We’re officially home and back in action after the trip of a lifetime! After taking a few days to recover from major jet lag, we spent our first weekend in the states shooting two engagement sessions in the beauty of the Sedona red rocks, and it just felt so good to be home. We can’t wait to share those with you soon! Today, though, we’re actually heading back out on the road again to do some teaching in Seattle, and will even sneak out of the country one more time to speak in Vancouver this week, so our #demosinvasion continues in full force! If’ you’ve been following along with our European adventure, we’re sharing our final (and hottest!) leg of the trip today: Greece and Turkey!
We cruised through the Mediterranean channeling our inner Mama Mia! and Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants in the Greek Islands and later Athens. Since Jordan has a substantial amount of Greek blood running through his veins, this was a special stop for him. We spent an afternoon walking through the whitewashed island town of Mykonos, exploring narrow side streets, and soaking in the warm sun and cool water of the Mediterranean Sea. Mykonos doesn’t have as many blue domes as some of the other Greek Islands, but it’s got beautiful blue doors, shutters, staircases, and bannisters that pop against the white walls and cobblestone streets. Natural reflectors, galore! A photographer’s dream! Jordan couldn’t stop taking pictures of Amy every time we turned a corner because the light was just too good!
We would’ve been remiss to go all the way to Greece without seeing the capital Athens and the world famous Parthenon, so we made the hike in the sweltering (and, yes, very sweaty) summer sun to the top of the acropolis, the highest most central point in the entire city. The Parthenon was even better in person than we expected. More commanding. More impressive. Perhaps even more striking than the ruins, though, was the view. Almost no matter where we were standing on top of the acropolis, we had a 360 degree panorama of Athens, from the olive groves and mountainsides to the city center and the sea.
We took a sightseeing bus tour around Athens to get a taste of the highlights, which meant a stop at the original Olympic Stadium… which also meant Jordan got to climb up on the original medal stand! The stadium was reconstructed from the remains of ruins for the first official Olympic Games in 1896. It’s the only stadium in the world constructed completely from white marble. It’s simple but STUNNING! We were in complete awe of all the Greek achievements.
After Greece, the next and final country on our adventure was Turkey!
Our first stop was Istanbul, the capital of Turkey and one of the largest cities in the entire world. It’s called the place where East meets West because it’s the only city in the world that’s part of Europe and Asia. The Bosphorus Straight divides it in half, so when you’re on the water, you’re actually seeing two CONTINENTS at the exact same time! Here’s Jordan floating between the two continents on our tour.
In addition to our boat tour, we visited the two most historic and recognizable buildings in Istanbul. Hagia Sophia (lower left) is one of the oldest and largest churches on Earth.
We also visited The Blue Mosque (below) which meant that Amy had to wear a head covering in order to go inside. She came prepared with a pink scarf and had Jordan in disbelief that she could even make THAT look cute!
Our second stop in Turkey was our favorite and the most special to us: Ephesus. Ephesus has been on our bucket list because this is the place where Paul preached, was imprisoned, and he wrote The Book of Ephesians in The Bible to the people of this city. We had the chance to tour the remains of St. John’s Basilica (lower left), where Jesus’s disciple, John, wrote The Gospel of John, which was one of the highlights of our trip, as well as ancient Ephesus, one of the most important cities of the Roman Empire.
We also got to see the Library of Celsus (below), the second oldest library in world history!
St. John’s Basilica! So cool!
The three photos below show three different perspectives of the ancient amphitheater where Paul preached to 20,000 Ephesians. The hillside in the upper left corner is where he was hauled off in chains and imprisoned for telling people about Jesus. It was the most special and sobering stop for us as Christ-followers to stand where the man who wrote the majority of the New Testament stood. So powerful.
And to cap off this post, we have a very RARE photo of both of us together on this trip! We found a really nice American who had some general knowledge about working big cameras like ours! We had anniversary photos done in Venice, and we’re so excited to share those when they are finished, but until then, we’ll leave you with this sweaty, tired, but oh so happy photo from a fellow tourist!
We l-o-v-e traveling! Wanna catch up with our adventures around the world? You can do that here!
International: Ireland • England • France • Spain • Italy • Greece & Turkey • Anniversary Photos: Venice
Domestic: Nashville • Denver • Phoenix • Vancouver • Seattle • Vegas • Atlanta • Santa Barbara • Florida • Virginia • New England/New York • Sedona • San Diego • Nantucket • Boston • San Diego • Virginia • Arizona
For those who’ve asked, we been photographing our trip with the Canon 5D Mark III camera and Canon 50mm 1.2 L-Series lens. In hindsight, a wider lens would’ve been helpful! The European streets are tight, the buildings are tall, and the tourists are plentiful! If you need gear recommendations, you can view what’s in our bag by clicking here.
