Last night, we stayed at the seaside Antayla Oteli.  Lovely accomodations.  Palm-lined Antayla is the #1 tourist city situated on the ‘Turquoise Coast’ of the Mediterranean.  And I can see why.  I tried to imagine the ancient harbor of Attalio here.

After settling into our motel, I took Kristie to the shore line, actually a rock cliff.  Holding her hand in the late darkness, we gingerly descended over 200 wooden steps down the side of the cliff to the pounding surf at the bottom.  The misty night enhanced a spooky mood.  Kristie stood close as we were all alone.  I loved it.

This morning, we drove along the Mediterranean shoreline.  The water glistened in the morning sun.  The beaches teasingly invited us to leisure and relaxation, while the Taurus mountains towered on the north side of the road, daring me to explore their mighty peaks and flanks. 

I wonder if these obdurate mountains scared the tar out of John Mark.  Paul, Barnabas, and John Mark arrived in nearby Perge at the beginning of the first missionary journey  and than Paul and Barnabas sailed from the ancient harbor of Antalya at the end.

To bring you up to speed on this educational tour, Kristie and I have been listening to about six hours of lecture each day (30 pages of notes so far).  For instance, yesterday, I greatly benefited from six hours of introduction by our guide to the religion of Islam.  Are there historical parallels to Mormonism?  Religious crises because of all the different religious ideas?  Visitation by an angel?  Alphabet in gold?  A prophet to restore truth?  Severe criticism of the Triune God?  Sometime later we should talk about this?  But one statement by this transparent Muslim (non-practicing) guide spoke deeply to me . . . a troubling heart issue:

You can’t question.  The moment you question – You lose your faith.  You do not question your religion.  You just blindly believe.

But whether Muslim, Catholic, Protestant, one should never be afraid of being a Berean in the ability to search and scrutinize with scripture text.

Well, the blue water was beautiful, colliding and crashing on the rocks.  After three hours of cruising along the coast through Phaselis, Chimaera, Olympos (someday it would be great to hike one of the world’s top treks, the Lycian Way), we arrived in Demre (ancient Myra), nestled between the sea and the mountains.  Paul stopped here on his way to Rome.

The city of Myra was a chief Lycian port.  Among the ancient ruins, we scrambled among the stones of a beautiful theatre, enhanced by a plethora of rock tombs hewn right out of mountain slopes behind it.

And than we drove into Demre to St. Nıcholas Church, enjoying the statue of Father Christmas, the tomb, the floor mosaics, the gallery, and the frescos in the dome of the church.

Afterward, we picked up delicious rice & lamb at Lezzet Restaurant (it had everything – döner, pide, lahmaeum, yemek, izgaraye balik çeşitleri).

Leaving Demre, we travelled to the port of Andriake, 3 km southwest of the town.  We passed ruins of Andriake (the Plakoma agora, the Granarium Hadriani, ship shelters, a watch tower, and Lycian tombs).  Here Paul exchanged ships on his way to Rome. I stripped off my shoes, socks, and lower leggings, and went wading (immediately, I thought of Paul being in the deep).

Passing through the forest of pine trees on the way to Kaş from Demre [we] reached a very high point.  From here, the view of the Mediterranean is absolutely breathtaking, especially the harmony of green and blue.  The name of this quaint town, which resembles the decor of a ancient theater is Kaş.

Continuing our journey, I gaped at the beauty surrounding Antiphellos, Kalkan, and Patara.  At Patara, I told Kristie, ‘If we ever come again on our own, we can sleeping bag it under the thatched roofs on the beach (the best & most remote white sand, 50m wide and 20 km long), canoe in the marshes of the ancient harbor, and discover anew the ancient ruins overgrown with greenery and vegetation. Paul had also been here.

At 5:30, we pulled into Fethiye.  Around 6:30, after hiking up high to a Lycanonian tomb, we watched the sun set over the city.  Here is a satellite shot of Fethiye Bay.

Later, we finally arrived at our motel for the evening, the Anemon in Marmaris.