Greece & Turkey

As many of you know, we were recently blessed with two weeks of post deployment leave! For you none military friends/family...that is the long awaited vacation that comes after 210 days of separation. We had decided even before Jon left for IRAQ that we would plan an overseas trip to Turkey & Greece. It was worth every penny...here are some of our vacation highlights!Here we are in Turkey's capital, visiting the oldest part of the city. You can see a castle & the Turkish flag flying in the background.

A beautiful Mosque in the center of town, built to mirror similar structures in Istanbul. Gorgeous on the outside, but cold and empty on the inside. Really puts into perspective the Muslim faith, and made us both ever grateful for the personal relationship we experience with Jesus!

We met a gentleman on the subway who introduced us to the lively part of Athens known as La Plaque. We enjoyed a traditional Greek dinner at his families restaurant and then headed to the local shops where we bought olive wood salad tongs & yummy baklava.

The first order of business on a cruise ship is the ever important, life jacket/life boat drill! Here we are on the Aquamarine ready to leave the port at Piraeus, Greece.

One of our first stops was the island of Mykonos, it's also called the little Venice of Greece. The shops line the water and it's just beautiful with white walls and blue doors. We watched the sun set & enjoyed the best baklava of our life at a cafe over looking the Aegean Sea.

Our second day on the island of Patmos included a long hike to a Monastery on top of mountain that overlooked the city. We decided to rent a scooter for the day, which was a great choice! I asked Jon is this was his dream come true, since I've refused to ride on this back of his motorcycle? He said, hardy...but he'd enjoy it for what it was- since it might be the only time the two of us are ever on a "two wheeled" vehicle together again!

On Day #3 our cruse ship stopped back in Turkey to visit Ephesus, this was one of our most favorite stops along the cruise. Not only were the artifacts and city ruins just gorgeous, but as Christians it was amazing to think that Paul and the early church were actually here!

In the distance you can see Greek aqueducts and more of the city of Ephesus.

Day #4 was spent on the island of Rhodes which is a walled city completely surrounded by a castle. We really enjoyed exploring, eating lunch outside & walking along the castle walls.

The castle in Rhodes was covered with these huge stones, and of course Jon wanted to see if he could pick one up!Louis Cruise lines definitely saved the best for last. The island of Santorini was our final stop and one of the most beautiful places we'd ever seen. We took tender boats from our ship to the islands small port, here we are on the front of the Aquamarine with Santorini in the background.

The city is all white and built on top of huge cliffs that over look the Agean Sea. The only way to reach the city from the water below is 1) by gondala or 2) on the back of a donkey.

Santorini is the kind of place where it's difficult to take a bad picture...
We concluded our vacation with a few days in Athens, and were glad to get to visit the Acropolis. Here we are standing in front of the Parthenon. Amazing what the Greeks did thousands of years ago, even more amazing to us to think that much of this was around when Jesus lived on earth!