turkey; ephesus

{Wednesday October 30th}

We got up at 7:30 this morning and went for breakfast in the dinning room around 8. It was fairly similar with lots of cheese, olives, cucumbers and tomatoes, and honey. 

We left the hotel at 9 this morning to head towards our first stop at the temple of Artemis. 

Temple of Artemis

We stopped for a 'quick' stop at a coffee shop that happened to have wifi so that was a bonus!  There is no such thing at take-out or coffee to-go here. 

Around 10 we then stopped at the temple of Artemis; one of the wonders of the ancient world. It was destroyed by a crazy man who wanted to make history, but the Ephesians had it rebuilt.  Kybele, the goddess of fertility, later transformed into the goddess Artemis. To the Romans, she was Diana. 

The ruins of the city of Ephesus that we will be visiting is the third city. It was built in the beginning of the 4th century bc. It is said that Ephesus was either named after an amazon queen or was the name of one of Alexander the Great's wives, and he dedicated the city to her. 

Celcius Library

We arrived at the ruins of Ephesus around 11 and got our tickets.  Just outside of the entrance there were a few stalls selling different things, one of them boasting "genuine fake watches".  We then entered into the ruins and started along the road into the city, seeing examples of architecture from the Hellenistic, Roman, and Corinthian periods. We walked along the stoa (walkway) and saw a couple temples, a fountain and a small odeon (theatre).  We then entered through the city gates and saw such things as the bathrooms, stores and houses. At the bottom of the hill, in what would of been the heart of the city, we saw the Celsius library and the marketplace square.  From there we continued and saw the main theatre built into the hillside and meant to hold 20-25000 people.  It is sobering to think of Paul wanting to tell these people about Jesus and God and so many people looking down in uproar; not wanting to hear it, and made me thankful that there were those who valued him and didn't want him to have to face that. From the theatre we continued along the main road that would have led directly to the harbor. We then exited at the other side of the town around 1pm.  It was absolutely amazing to walk through, and although a lot of it has been restored it is incredible to witness an entire town that's been left through centuries.

Ephesus; road to the harbour and theatre

From Ephesus we headed back into the modern town of Ephesus and stopped at a small grocery store, as we had agreed to have a picnic lunch today. We picked up some bread (0.75 lira/loaf), cheese, olives, cold meat (looks very pink and fake) hummus, crackers, and of course.. wine. From there we headed to a spot that our driver had picked, although unfortunately it was closed. After wandering around for a bit, nothing quite working out, we stopped at an treed area and made it work. The back luggage compartment became our table and we all enjoyed a wonderful lunch. Normally Turks have a heavier lunch, but I think that Dr. T and our driver enjoyed it. I got four mosquito bites so I spent half of it pacing and the other half in the bus. It was still a good lunch tho.  (Mom mistakenly told me she'd taken the after bite out but I discovered it a couple hours later and felt much better then)

Picnic Lunch

After our picnic and a quick bathroom stop, we headed towards the house of the Virgin Mary. In the 19th century, a paralyzed German nun had visions of the house where the Virgin Mary had spent her last years. Many years later; a priest was in Ephesus and realized that the house that had been described  in the nuns book about her vision was here. When he searched, he found ruins dating back to 100ad and they excavated where the house is now. 

When we arrived, we made our way through the supposed house of the Virgin Mary, which was 3 small rooms. It was at a hill top, surrounded by trees and was very peaceful.  It was interesting to see, however it is just one persons revelation of where they believe it to be. 

After our visit, we went back towards town and stopped at a leather store. There are many leather shops in the area and they are well known for their lamb skin. The prices were around $1500 usd plus or minus (after discount and negotiating about $600) I was really hoping that they would be able to suggest a place that would sell leather hide, but they were more interested in selling me a jacket. 

After the leather shop, we headed back to the hotel. We got back about 6:30 and had a little time to have a rest and then went for dinner. We had 'oven turkey' and 'mush potato', and some other things as well; their English translations tend to be entertaining.  After dinner some of us that were interested were given a horoscope lesson by Dr. T. It was very interesting to hear about. Around 10 we got ready for bed. I purchased internet for the day so I was glad to use that for a little bit. I tried to find some leather shops but I didn't get very far.  Searching for leather when all the shops are listed under Turkish names is not very helpful, and searching for deri (Turkish for leather) showed me mostly leather jackets and shoes stores. I will try to get Dr. T to help me out sometime because it would be awesome if I could buy some leather! 

J.

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