Turkey Sept 22

Nicea,Turkey. This morning we drove to Nicea and went into the Hagia Sophia (Orhan) Mosque which is not to be confused with the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul which we saw later on that day. This Mosque was a Christian church which the 7th Ecumencal council took place, it is this really old church that was rebult in the 11th century after its first Byzantine Church was destroyed due to some earthquakes. It was a Christian house of worship and then it was later changed into a mosque. It was really cool because Its recreation was basically placing new windows in around the old stone and a new roof, the rest is all original and kind of run down a bit, which adds to its ominous and ancient feel. We then had a little walk through the town and went to the site of where the first Nicean Ecumencal Council took place. Most of the ruins are under the Lake of Iznik (Iznik is the modern day name of the city). We had a nice devotional there about the nature of God and the first vision. The lake was a sheet of dark blue glass with very subtle ripples caused by the nice cool breeze. The sun was shinning and not a cloud in the sky. The shade by the lake was very cool and comforting for an over weight man forced to walk around in jeans. We then made a long drive to Istanbul, stopping for lunch on the way. We took the ferry over to the European side of Turkey and made our way to the Hagia Sophia. This place is the 4th biggest church structure in the world (it was the biggest for many years) and is absolutely breathtaking. Though I took heeps of pictures, justice will never be done to its majesty. After a tour given by our Turkish tour guide Yasmine, we had free time. We went to the Tomp of the Sultans, which I didn't find too impressive, but it was interesting enough. Then we walked over to the Blue Mosque which was convieniently a few hundred yards away. The Blue Mosque is amoung my favorite structures I have seen thus far. The blue and white mosaic tile that line the huge domes is fantastic and very beautiful. Dinner was fun, we had a full cooked fish each and the restaurant we ate at was open and next to a road of many restaurants and shops that were hustling and bustling. Many turkish men and children were trying to sell us turkish hats and cigars. From dinner we drove to the airport, it was time to say goodbye to Turkey. It was such an awesome trip. We said bye to Yasmine in the airport, she was our beautiful and foxy Turkish tourguide. Our flight left at midnight and we landed in Tel Aviv around 1:30am, I had not slept much on the bus that day and was in a state of delerium. I finally slept on the flight. I was passed out, so much that the landing didn't even wake me up. I did however wake up to the sound of Janessa laughing very abnoxiously and she would not stop. I turned around and stared her down. She continued and I said in a desperate and pityful plea for silence, "Janessa, Please...shut...up!" this didn't do much either. Everyone else was thinking it, as they later told me, but I was so desperate for sleep on our half hour taxi to the terminal that I was the only one who spoke up and said something. Anyways, we made it to the Center at about 2:30am and we passed out!!!!

The Hagia Sophia (Orhan) Mosque in the background of me acting like a child who got left behind on vacation.

Lake Iznik location of the first Nicean Ecumencal Council ( Where the Nicean Creed was written)

Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey