Over the past weekend, there was a break in the rain, so we decided to get out of the house and see what we could see.
We ended up going to visit the Taşköprü, aka Adana's Stone Bridge, aka the Old Roman Bridge. You see how things seem to have many names around here? We always call it the Roman Bridge, so I will just stick with that. We have been past and seen the bridge many times, but we've never actually stopped to walk across or take pictures of it.
They believe this bridge was built around 384 AD. Wow. What's even more wow is that the Roman bridge was still being used for cars up until 2007.
Ducks.
One of the wild kitties that are everywhere in Turkey.
After checking out the scenery from below, we walked across the bridge, weaving around the vendors and dodging bicycles and motorcycles. Knowing how Adana traffic is, I can't imagine vehicle traffic up here. Craziness.
The view of the Central Mosque from the bridge.
And then on the other side of the bridge. This walkway was right beside a little park that is apparently a very popular destination for wedding photographs. I so wanted to take pictures of some of the Turkish brides in their wedding dresses, but I didn't want to be rude. The dresses were amazing!
We always have to take at least one selfie everywhere we go. We tried to get the Mosque in the background, but our heads were in the way. We did finally get one, but by the time that happened we were laughing and goofy, so just take my word for it, it's back there.
After leaving the bridge, we decided to drive around for awhile. Here are some sheep going for a walk in the city. Not really that unusual in Adana.
Just your average chicken coop on wheels.
Sometimes when we're out driving we follow the brown signs to see where they lead. They're like the Historical Marker signs back in the States. We can't always read the words, so it's always a surprise where we will end up.
This particular set of signs brought us here. A burial mound/cemetery site. It looked like there were spring flower bulbs planted everywhere throughout the stones. I'm sure it will be beautiful when they all bloom.
After driving for awhile more we ended up in Misis, and decided to visit the Misis Mosaic Museum. It was a small building (I think it was someone's house actually.) that contains floor mosaics from the Basilica of the the Ancient City Misis. The main display is from the 4th Century and depicts the animals of Noah's Ark.
There were more tile sections outside. We weren't sure if these were from the same site, or if these were different. They were still cool to look at. As I mentioned before, Turkey has a pretty nonchalant way of dealing with it's antiquities. Notice the drain pipe right next to this piece?
More tiles outside in the garden.
Columns and architectural pieces in the parking lot.
After leaving the Mosaic Museum we continued down the road to the site of another Roman bridge. This one is just called the Misis Bridge, named after the town.
You can still drive on this one, horses and wagons included. During the Middle Ages, this was part of the Silk Road.
Brennan asked me to take his picture! It's not often I get a voluntary picture without a monster face. :)
Our turn to drive over the bridge.
There was pretty farmland on the other side.
Some places we see in Turkey reminds us of being back in Utah.
And then we end up in places like this, and know we are definitely in Turkey, haha. This is the main road in the village of Kizildere. I thought I had read there were some castle ruins not far from Misis. There probably are, but this was NOT the way to get there. After driving through the village and then hitting a dead end, we just turned around and called it a day.
As my facebook friends know, it was on the way back from Kizildere when we saw two turkeys in someone's front yard. So the big question of... "Are there turkeys in Turkey?" The answer is "Yes!"
There's definitely always something interesting to see around here!
