Split, Croatia

In 305 AD, Roman Emperor Diocletian built a massive walled palace on the Mediterranean Sea in the heart of what is now Split, Croatia. 

After the Roman's abandoned the palace, it remained empty until barbarians invaded the city. Residents of the area entered the walls of the palace for protection. From that time on, people have worked and resided in the basement and within the palace walls.

This was our view of Split from the landing dock:

The bell tower in the picture above is part of the cathedral of St. Duje. It was constructed in 1100 AD. We decided we wanted to climb up it and check out the view. This picture was taken near the entrance:

The bells:

The stairs were scary and only partially roped in. There were several areas we could have easily fallen. There is no way I would have taken my children up this tower. But the view was amazing. Here it is from halfway up the tower. You can see our cruise ship:

Here we are at the top:

This is the basement of Diocletian's palace, still in excellent condition. Many tourist shops are located here:

Much of the original architecture of the palace remains above ground as well. This is in the city center:

This enormous statue is of a medieval Croatian bishop name Gregory of Nin. He had the audacity to teach religious services in the Croatian language instead of just Latin. This was contrary to the wishes of the Pope, but interesting enough, his efforts greatly strengthened the church in Croatia:

Rubbing his toe is supposed to bring good luck:

During Roman rule, the building behind Erick was the Temple of Jupiter:

Once Christianity took over, they turned this temple into a baptistry and replaced the statue of Jupiter with this statue of John the Baptist:

We decided to leave the city walls and go for a walk along the sea-shore. The views were stunning:

Another view of our cruise ship (for mom):

This walk convinced Erick and me that we needed to bring the kids to Croatia for vacation:

Turkey

I'm back to posting about our fantastic cruise in June. I"m sure you've been checking every day for months hoping to see these pictures. :) Well wait no more.

Back in the early 1800's, an invalid German nun had a vision. She claimed to see the final home of Mary the mother of Jesus a few miles outside of historic Ephesus. Apparently John brought her here to live out the rest of her days.

Relying on the nun's descriptions, a French priest went searching for the place and found this:

Now this stone structure is a pilgrimage for many. The interior is now a chapel.





Down the hill from "Mary's house," we saw this wall of.... I don't know what to call it. There are pieces of paper, cloth, ribbon, napkins, everything. On each piece is a prayer to Mary:

After Mary's house, we headed to the city of Ephesus. This is the home of the people to whom the apostle Paul was writing when he wrote his Epistle to the Ephesians in the Bible. Here are some of the remains of the city:

Can you guess what this is?

Here is Erick hanging out with Hercules. I think Erick could take him:

This is a picture of Kelly and Jason: 

I think this is a good place to segue into our Turkey miracle story. Ready? Here I go: 

Erick and I were nervous about this cruise stop. The boat was landing at Izmir. We knew we really wanted to see the ruins of Ephesus, but they are located about an hour away. There are no trains or buses that go out there. Most people schedule a cruise excursion/tour bus to get there. We did not feel we could afford the cost of the cruise excursion.

So together we decided we would skip Ephesus and just enjoy our day in Izmir. Before we left our cabin, we decided to pray together. We asked Heavenly Father to help us to stay safe and to see those things that would be fun and have meaning for us.

We left the ship and found a little tour bus that would take us to all the sites of Izmir. The tickets were cheap, and it sounded like fun. As we were waiting for the bus to arrive, Kelly and her husband Jason appeared out of nowhere and asked us if we would like to join them. **Side note - Kelly and her husband attend church with us. She was the Primary President when we moved into this ward, and shortly after, I became her counselor. They happened to be on the same cruise as us.**

So Kelly and Jason hired a taxi for the entire day to take us to Ephesus and Izmir. The taxi driver agreed to a flat price for the day. By splitting the cost between the four of us, it would be more affordable.

To make the day even better, Kelly is a high school history teacher, so she taught us all kinds of fun facts about the time period.





Now back to Ephesus. Behind Erick is the most famous part of the ruins. The facade of the library of Celsus built in 135 AD:

The Temple of Hadrian. It dates back to the 2nd century:

As we were nearing the end of our trip to Ephesus, a group of people dressed in historical clothing came out among the crowds. Cleopatra was there. Her Egyptian ladies performed a dance. Then we had a gladiator fight:

This was the last landmark in Ephesus. It is the Great Theater. There is seating for 25,000 spectators. Can you imagine the shows that were performed here?

Next we drove back to Izmir. This clock tower is often thought of as the symbol of Izmir. It was built in 1901. The actual workings of the clock were a gift from the German emperor Wilhelm II:

Before heading back to the ship, we stopped at a Turkish bazaar. The man in the white shirt is our taxi driver. He showed us around, probably so we wouldn't get lost:

The miracles continued to the end of the day when Jason refused to let us pay our share of the taxi.

It's amazing what a little prayer and some good people can do. This whole day was absolutely perfect. I'm so thankful that the Lord answered our prayer.  Thanks Kelly and Jason! This was the best cruise stop of them all.

I leave you with a word from the apostle Paul. Ephesians 1:2 "Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ."

Athens, Greece (the cruise continues)

By day four of our vacation both Erick and I were wondering how our vacation could get any better. We've had amazing food, beautiful weather, sleeping in, free time, shows, hot tubs, and more. But believe it or not, it did get better. We went to Greece!

We started at the Acropolis. Here is Erick showing it off in the distance:

The Odeon of Herodes Atticus. It was the first thing we saw when we reached the Acropolis. The theater was built in 161 AD, and it is used today for special outdoor concerts. Sting, Elton John, Yanni, and Andrea Bocelli have all performed here:

The Erechtheum. This is an ancient Greek temple that was built between 421 and 406 BC. Can you tell it was a windy day?

The Parthenon. This temple was dedicated to the Greek goddess Athena. It was completed in 438 BC. On our visit, most of the Parthenon was covered with cranes and scaffolding. These are the pictures from the back that we were able to get without showing the construction mess:

We left the Acropolis and headed into a small shopping district called Plaka. As we walked around town, we happened upon a few more ruins.

The Temple of Olympian Zeus. Construction of this structure began in the 6th century BC but was not completed until the 2nd century AD. It was  renowned as the largest temple in Greece. The picture of me will give you a better idea of the size of these columns:

Hadrian's Library. This structure was created by Roman Emperor Hadrian in 132 AD. I loved the floor tiles that were still somewhat intact:

This was a statue of Emperor Hadrian. Cool uniform!

The Temple of Hephaestus. This is the best preserved ancient Greek temple. In the 7th century it was turned into a Christian church. It continued being used until 1834:

That was the end of the ancient ruins for the day. Then we headed into the more modern part of Athens. Here is a view of the city from a distance:

We walked to the Parliament building and were confronted by a bird man. He was selling bird seed. Man! Those birds wanted that seed:

In front of the Parliament building was the Greek Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The tomb is guarded by Evzones, elite ceremonial soldiers. They switch positions every 15 minutes, and when they did, we saw them do a cool march that almost resembled a dance:

 While in Athens, we were reminded of the current financial crisis they are facing in Greece. First we saw hundreds of police motorcycles with their owners waiting nearby for word of trouble:

We then saw the protesters camped out in tents with posters and signs surrounding them. We also saw this woman, an English newscaster, doing a story on the situation:

We got out of there before any trouble started and headed back to our ship. Can you see it behind me?

I found most of the historical dates and facts for this post on Wikipedia, so hopefully there are not too many errors. But please do not let the text-book style of my writing make you think that this day was anything less than magical. I will remember this trip forever.

Stay tuned. Next comes Turkey...