Spring Break

We're back from Spring Break and what a fabulous time! I'll start from the beginning and work my way to the end.
O.K. ...
We left Sofia on Friday and flew to Istanbul. We stayed the day in Istanbul just shopping around. Our number one goal was to find a Backgammon set for Pete, as he has wanted one for over a year now. The picture below is of Pete haggling with the guy at the Grand Bazaar over the set he decided on. It's actually really pretty - all wood with mother of pearl. I think it will look really pretty in our house someday.

After Istanbul we took a night bus to Selcuk near Ephesus. The town was really sleepy and quiet, just what we wanted for Spring Break and a little r&r. Here are some pictures from around town.




Let me explain this last picture ... so, as you can see, there was a bar in town called the Saddam Bar. We tried for days to get a picture outside of it when no one was looking because we were kind of embarrassed . Finally, on the morning of our last day we snapped one. (The bike was there, it's not ours). Later that evening, we walked by the bar on our way back to the hotel. As we passed it, we noticed that they were scrapping off the word Saddam so that it only said "Bar." I don't know if it had anything to do with us taking a picture, but I felt a little bit bad nonetheless.

While we were there we walked to Ephesus, which was about 3 kilometers away. There was a nice little walking path and the weather was good so it was fun to walk. I really liked Ephesus a lot. We've seen a LOT of ruins during this two-year stint in Easter Europe, but what I liked about Ephesus was that you could imagine day-to-day life there. I could really picture people walking down the street, working in shops, and attending shows at the amphitheater. It was super cool.


Selcuk is also the location of St. John's tomb - one of Jesus's apostles. Apparently, after Jesus was crucified, St. John escaped with Mary and took her to Ephesus where he took care of her for the rest of his life. The early Christians built a church on the grounds where St. John is buried. The church must have been massive! It was so cool to walk around there.


We took a day bus back to Istanbul where we flew to Cairo ... more on that tomorrow (Egypt deserves it's own post) :)