Ephesus: Road Trip

We drove down to Ephesus for our family's first major road trip here in Turkey on the three days following Christmas, and WOW! It was GORGIOUS!!! We passed many shepherds and sheep...

... and so many fields of olive groves, grape vineyards, and mandalina orange orchards on the way.

The kids had fun and plenty of distractions with Nana & Papa on the trip!
And some people slept, since the trip both there and back was long:

We saw many beautiful country homes and pastoral scenes...

... and stopped at an outlet mall to grab some coffee at Starbucks! :)

On the way home, we came up the coast, passing Smyrna & Pergamum and going through the mountains south of Troy, which had lots of snow.

And the Aegean coastline is absolutely awe-inspiring. Even in the dead of winter, it takes your breath away with its beauty. It was incredible to imagine the Apostle Paul's ships sailing along these coasts.

And we even saw a Mount-Rushmore-in-the-making. Ataturk (his name means "Father of the Turks") is the founder of modern Turkey, and is honored throughout the country in pictures, monuments, and more. But this mountainside homage of Ataturk in Izmir was by far the largest tribute we've ever seen:
Next up, I'll share pictures of the ruins in Ephesus-- it was AMAZING!!!