Category Archives: Travel

Looking for the Ancient Crossroads Tour blog?

If you are looking for the blogs and photos of the Ancient Crossroads Tour of Biblical and Historical Turkey, please look to the right under Archives and go to May 2007. Start at the bottom of the page and make your way up. Then move on to June, etc.

The Ancient Crossroads tour covered the area of the Hittites and Paul’s first missionary journey. In addition, I spent a week visiting biblical sites in Eastern Turkey. These included the land of Ararat, traditional Mount Ararat, Harran [Haran], Mesopotamia, the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, etc.

Tours information for 2008 now posted

We have now posted details about our tours for 2008 at tours.biblicalstudies.info. Our tours are primarily intended for members of churches of Christ. We understand the Bible study habits of these folks and we build the tours to meet their needs. Our tours are study tours; not simply vacation travel. We emphasize the land, the biblical events, and the archaeology of the sites visited. The tours are under my personal direction. We have been directing tours since 1967. The two tours for 2008 are number 71 and 72. Take a look.

Normally I am more than 1 year behind!

A few hours after posting about the Beloit College Mindset list, I noticed that I had used the 2010 list. Oh, well, you probably did not know that either. Here are a few interesting things about travel and knowledge of the world from the 2011 list.

  • 1. What Berlin wall?
  • 15. Russia has always had a multi-party political system.
  • 53. Tiananmen Square is a 2008 Olympics venue, not the scene of a massacre.

And here is one of general interest.

  • 43. Being a latchkey kid has never been a big deal.

What they don’t know

Beloit College, for several years, has posted a list of things that incoming Freshmen (class of 2011) do not know. When I was teaching I always found this interesting and helpful. Preachers, who think they are making themselves clear, might learn something from examining the full list. We frequently take for granted that our listeners understand our illustrations. Many of the items from the Beloit list are humorous, but I have chosen a few pertaining to travel.

  • 1. The Soviet Union has never existed and therefore is about as scary as the student union.
  • 6. There has always been only one Germany.
  • 12. Smoking has never been permitted on U.S. airlines.
  • 51. Disneyland has always been in Europe and Asia.

These are thought provoking:

  • 30. Non-denominational mega-churches have always been the fastest growing religious organizations in the U.S.
  • 41. They have always been able to watch wars and revolutions live on television.

But still know nothing about the problem in the Middle East (or even where it is).

Hezekiah’s Tunnel

In Istanbul we visited the Palestine Room at the Istanbul Archaeological Museum. There we saw the stone inscription, sometimes called the Siloam Inscription, which was taken from Hezekiah’s tunnel in Jerusalem during the Ottoman period. Recently I posted an article about Hezekiah’s Tunnel at BiblicalStudies.info, along with several photographs of the tunnel. This tunnel, built by the King of Judah about 710 B.C., is mentioned in 2 Kings 20:20.

The photo below shows the inscription in its case in Istanbul. There is some recent talk indicating that this inscription might be returned to Jerusalem.

Hezekiah’s Tunnel (Siloam) Inscription

Comments by tour members

At the close of the Ancient Crossroads tour, I asked any of our tour members who wished to write a brief comment about the tour. As I was catching up and cleaning my desk today I ran across these comments. There may have been others that I have misplaced. We are blessed with some really fine people and good Bible students and teachers who travel with us.

“We feel so blessed to have been a part of the tour these two weeks. To have traveled in the footsteps of Paul provides an insight into Scripture never before realized. Thanks so much Ferrell.” (Mike and Peg, Alabama).

“The houses, churches, and shops carved from the formation of tufa were so unique and unusual and the balloon ride over the area [of Cappadocia] was a real highlight. Discovery of the Roman road was great! Walking along and reflecting that Paul and others probably walked that way was very moving. And speaking of moving — to be where they were first called Christians — Antioch!” (Dave and Marge, California).

“Seeing the areas where the apostle Paul lived and preached extremely rewarding. We feel confident our travels will now heighten our appreciation for Paul and his work. Great trip.” (Larry and Joan, Kentucky).

“Wonderful trip to a fascinating country. Visiting the sites where Paul and others spread the gospel makes a unique connection to the first century Christians. The most memorable [unanticipated] stop was the native [nomad] girl caring for the camels. But also the Roman road. Fantastic! And the friendly and hospitable people of Turkey. Thanks Ferrell and Elizabeth for all your efforts to help us grow.” (Doug and Linda, California).

