History and the Ephesians

Today marked our last day in Turkey. At about 9:30 the ship pulled into the port of Kusadasi, on Turkey's western coast. Kusadasi is a resort town, very popular with foreign tourists and Turkish vacationers. We were not here to relax, however. Kusadasi is also the access point to the ruins of Ephesus, an ancient Greek/Roman town. After getting off the ship, we had about an hour to kill in Kusadasi. Everything within walking distance of the dock was tourist shops, so we just meandered until 11:00 when we met our vehicle and tour guide, Emre, from the company Ephesus Shuttle. We shared the tour with Nick and Fontaine, Dwight and Maria, and Peter and Margot.

After about a half hour drive, we arrived at our first stop of the day, The House of the Virgin Mary. This house is in a secluded location on a mountain above Ephesus. It is believed that St. John brought Mary here for protection a few years after Jesus's death, and that she lived the last years of her life in the house. A number of popes, including John Paul II and Benedict XVI, have visited the site. It is a very serene location and a mass occurring outside the house made our visit even more spiritual. After visiting the house we lit candles, drank water from the spring near the house that is said to be some of the purest water in the world, and left wishes on a wall to be burned by a priest. I greatly enjoyed this visit and found it to be a very meaningful experience.

After descending down the mountain, we entered the ruins of the ancient city of Ephesus. Recall how I said we had a half hour drive from the port. Ephesus used to be a port town which was situated on the coast. Over time, the nearby river silted up the area and pushed the ocean further away. These ruins are actually the third incarnation of the city, as it had been moved twice due to this silting. The issue is still occurring to this day. The ruins of Ephesus (which are only 18% excavated) are a sight to behold, a sprawling town of marketplaces, temples, houses, and more. The site makes the Roman Forum look like a bunch of pebbles comparatively. There were three places in the ruins that were highlights. First was the Terrace Houses, the houses which the rich of the city lived in, still under excavation. The second was the Library of Celsus, a reconstructed facade of the library of the city, which was, at its time, the third largest library in the world. The third was the Great Theater, where Christianity was preached by St. Paul; he was beaten for it. The picture to the left shows a lion mosaic on a floor of a child's room in the Terrace Houses. The pictures below show us in front of the Library of Celsus, and also the Great Theater.

After leaving the ruins of Ephesus, we got some takeout Turkish food from the shop outside the site and ate it on the bus as we headed to our next site. It would have been nice if we had been given time to eat at a non-touristy Turkish restaurant instead, and this was one of only two disappointments with the tour. Our next visit was to the Basilica of St. John. This set of ruins is the site where a church was built to honor St. John. This church was ordered by Justinian during the decline of Ephesus, and so it was built with reused materials and was devastated quickly by the passing of time. We saw the baptistetry, the area where the altar was, and also the tomb of St. John. Of course, the bones of St. John were removed from the tomb and are now in Italy. We then made a quick stop at the Temple of Artemis, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, which is now nothing more than two pillars. The picture to the left shows one of the pillars (complete with stork's nest on the top), with the Basilica of St. John in the background.


On our way back to the ship, we encountered the second disappointment of the tour. We were suddenly taken to a carpet shop, a stop on the itinerary which was not discussed at any point prior to about 5 minutes before arrival. For a little bit of credit, the shop we were taken to is the one shop that Rick Steves recommendes in his guidebook for buying carpets in the Ephesus/Kusadasi area. We were treated to a nice demonstration on the making of rugs, Turkish drinks, and a very non-pushy salespitch. We endured the ritual and then headed back to the port. We had an early dinner, checked out the hot glass show on the ship, then retired. It was overall a very enjoyable day, and I cannot imagine a more impressive archaeological site than Ephesus. tomorrow brings Athens, and what is sure to be an interesting look at the history of the world.