Antioch and Go Tigers

Continuing with the series of stories from the Big City folks coming to the village, let me tell you about our day in Antioch.

We were blessed to have Zach Morris and his family join us on our Antioch voyage. We borrowed the Party Wagon from Papa V and hit the road earlier than any man or woman should ever wake up. It should go unsaid at this point, but yes, believe it or not, we had a blast. The drive down there takes a couple hours, but it was full of good conversation, so it passed quickly. Once we were in Antioch, we had to find our way to our first stop, Seleucia.

The picture doesn't really capture the beauty of the place. The waves were incredible!
You might remember that name, but you probably won't. It's the port that Paul and Barnabas set sail from on the first missionary journey (Acts 13). The port isn't there any more and there isn't even a city there, just a few small villages sprinkled around. But there were some neat ruins.

There we explored Titus Tunnel. This is a tunnel that is dated to at least 79 AD by inscriptions found near it. It bears the name of Titus, Roman emperor who, before he became emperor, was the general who took Jerusalem and silenced the Jewish revolt in the late first century. His father, Vespasian, was the emperor who succeeded Nero, to give you a time frame to go by. This tunnel was worth seeing because it's really big (6 meters high and 6 meters wide) and long (220 meters) and old.

Approaching the tunnel. Even before you got to the actual tunnel, you had to walk through this amazing gorge.
Also of note was a place known as the Necropolis or "City of the Dead." It looked really cool, but the best part was the description on the sign. Read close.

"There are many grave. Yards can be seen."
I love this country.
Yes, that's an Elvis prayer rug in front of the Necropolis. I think it's actually funnier if you don't know the story behind it.
From there it was off to lunch at Liverburger. If you remember my quick description of Liverburger from last time (here, though unnamed), you'll remember that it was supposed to change our lives. Well, this time it was rather unimpressive. First of all, they seemed to have cut back on the mayonnaise a little. I'm not sure if there were some law suits or what that caused that. But probably most important, to me at least, is that they completely remodeled the whole place. Before it was a grungy, college bar-type place with old Coke ads on the walls and wooden furniture. This time it was a bright red and white plastic hell. Atmosphere is so important in a restaurant and they totally ruined it with the renovation. While letting our lunch settle, we strolled by the Orthodox Church.

The church has Peter on one door and Paul on the other as well as above the doors in a painting showing each of them offering the church up to Jesus.
From there it was off to St. Peter's church. My visitors and the Botanist were troopers and braved the tunnels above the church. This is the same place that we almost lost a few team members back in the spring. After crawling through these super short and sometimes pitch black tunnels, you pop out in a well that's probably 20 feet straight up. There's just a few small hand and foot holds on the way up. It's doable, but a bit intimidating for anyone I think. I have to give some major props to Ally for being the first one up (without any help from our Turkish guide that went up before her) and a lot of credit to everyone. Everyone made it up and no one really had any trouble.

Not that great of a picture, I know (but not because of the ladies). I didn't have time to take many since we were on our hands and knees most the way and then hanging on to the slick rock walls for dear life at the end.
After that adventure, we made a pit stop for some kunefe (awesomely sugary desert) that came out warm with a good glass of Arabian tea. It was the perfect ending to a perfect day. The ride back was pretty chill, with some hot jams getting the van jumping from time to time. When we got back to Adana, the two guys made me proud by ordering yet another Adana kebap (their second in three days). They enjoyed their grilled meat perfection while we all watched one of the greatest films of all time... Tombstone.


And before I wrap this up, let me say GO TIGERS!!! I can't believe the score was as close as it was. It seemed like we did everything we could do to lose the game. Despite being able to move the ball almost at will, grabbing turnover after turnover, and blocking two punts, we still had to kick a field goal on the last play of the game to win it. But Buckholz redeemed himself, after missing two field goals earlier in the game, by nailing the game winner. There's no way to describe the joy I get from seeing us beat USuCk. To go into their house and do it makes it even sweeter. To know that it really hurt their bowl standing (and maybe whether they get a bowl at all) is very satisfying. And honestly, the tease we gave them, letting them think they were going to win, though it aged me beyond my years, made the victory all that more sweet for me, and all that more sour for them. Way to go Tigers! 9-3 and looking at a real good bowl and a chance to win 10 games for the first time since 1990. I love Clemson football.

AK80 (Aaron Kelly), who missed the game winner against BC last week, came up huge. His two biggest catches were the 14 yarder on 3rd and 18 and the 12 yarder on the next play, 4th and 4, that set up the game winning field goal.

Speaking of game winning field goals... Mark Buckholz had already missed two very makeable attempts earlier in the game, but came through when it mattered the most.
Enjoy a few more random pictures from our Antioch trip.

Rickety old bridge over the gorge. A truck drove across that old thing as we were approaching.
The Anti posing on the nice bridge over the gorge.
Looking out the mouth of the tunnel.
Well, I am a haus, but...
Almost out.
MC graduate-miş. These are the people I am forced to work with.
Another shot of the Necropolis.
Peter and Paul on the doors of the Orthodox church.
And finally, the streets of Antioch.