I know renting cars and driving across foreign countries isn't everyone's jam, but hear me out.  We love getting lost in countrysides.  If you don't do road trips, you don't fit in with our family.  Our youngest got his 50th state by 5, and our oldest visited all but two states twice by 9.  We frequently hit the pavement, putting many miles on our tires.  While it isn't always the best/fastest way to get around and it isn't for everyone, you have to try it.  Don't do the group trips in France, rent a car!  Don't just visit the safe cruise ports, get out there!  I assure you that even if you don't love where you end up, you'll gain more from having done it.  

I love renting homes abroad, I get to go to the markets, the grocery stores, and feel like a local.  I learn more about the culture, I improve my language skills, and I get to push my comforts.  There are many reasons driving is our preferred method of travel, but the main reason is that you don't miss out.  It's like Jason Aldean's song Fly over States:

"I bet that mile long Santa Fe freight train engineer's seen it all

Just like that flatbed cowboy stacking US steel on a 3-day haul

Roads and rails under their feet

Yeah that sounds like a first class seat..."

You miss out on SO much if you don't venture outside of the box, outside of the common areas, the tourist traps.  

As we drove East from Bodrum in Turkey, heading to Gaziantep, we passed over beautiful mountains, the thermal baths at Pamukkale, and beautiful Mediterranean beaches.  We stopped at a roadside restaurant (that honestly had the best views, atmosphere, and food on the trip!), we stopped at a pomegranate juice stand, and we stopped at a nut stand.  We couldn't have done that from a plane or a train.  We improved our admittedly awful Turkish in these moments, learning how to say goodbye properly (it depends on if you are the one coming or going!), and took photos.  Our boys chased chickens, they picked flowers, and they explored ruins.

But, this post... this post is about Tarsus.  A location that wasn't even on our agenda before we began our trip; only when we were studying the map in our hotel in Bodrum did we notice it.  If we hadn't had our own vehicle, we wouldn't have been able to veer off course to Tarsus, an historic city in south-central Turkey, and the birthplace of Paul the Apostle.

Visiting Paul's well, and what has been discovered of his birth home, was an indescribable feeling.  It is such a heavy moment that I lack the words to express how it felt.  We stood above his home, which has been carefully excavated and covered to protect and preserve its history.  The man working the entry gate saw our interest in the water, and kindly came over to retrieve fresh water for us to clean our hands and drink from.  I can only speak for myself, but truly appreciating this experience was impossible.  Comprehending how old and significant my surroundings were, and how fortunate I was to be there is still very difficult; it is quite likely that Tarsus is one of the most significant locations I've visited.  Regardless of your religious beliefs, Paul continues to be an extremely significant figure today, having ignited the spread of Christianity; his ripple effect still reverberating.

The city was bustling near the center.  Mosques surrounded us as we walked the cobblestone streets from Paul's Well to the Mausoleum of Danyal, another significant and holy figure.  While Daniel's true resting place is debated, the Turkish stake in the debate is a good one, and I wholeheartedly believe that I was lucky enough to be there.  The story goes that when Tarsus was captured by the Rashidun caliph Umar, someone found a large coffin.  The deceased had a ring on his finger of a boy and two lions.  It was known that Daniel had traveled through, so Umar buried the coffin under what used to be a stream beneath an old bridge to protect the remains.  It was commonplace for remains to be stolen for various reasons, so for many years a fake tomb was erected well above Daniel's resting body.  In the photos, you'll see the "fake" tomb where the elaborate green sheath is.  Long before Daniel's tomb was discovered, the small mosque next to his remains was named after him: Danyal Makami. 

Tarsus is a remarkable city, and to think if we hadn't had a car we would have missed it entirely.  I urge everyone I know to just drive.  Make a tentative plan and just drive.  

"The journey changes you;

it should change you.  It leaves

marks on your memory,

on your heart,

and on your body.

You take something with you.

Hopefully, you leave something good behind"

-Anthony Bourdain