Ephesus

We were picked up by a German scholar at 9:00 and were taken to the Church of St. John, just a short walk from our apartment in the Crisler Foundation in Selcuk. The disciple John is supposedly buried in this church, thus its significance. It mostly a ruins, though you can see what a massive church it once was, and why all the pilgrimages would come here to pray. What’s neat about it is the view of the mountains and valley; you can see where the water came, how the church was literarlly built on a hill just above the water. Now it’ five or six miles to the sea. Off in the distance, you can see where Ephesus sits, how the water once, too, came up the the city. The speaker emphasize how almost every site in the area had roots 4 or 5 thousand years ago; then came the Minoans, the Lycians, Greeks, the Byzantines, Selcuks, Ottomans, and modern Turkey. Pagan sites were turned into Greek temples; which were turned into churches, then finally, mosques. It was a beautiful morning, and we enjoyed walking through the standing columns, some of the walls, the arch, and the baptismal font which was set in the ground, like a mini rectangular swimming pool. And the views in all directions gave us a sense of the strategic location of both the church, the town and Ephesus. We then walked down and into the mosque, in Syrian style I think; it was wider than it was long, so it had a different feel to it. The floor was covered with carpets and outside there was a lovely, cool courtyard where our guide said she often spends the early evening, in the cool of the courtyard, listening to the prayers in the mosque. It would be wonderful.

About 11:00, we headed off to Ephesus, on a warm, sunny day. We got off at the upper end of Ephesus, and our driver was to meet us in a couple of hours at the other end. The ruins are both Greek and Roman, mostly Roman remain as the city has been rebuilt numerous times because of earthquakes. We started down one of the major streets which culminates in the most spectacularly reconstructed part of the city, the library, a two story wonder. You do get a feel for what the streets were like, lined with either temples a small theater like area for senators to legislate; then numerous temples to various Roman emperors liked Hadrian and Trajan; various kinds of shops and businesses, and behind and above would have been the homes. We walked through baths, and mostly viewed the ruins from the street. The most interesting part was an in process excavation of a view homes of the wealthy. It’s covered and you go in side and can see the reconstructed or excavated rooms, of two or three floors, complete with mosaics and frescoes; there are actually men working in some of the areas so you can see how the fit the pieces together. The floor and walls of the walkway are all glass, so as you walk over certain portions of the building, you can look down and see the mosaics. It’s really an interesting walk and reminds me of Pompeii in many respects. It’s very civilized and comfortable, with toilets as well as baths. We then walked to the library, through a bath with a area for numerous toilets or holes in the stone bench, and walked down Marble Way to the 25,000 seat amphitheater, again one of the marvels of Emphesus. There was also the harbor road that led up to it where we got the best pictures. We then drove to Mary’s Home, which was up a moutain road, in a lovely area, with a beautiful stone walk, wooded and impressive leading up to her small stone house. You could walk in, see a statute of Mary, go the right, see an ikon and then out. I was not even sure this was the house of veneration until I saw we were at the end of the walk. The surroundins were, to me, more impressive than the actual house. There was a nun sitting inside doing embroidery, as tourists walked in, venerated and left. We had lunch at a local place, with quite nice food, but I had mostly yogurt and rice. We ended our tour with a brief visit to the Ephesus museum, where one finds many of the artifacts that were once part of the city. Mostly busts and parts of the friezes, it was a small but interesting place to visit, as it took us about a half an hour to tour. We then went back to the Cristler Foundation, relaxed for an hour, were picked up by our driver at 4:00, dropped off at the airport at 5:00, caught our flight at 6:00 and met Ates about 7:15…no glitches and a great day even though I was a bit under the weather.

We arrived in Istanbul about 7:00, were picked up by Ates, Mine, and Lara, and dispite our protestations, we went off to another mall to eat Chinese food. We fought traffice the entire way as Ates talked non stop. We walked the mall, enjoyed our Chinese food somewhat, as we were still uneasy, but there was no saying NO to Ates. After walking around a bit, we found our car in the garage, and he drove us home, and we arrived abou 10:00, quite tired and happy to be back in Istanbul and our apartment.