Going to Eden by Yair Arieli, Israel – photo essay –
“A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters… The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Ashur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.” (Genesis 2)
A time came when my friends started leaving the nest and touring the world. I remember thinking to myself: where do I want to go? How do I choose between South America to India? Who can say New Zealand is prettier than Africa? How can I choose a place that’ll be both beautiful, historic, and meaningful to me as the person I am?
I came across this passage from Genesis and realized – that’s where I’m going, to Eden. A place with beautiful view, lots of archeology and where my ancestors have lived. So I went to Turkey, the land between two continents… It’s actually been a dream of mine for a while, but you know how life is.
But then one day, I was drunk enough to make a move, yet not enough to still trust my self – the next day at 10 am I was on the airplane.
At the beginning I didn’t know what I was doing – all alone in a foreign state. I booked a place for the night and started making my plans.
Thank god I met some amazing friends, I was able to realize Turkey is divided to East and West, and I want to see both. In the west I went to see Ephesus, one of the first Greek colonies after they became an empire in the olden times. I spent some time in Istanbul – which used to be the capitol of the world back in the Byzantine Empire, under the name of Constantinople. Then I went to Cappadocia, and saw some amazing geomorphologic happenings, combined with Jewish second temple findings.
To finish this beautiful quest I went to Mesopotamia – between the rivers, to see Haran and Urfa (Ur Kasdim). I went in the steps of my ancestor – Abraham, on his way to the holy land.
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