Tags
Christianity, denizli, history, Hot Springs, Islam, Journals, Laodicea, Niagara Foundation, Pamukkale, Paul, Revelation, Travel, Turkey
March 5, 2014: Denizli
We started off our morning with a family breakfast visit.
Though this time of day can be dangerous (I, for one, grunt monosyllabically until about noon), it was also nice to be freshly showered before meeting new people.
–Laodicea—
After breakfast, we went to the ancient city of Laodicea. Unlike Ephesus, which largely remains buried and cannot be safely excavated, ongoing work is being done to uncover Laodicea.
Biblically, Laodicea is one of the churches mentioned in the book of Revelation. Paul either was himself a missionary to the city, or he dispatched others from Ephesus to evangelize on his behalf.
Laodicea was a city built at trade route crossroads. Monetarily rich, textile producing, and famous for ophthalmology, its largest downside was its lack of a good water source. Pure, cold water was available west of the city, and hot springs ran in cities to Laodicea’s north and south. In the middle, however, was Laodicea’s lukewarm water that was good for little more than inducing vomiting.
It is written in Revelation that the people of Laodicea, for all of their material successes, were still poor, naked, and blind because they, like their water, are neither hot nor cold, and they, too, shall be spit out.
Whether or not one agrees with Christianity, this evangelical language is significant.
Those who proselytize do so most successfully when they connect foreign concepts to specific aspects of a familiar society. If nothing else, I’ll hand it to the early Christian churches: they were good at what they did.
–Pamukkale—
After Laodicea, we visited the calcium deposits and hot springs at Pamukkale. At this point, the weather was overcast, windy, and rainy, and after Sali slipped and broke his wrist, I began to question the wisdom of our excursion.
Since the last part of our walk through Pamukkale involved trekking barefoot through the slippery hot springs, I was worried both about falling and about taking my non-waterproof belongings down with me. Furthermore, I was cold and disheveled and wearing the world’s most embarrassing blue poncho.
As I picked my way gingerly through the pools, however, I began to realize that I had been staring at the ground for too long. Stopping for a moment, I looked back at the sloping deposits behind me and down at the world that had spread out beneath the ledge.
Suddenly, it hit me: I’m cold, disheveled, and wearing the world’s most embarrassing blue poncho. And isn’t it wonderful?
Likely, I will never again have the opportunity to take such a treacherous walk through such beautiful scenery.
Though such travels, as Sali proved, can be injury inducing, the risk is worth it as long as we have the fortitude to stop worrying about such negative possibilities and focus instead on the beautiful world around us.
Sali rejoined the group after a brief stop off at the hospital, and together we headed to the airport for our flight back to Istanbul.
We’ve now returned to our initial lodgings at the middle school dormitory, which feels an awful lot like returning home. As happy as I am to be back, I look forward both to our remaining time in Istanbul and to our return, three days from now, to our real homes.