The trip was three years ago, and so I have confused some of the slides. A few of the beginning slides were left over from Ankara–before Cappadocia. In any case, we left the Cappadocia Valley–stopped to tour the underground city of Kaymakli. Not a lot of fun for me at 6’4″ and roughly 230 pounds. One of our stops was in Konya, where we met with one of the Imams and visited the Rumi shrine–also think “Whirling Dervish”. In modern day Turkey, all religious leaders are basically employees of the government, and have had to meet high educational standards. By the way, women that work for the government are not allowed to wear burkas. Turkey is more of a European country than I ever imagined. They have been trying to join the European Union, and may attain that goal in the next few years. The Father of Turkish Nationalism and political attitude was Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Maybe like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln in one person. Guess he was also a womanizer and a drunk, but he brought the country together.
A highlight of this part of our trip was a Mediterranean cruise–the weather was fabulous, and several members of the tour brought their swimming attire. The remaining part of our “Best of Turkey” tour was visiting three ancient cities. First we stopped at Pamukkale and the city of Hierapolis with its white travertine rock and ruins from Rome and early Christianity. We next toured the ancient Greek city of Aphrodisiás; then finally the Roman City of Ephesus–as in the Bible “Paul’s letter to the Ephesians”. I have never been to Rome or Greece, but the remains of those civilizations are everywhere to be seen in the Southern part of Turkey. I would re-visit Turkey if I had the chance.