Photo By Seaman Tajh Payne | Sailors assigned to the world’s largest aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78)...... read more read more
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Sailors assigned the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group (GRFCSG) participated in a Morale, Welfare and Recreation tour of the city of Antalya, Türkiye, Aug. 29, 2023.
During the tour, Sailors explored the east side and west side of Old Town Antalya, including visits to the Duden Waterfalls, the Art: Leather and Fur Clothing Outlet, a bazaar, a mosque and the Antalya Archeological Museum. The tour also included a boat ride that took Sailors around the coastline of Antalya.
Lt. Christopher Lee, assigned to Gerald R. Ford’s air department and the ship’s recreation services officer, chaperoned the tour.
“I was expecting an in-depth tour from a local guide along with some delicious Turkish cuisine, and that is what we got to experience,” said Lee.
Sailors learned historical facts about not just Antalya, but Türkiye as a whole. For example, the country was classified under 22 regions, though modern Türkiye is classified under seven mainland regions, including Antalya.
The first stop, the Duden waterfalls, gave Sailors the opportunity to view and experience one of the most treasured and serene natural landmarks of Antalya.
Immediately after, Sailors were taken to the Art: Leather and Fur Clothing Outlet, where they were treated to a fashion show and a variety of authentic, upscale leather and fur clothing. Walking through a bazaar, a boat ride around the shore of Antalya was provided, giving way to views of seaside housing and activities the local community engages in.
Traveling through the same bazaar as before, where some Sailors purchased Turkish tea and other wares, they removed their shoes as they visited a mosque, which included its own rich history.
“It was interesting to see how the architecture and dwellings changed over the years from caves, to close-quartered living,” Lee said. “Then to the buildings and aqueducts that the Romans erected, and advancements since then.”
The history of the mosque was directly intertwined with the final stop, the Antalya Archeological Museum, which housed archeological artifacts and statues that portrayed Turkish, Greek and Roaman historical figures, some of which had been present at that same mosque.
The museum was an idyllic setting that held rustic tools, Islamic scriptures engraved into stone, many faces and figures ingrained in the rich history of the area and stone tombs adorned with hand-chiseled art.
After the tour concluded, Sailors took it upon themselves to explore Antalya further.
When asked for his takeaways from the tour, Aviation Electronics Technician 1st Class Jerry Defranco, from Copiague, New York, assigned to aircraft intermediate maintenance department (AIMD), was more than satisfied.
“I didn’t want to miss out on anything from the city and I was afraid that if I didn’t take this tour then I would have missed out on something cool,” Defranco said. “It was a great experience. I came to Türkiye with a list of things I wanted to do and the tour hit 90 percent of it.”
The Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group (GRFCSG) is conducting a scheduled deployment in the Atlantic Ocean in support of interoperability and maritime security. The GRFCSG provides an inherently flexible naval force capable of deploying across combatant commands to meet emerging missions, deter potential adversaries, reassure allies and partners, enhance security and guarantee the free flow of global commerce. In total, the GRFCSG is deployed with more than 6,000 Sailors across all platforms ready to respond globally to combatant commander tasking.
Gerald R. Ford is the U.S. Navy’s newest and most advanced aircraft carrier. As the first-in-class ship of Ford-class aircraft carriers, CVN 78 represents a generational leap in the U.S. Navy’s capacity to project power on a global scale. Ford-class aircraft carriers introduce 23 new technologies, including Electromagnetic Aircraft Launching System, Advanced Arresting Gear and Advanced Weapons Elevators. The new systems incorporated onto Ford-class ships are designed to deliver greater lethality, survivability and joint interoperability with a 20% smaller crew than a Nimitz-class carrier, paving the way forward for naval aviation.
For more information about the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), visit https://www.airlant.usff.navy.mil/cvn78/ and follow along on Facebook: @USSGeraldRFord, Instagram: @CVN78_grford, Twitter: @Warship_78, DVIDS: www.dvids.net/CVN78 and LinkedIn at USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78).
| Date Taken: | 08.30.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 09.06.2023 03:13 |
| Story ID: | 452793 |
| Location: | ANTALYA, TR |
| Web Views: | 312 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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