-night prayer meeting! (Read the story of Eutychus in Acts 20:5-13).

Some ruins from ancient temple in Alexander Troas. Note the detailed carving of plants native to this region like the Troad oak leaves below and then the pears and pomegranates in the final picture. A great deal of care went into the creation of these buildings, and woe to any carver who makes a mistake in marble. They would have to start over again with an entirely new piece.

Assos: A beautiful city with a fascinating history

Today we spent the whole day visiting historical Assos. To start the day we visited the Acropolis, where the famous temple of Athena was located. When you look at the temple of Athena you can only imagine what the atmosphere surrounding the temple would have been like. The temple is massive and beautiful with strong doric pillars. The wind at the top of the Acropolis is strong and the temple, which sits at the edge of a cliff, must have beckoned respect from miles around. From our hotel we can see the temple and I can understand how the temple would have been the first thing any one sailing into the city would have seen.

What the temple would have looked like then

What it looks like today

The entire group at the temple site

For Paul, Assos was a reandevous point. He traveled from Troas by foot and met his comrades in Assos before continuing on his missionary journey across the sea. The reason that he traveled by foot instead of boat, scholars believe, is because the voyage from Troas to Assos by boat was said to be very dangerous. When we look at the historical Assos we can also see the atmosphere of immorality that Paul was attempting to preach to. Our tour guide painted a picture for us of orgies occuring outside the temple of Athena while there were animals being sacrificed inside. Although the atmosphere surround the temple lifestyle may appear to us as corrupt and pagan, we have to remember that this was the start of 'believing' in something for the Gentiles and Greeks. This paved the path for Paul to minister to them.

Here's the land that Paul would have crossed from Alexander Troas to Assos while his companions sailed by sea

The harbor below

We also visited the Theatre in Assos which was the people's source of entertainment back in the day. The people were hard workers, but around mid-day they would take a break and go to the theatre to enjoy a play. We were all amazed at the acoustics in  the Assos theatre. From the top row we could hear someone speak from the stage as clear as day. The theatre in Assos could handle up to 7,000 audience members because they were likely sitting very closely side by side. We learned that the Assos theatre is more like a Greek theatre than a Roman ampitheatre. For starters, The theatre stage was close to the first row of the audience so the cast members could interact with the audience. In a Roman theatre there were often fights between gladiators or animal fights so the stage was much lower than the first row of the audience in order to protect the audience. Also, Roman theatres had protection barriers between the stage and the audience, which this theatre did not. This will be our first of many theatres, but it was an exciting and well-build first one to see.

View of the theater from the acropolis above

 

I can say that Assos is a beautiful place with a very rich history, and it is a place that won't soon be forgotten for it's long and prosperous past. It's harbour today whispers remnants of it's past prosperity where thousands of people must have sailed in to worship Athena the war goddess. Aristotle thought that this city was prosperous enough that he choose to teach here, at the top of the Acropolis. He also taught in the infamous and beautiful theatre. Assos is a city with a very rich past indeed.

By Lindsey Houser

Exploring Assos... and the beach

Well... Today was absolutely amazing. We started off the day by having breakfast on the patio right next to the Mediterranean Sea. The food is amazing. The hotel is very accommodating and even has a few items that are more common in America; even a few members of the wait staff have spoken english with us. After breakfast we went to Assos and were able to walk up to the Acropolis. (top of the mountain) The views from on top of the mountain were so beautiful. We were able to see the sea, islands, and even our hotel. At the top there are ruins from the Temple of Athena. We were able to see some of the columns that are left and then a miniature replica of what the temple would have looked like. It was pretty cool to see what the temple would have looked like and then to see what is left of the temple.

From the Acropolois, you can see our hotel out on the end of the peak, jutting into the Agean Sea!

After we visited the site of the temple we were able to see a mosque. It was really cool to be inside a mosque and have Cenk tell us about the significance of many of the things we saw. I found it interesting that there are individual sections on the carpet where people come in and pray. They have very specific rules and steps to follow when praying or when entering the mosque. I found this experience to be interesting because I have never been in a mosque.

