Pergamon Theater
View from top of Pergamon
Restaurant owner with our guide, Saba
Troy
Our last day before returning to Istanbul was a lot of driving and two interesting stops: Pergamon and Troy. The Acropolis is usually associated with Athens, Greece, but Pergamon also has a’high city’ where the ruling class lived on a mountaintop above the common people. This is the Pergamon which is one of the seven cities of The Revelation to John (see Revelation chapter 2). Nearly all of great antiquities from the site were given to Germany late in the 19th century by the Sultan of Turkey and are beautifully displayed in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin. A cable car ride up brought us to a great panoramic view of this beautiful area.
Troy: At the site of ancient Troy archeologists have unearthed nine layers. Each layer has the remnants of an era when a city stood stood there. Dating back about 4000 years it is thought that layer 6 was the ancient Troy that Homer wrote about in “The Iliad” and “The Odyssey”. A campy wooden horse is there for photo purposes.
After arriving back in Istanbul on Saturday mid-afternoon we ventured into the masses of this city of 20 million to experience the Spice Market and other cultural adventures. As I write this we are just about two hours from touching down in NYC.
The people of Turkey and of our tour group made this a great and memorable trip for me. We return with new understandings and insights, including a renewed appreciation for the blessings we have as citizens of the USA.
Thank you for all your prayers that have carried us through this pilgrimage, this odyssey. We look forward to being home with you. God bless.