“We appreciate so much the attention that was given to relating the places we have visited to the biblical text. And the special effort that you make to show us the people and places, such as the Roman road, added to our understanding of first century life.” (Olen and Jane, Alabama).

“This has been our fourth trip to the lands of the Bible (Israel, Steps of Paul and John, Egypt, and now the Ancient Crossroads). Each trip has been different and extremely helpful in better understanding God’s revealed word. This trip has made us more acutely aware of the hardships that Paul and his brethren faced as they endeavored to carry out God’s instruction to preach the gospel in Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the world. Somehow it makes our burdens a little lighter!” (Jackie and Donna Jo, Alabama).

“I cannot describe what a blessing it was to listen to brother Jenkins as we traveled through Turkey. Ferrell is a man of incredible ability and his knowledge of life in Bible times would be hard to beat! He is truly a “scholar and a gentleman.” I consider it a great honor to count him as my friend.” (David, Illinois).

Padfield’s photos of Tarsus

David Padfield has begun to post photos of the Ancient Crossroads tour suitable for use in PowerPoint presentations. His first photos are of Tarsus. See the photos here. David is a good photographer. He has no explanation with his photos. Perhaps you can find some helpful information in this blog.

Looking for the Turkey travel blogs?

If you have come to this site looking for the blogs (and photos) of the Ancient Crossroads Tour of Biblical and Historical Turkey you might like to start at the beginning. You can use the calendar (or the Archives) to the right and go back to May 23 for the first blog. Or, you can just read backward to that point. It works either way.

Home Again!

There’s no place like home. David, Gene and I left our Istanbul hotel at 4 a.m. Monday morning. We had good flights to Frankfurt and to New York. Gene was to make a connection in Tampa so we were on the same flight from JFK. We left the gate on time, but then had to wait on the runway because of bad weather along the eastern seaboard. We got to Tampa 4 1/2 hours after departure. So far as I know Gene made his flight.

In the next few days I will try to provide some general summary of the trip and post more info about the tours for 2008. Thanks for all the comments you have made (most have come by Email rather than on the blog).

Mission Accomplished — Turkey is done

This morning we left the hotel in Kahta about 10 a.m. and headed back toward Mount Nemrut to visit the Karakus Tumulus. This site was built in 36 B.C. by King Mithridates II as a burial mound for three female relatives. This, like Nemrut, was part of the Kingdom of Commangene. From here we had a nice, distant view of Mount Nemrut. This photo shows the mound at Karakus. Nemrut is the high pointed peak.

Karakus Tumulus. Mount Nemrut in distance. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

We continued a few miles to see a Roman bridge over the Cendere River that was built in the 2nd century A.D. in the time of Septimius Severus. Some of the limestone blocks in this bridge we made from columns that once surrounded the Karakus Tumulus.

Then we drove to the Gaziantep airport to wait for our flight to Istanbul. Lord willing, tomorrow morning we will depart for home.

I am writing this blog in a restaurant in the airport while eating spaghetti.

During the Ancient Crossroads tour the group traveled 1953 miles by coach. On the excursion to Eastern Turkey we drove 1376 miles. That’s a total of 3328 miles. We did not see an accident during the entire 3 weeks. It is also significant that we did not encounter anything unpleasant except for kids at some locations who tried to become our guide.

David Padfield says that Ferrell drives surprisingly well for a man of his age. Is that a slam, or what?

We did not expect the hotels in the East to be as good as we have used in the western and central part of the country. Our hotels ranged from the less than desirable one at Mount Ararat to a 5-star hotel in Gaziantep. Every hotel (for the three weeks had wireless Internet available except for the one at Mount Ararat. This was very nice, and allowed me to keep this blog fairly current every day. It is time consuming. Most nights I only got about 6 to 6 1/2 hours sleep. I need to get home and rest a while!

We are thankful to the Lord for the safety of our travel. We are thankful to have been able to make this trip and to have shared it with you. We hope to be able to share it with our brethren in many ways in the coming years.

We arrived safely in Istanbul and are now in the Airport Hotel. We have to be up at 3 a.m. to make the flight to the USA.