Day 12 - Kusadasi/Ephesus/ Sirince

Today we were up early up and Jeff sat on the veranda and watched as we cruised into port, entering the city of Kusadasi, Turkey. A Byzantine fortress guards the harbor, located on the Aegean Sea. We have now left Europe and entered the continent of Asia. This trip it is the first time either of us has been to Europe and we didn't realize until this morning that now we are on another another continent!

Kusadasi, which means Bird Island, is a very large modern port.  When we disembarked there were Turkish dancers with brightly colored outfits and Turkish music to greet us.  We met our guide for the day - Ozgur, a very nice young Turk who, we found out, has an American girlfriend from Washington state.

We left the city of Kusadasi and headed for the ruins of Ephesus, a city that dates back to the Ionians, 10^th century BC.  Ephesus was one of the most important cities int he Roman Empire - the 2nd grandest int he ancient world!
We hope that you all do not grow weary of the photos of ruins – this city is one of the best-preserved ancient Roman cities that have been unearthed, with even more intact artifacts than Pompeii. These ruins, dating back to the 1st century AD, have been excavated over the past 150 years, and show evidence that there is still much more that remains uncovered, and much more of this ancient city will be discovered in years to come. Only 15% has been excavated so far.

Port View

This was another place that Paul visited – on two separate occasions in his travels around 52 AD.  In Paul’s day, Ephesus was a great city of 250,000 people that served as a gateway to Rome to the East and a gateway to the Orient to the West. It was one of the foremost commercial cities in Paul’s day.  It was a major port back then, with the harbor being right outside the gates of the city (although today, the ocean lies several miles from ancient Ephesus. 
Like all the other cities that Paul visited, it was filled with many temples dedicated to their gods. Ephesus’ primary god was Diana (also known as Artemis), the goddess of love and lust. Her temple was magnificent, with 108 columns, each of which were 60 feet high – 4 times the size of the Parthenon –and was one of the seven wonder of the ancient world.
The apostle John also came to this city around 68 AD and remained here until he was excelled to to the island of Patmos where he died around 90 AD. Tradition states that Emperor Domitian exiled John to the island of Patmos. 

This is all that remains of the magnificnet Temple of Diana.

Temple Of Domitian.
Named for a cruel and crazy Roman emperor, Domitian, who declared himself to be a god.  He was assassinated and his huge temple (2 stories tall and larger than a football field) was destroyed in 96 AD.

The Grand Theater

The Grand Theater (the oldest structure in Ephesus) dates back to 3^rd century BC, but was expanded to seat 24,000 by Claudius in the first century AD. Having perfect acoustics, this theater needs no microphone. Paul would have addressed the people in this theater.  In recent years, performers such as Elton John, Diana Ross, Pavarotti, and JethroTull have performed concerts in this theater.

Curetes Street

The Curetes were a respected class of priests who re-enacted the birth of Diana in a dramatic procession each year.  The street named for them was paved with white marble slabs and lined with statues of prominent people in the town.

Celsus Library, 3rd  largest in the ancient world, stood 40 feet tall, contained 12,000 volumes, and took 30 years to construct. It was completed in 135 AD.

Nike Frieze - Once topped a gate that depicts the Greek goddess Nike, the goddess of victory, giving a wreath, the symbol of victory to the Romans.

Houses on the Slope of Terrace Houses

These 7  3-story houses on the slope, or terrace houses, were individual dwellings for the wealthy were built into the sloping terraces.  These homes were both magnificent and well equipped with steam-heating systems, running water and a sewage system.  (Ephesus had the ancient world's most sophisticated public waterworks system.) Amazingly, the intact clay pipes of these various systems are visible today, running in the floors and walls of the buildings.

It was amazing to see how well these rooms have been preserved after having been covered with dirt for thousands of years. The elaborate mosaic floors and frescoes (wall paintings) were intricate and beautiful.  The houses had dining rooms, home theaters (for dramatic readings and music, no flat screens back then), small chapels, bathrooms, and bedrooms that were personalized with frescoes – kid’s rooms had paintings appropriate for children, etc.  They were arranged as condos would be today, each with a private entrance.

Paul visited Ephesus on two occasions and a third time came through the region but did not enter the city.  On his first visit, he only stayed in Ephesus for one Sabbath.  He brought Aquila and Priscilla, fellow Christians and tentmakers, with him from Corinth and left them there (Acts 18:18-23).  On his second visit Paul had a lengthy stay, remaining in the city for 3 years.  He taught in the school of Tyrannus and, in teaching, caused a great uproar with the silversmiths that make amulets and statues of the goddess Diana - the converts to Christianity were no longer buying their products.  Paul was bad for business (Acts 19:1-40).   He was imprisoned for a time as a result of this.  Paul wrote his 2 letters to the Corinthians while in Ephesus.  As more of the ancient city is excavated in future years, perhaps someday they will uncover the Tyrannus hall, the place where Paul taught.

From there we traveled through the countryside to a very quaint restaurant with Turkish home cooking – buffet style. The food was fabulous! The lady made all of the food and it was truly a feast. We had seaweed for the first time. Delicious!  Really!

Turkish Lunch

After lunch, we went to the small mountain of Sirince. It was beautiful. Originally a Greek village for many years, the Greeks were driven out by the Turks during the Ottoman Empire.  The people were very friendly and the merchants very animated and persuasive as they tried to lure us into their shops to show us their wares.  We very much enjoyed walking around the town, although I had to pay to 1 euro to use the rest room and for the first time only had a hole in the floor. This is known as an oriental toilet - just "squat and aim".  It consists of a porcelain hole in the floor with platforms for both feet.

Street in Sirince. Notice the village in the background

Turkish Lady selling her lace.

Our last stops were interesting shopping experiences.  First, a Turkish carpet factory where they demonstrated how Turkish carpets are made. It was fascinating to see how they get silk from the cocoons of the silkworms that they raise and how the ladies hand-weave the rugs. Their fingers move very fast and the designs are very intricate. Some silk designs have 10,000 knots per square inch. We then stopped at a leather store and saw a brief fashion show. Both male and female models came down the runway with various leather garments.  The men would whisk the jackets off of the female models with great flare.  I enjoyed it and would like for Jeff to learn how to take off my jackets the way the models did.  It was not Jeff’s favorite part of the day.

The silk cocoons

Weaving a silk carpet.

We very much enjoyed the day with Ozgur and our driver. He explained to us how intensive his training was to become a guide. After saying good-bye, we shopped in Kusadasi where the shop owners are much more aggressive than the merchants were in Sirince. We were back on board by 5:45 and spent another lovely evening with our Aussie friends.

We very much enjoyed our long day in Turkey. Their country is beautiful and the people very friendly.

Iyi geceler  (in the Turkish language)