Not a typical looking mosque but a particularly old one

Going into the Mosque requires removing your shoes at the door out of respect for the place of worship.

 Inside the mosque--The center niche in the wall is the mehrab that shows the direction of Mecca for prayers. On either side are places from which the imam might give a Friday sermon.

Muslim prayer beads--99 beads for the 99 different names for God in Islam

When we left the mosque, we were able to stop at the shops on the way down the hill. I loved looking at all of the souvenirs the local people are selling. Several of us bought linen shirts, jewelry, and other little things to help us remember Turkey. We then drove a little ways to a Theater. While there Michael was able to sing us a song. We were all surprised at how great the acoustics were.When we left the hillside, we went down to the Harbor and were able to get a nice treat of ice cream. It was different than American ice cream, but it was so yummy. Several people in the group got a ice cream sandwhich of sorts.

Then we got back on the bus and drove back to the hotel. When we got back we were able to go to the beach and spend time in the ocean. For me it was really nice to be on the beach. The beach is one of the places I feel closest to God and I really enjoyed the time relaxing on the beach. We then had dinner as a group at the hotel and it was great to hear how everyone was doing. After dinner we had a meeting and were able to share some of our experiences with the group and ask Cenk questions about our upcoming home stays.

The water was clear and cool, very refreshing and fun! (and with poppies growing everywhere!)

I am really enjoying Turkey so far. I have seen so many beautiful things already. I love the history and the fact that we can walk up and touch things that were here in the first century as well as walk where Paul was. To me that is crazy cool. I am really looking forward to seeing more of Turkey and learning more about Paul and his travels as well as the seven churches mentioned in the book of Revelation.

We all are having a great time and enjoying the culture and beauty of Turkey.

Liz Jackson

Life In Turkey: The First Couple Days by Sarah Trice

Gὕnaydin Amerika, I am typing to you from Assos, Turkey, on Thursday May 22^nd.  On Tuesday May 20^th, we arrive at our first hotel, staying on the European side of Turkey. The bus driver Hiro pulled to a stop as we got out a trekked several blocks up the cobbled road to our hotel that was located on a skinny, cobbled road of twists and turns. We all come inside and are given our room keys.  We make our way to the elevators.  There are several things different about this hotel than most I’ve stayed at in America. One, you key card in this hotel is blank card; there is no magnetic strip visible.   Two, the key card is used for several purposes, getting in and out of rooms, activating the elevators, and allowing the lights to stay on in your hotel rooms. This hotel seemed more like a college than an actual hotel.  The hotel included: a game room, a movie theatre, a cafeteria restaurant, a hair style place, a laundry room, a security and TV room, and an art room. Three, there were negative floors. My room was situated on floor # -1, while the cafeteria and the most of these other rooms were located on floor # -2.

So all of us went down to floor -1, but none us could find our rooms. So step one as someone said is to find ours rooms and then go from there as we had been on a plane most of the day.   As it turned out our rooms were located by going through several different doors in the same building with ground level being floor #0. Upon getting to our rooms, I believe most of us were pretty excited as well as pretty exhausted.  The words I would use to describe our hotel rooms would be tech savvy and an efficient use of space. The rooms were tech savvy in the sense that they reminded me of Apple computer products by how smooth all the desks, drawers, shelves and closets were laid out. The rooms were efficient in the sense of size of the rooms were very compact, but size wouldn’t bother you, as you would have a child-like joy upon seeing the spiral staircase that would remind you, or at least me, of something out a fairy tale or child-like dream. The upstairs loft was small, but there were plugs and consistently smooth furniture pieces everywhere.

The cafeteria was like any cafeteria, buffet style with picnic bench-like tables alongside of tables with pull out chairs. This is where we had our dinner as well as a breakfast the next day. Wednesday May 21^st at 7am we left the hotel, descending back down the road we first trekked up to get here. We saw cats and dogs alike roaming the streets around us as we made our way back to the place the bus had first dropped us off. 

Clean crisp looking lofted rooms

The staircase it would be fun to slide down!

It was then from there we left Istanbul.  Cenk our tour guide for this entire trip began to talk about how Turkish people buy their neighbors. In Turkey, people prefer to buy apartments over houses. But Turkish people don’t say they are going to buy an apartment; they say they are going to buy neighbors. While the apartment you are thinking of buying may appeal to you, that’s not the deciding factor. In Turkey, your neighbors are important. You can have bad neighbors, so should try to avoid those. Our tour guide meant by this is the Turkish people are very curious people. If you were to move to Turkey, all your neighbors would like to come and visit you and ask you about your life. At first you might think this isn’t so bad, but let’s say you would have twenty new neighbors. Of those twenty new neighbors, all twenty of them would come one by one to ask why you moved there. How many kids you have? What’s your job? Etc.  After answering the same exact questions over and over, you’d get the point of why you would desire to have good neighbors in the first place. 

See the apartment blocks in the background. People like living in apartments so much that farmers live in town and commute out to their fields.

As we continued our journey, we stopped at a couple of gas stations. The interesting things about gas stations are that a lot of them seem to have restaurants attached to them, and sometimes very nice restaurants at that. Also, at one gas station we stopped at we got to see camels, ostriches, peacocks, dogs, ducks, and rabbits a mini zoo located next to it. Also, in the bathroom of one of the gas stations; I saw that they had a separate spot with a nicer mirror and hair dryer. It seemed oddly placed being in gas stations setting.

And finally if you missed everything I’ve said before this sentence here; read this last paragraph. If the bottled water is a good price anywhere you should buy it, as bottled water is a lot safer to drink than the tap. Road walking or walking in the middle of the road seems very common place here. Animals are everywhere, in the streets and at the hotels. Dogs and cats are typically wild here. Spiky cacti plants are very spiky and hurt upon touch. The food is all very good, but hard to describe. Coconut is very common on their desserts, and olives are breakfast foods. Anyways, be alive!  

Here are some shots of the night life in Istanbul around our hotel:

Alexandria Troas site

                The city of Alexandria Troas was originally called Antigoneia in honor of Antigonus Monophthalmos (310 BC). A year after the battle of Ipsus in 300 BC, Lysimachus decided to rename the city Alexandria Troas after Alexander the Great, which is now one of eighteen cities named in his honor. The city was geographically located at a strategic area since if guarded the western entrance to the Hellespont, and was commercially important since it possessed the only harbor on the Western Coast of Troad and saw many visitors on their way to Macedonia. Troas became free and autonomous in 188 BC after the Romans defeated Antiochus III. Julius Caesar considered moving his capital from Rome to Troas, which was denounced by Horace. Constantine reconsidered doing the same in the fourth century AD, before deciding to make Byzantium his capital. The cities role in the empire declined in importance after Constantine founded Constantinople (modern day Istanbul) in AD 330.

The Remains of Alexandria Troas. Here you can see ancient walls from the city buildings.

              Luke writes about the city of Troas in the book of Acts, since Paul and other apostles visited the city briefly after being prevented by the Holy Spirit from entering Bithynia or Asia. He arrived there with Timothy and Silas after traveling about 1000 miles from Antioch. It was here where Paul had his vision of a Macedonian man inviting him to visit Macedonia, where he could preach the Gospel.  Scholars have suggested that Troas is the location where Paul first me Luke since the use of ““we” begins in Acts Chapter 16. Luke may have been working as a physician in Troas before deciding to join Paul in his missionary work. The city also has biblical significance since Ignatius wrote letters from Troas while imprisoned, which he sent to two of the seven cities of Revelation, Smyrna (modern day Izmir) and Philadelphia.

Paul would have sailed from the harbor at Troas. Here you can see the granite columns, remains of the ancient harbor.

                On what was likely his second visit, Paul only spent a short period of time in Troas even though he had an "open door for the gospel" there since he was desperate to hear news from Titus as to how the Corinthians were doing and how they had received his letter (2 Corinthians 2:12-13). Paul wanted to help teach them how to live in a Christ-like manner since many members of the Church in Corinth struggled to achieve the Christian lifestyle. Not finding Titus in Troas, he went on to Greece to look for him there. 
                 Troas may be most well-known among Christians as the city where during Paul's third visit Eutychus was reportedly raised from the dead.  Here Luke mentions that Paul and others had sailed from Philippi after the Festival of Unleavened Bread and stayed in the city for seven days.  On the first Sunday there, Paul led the sacrament of Holy Communion, and afterwards began a sermon which lasted until at least midnight.  The sermon ran until this time in part because Paul wanted to leave the city the following day, but also because Paul was incredibly passionate about spreading the Gospel, which is apparent throughout his letters.  The meeting was held in the third story of a Roman apartment (called an insula) which was designed with open windows. Eutychus (whose name means “good fortune”) fell asleep during Paul’s sermon and fell out of a third story window. Paul ran downstairs to help him and reported to the others present that Eutychus was alive, a miracle others attributed to Paul’s prayers.  After the startling event, Paul again served Communion to the Christians gathered there before leaving for Assos.

The bricks that were laid in the walls at Troas are in a different style than you can find in this area. If you look closely, you can see the diagonal arrangement of the bricks.

                The current archaeological site has a few ruins left surrounded by oak trees. Due to the city’s proximity to Constantinople/Istanbul, Emperor Justinian and Sultan Mehmet IV were able to travel their and pillage stones. The podium temple is in the center of the Roman forum, and towards the eastern end is an odeion with a columnar hall which was built in the Hellenistic period and remodeled in the Roman period.  The buildings and walls present were made of marble revetment and opus reticulatum. Archaeologists have found a Doric temple and theater south of here, and to the east they located a gymnasium/bath complex dedicated in AD 135 by Tiberius Claudius Herodes Atticus, an Athenian benefactor and philosopher. The Eastern Gate Complex is well preserved from the Hellenistic period. 

                When visiting the archaeological site, it was impressive to see the high quality marble, especially in the form of tall pillars. One person on the trip commented on how difficult it must have been to find and then transport marble large enough to build the pillars, and speculated that even the 24 students on the trip would not be able to pick up one of the pillars. The excavation of the area is not completely finished, but from the extent of what we were able to see, the city of Troas had impressive architecture. The site was special to many of us since Paul and Luke, as well as other apostles walked in part of the same city in the first century.
- Alison Williams

Very large Granite columns from the quarry nearby Troas.

Granite Quarry and what it means to be old.

Today, after traveling through Gallipoli and crossing the Dardanelles straight, we visited Alexander Troas (more to come on that tomorrow) and afterwards stopped at an old granite quarry. While there, we took a group picture that I wanted to share with everyone.

At the granite quarry with the whole group!

Two things: today Cenk told us the Turkish definition of "old"... that is -> before Christ. Second then the left-over columns at the granite quarry are unusual in that they are one solid piece, are granite (usually they are marble), and were left behind! (I guess they got tired!)
 - Hannah

We Made It To Turkey!

After many hours in a bus, a plane, another plane and another bus, we have made it safe and sound to Turkey! (With all of our luggage if you can believe it!).

Many of us took a walk down to the Bosphorus after dinner, it was a lovely evening.

 We met Cenk our guide at the airport, got a quick driving tour of the city, had our first Turkish dinner, and then took at walk down to the Bosphorus before hitting the sack! It will be an early morning tomorrow, but we're all here, healthy and excited for our trip!

The Mosque, the Bridge, some boats and the Bosphorus. This is all we'll see for now, but we'll be back at the end of our trip!