Kusadasi and Ephesus Day 7

Today we docked into the Turkish port city of Kusadasi (koo-Sha-dah-seh). It is a gateway to the ancient town of Ephesus, home to a lot of Christian icons and once a bustling city of 250,000 people.

We booked an all-day guided tour which departed the dock at 10am.

Our first stop was the House of the Virgin Mary.  After passing through four miles of flat countryside, we got to the ancient city of Ephesus.  But instead of stopping there, we continued up a very tall hill to the former home of Jesus mother, Mary.  Late in life, John the Baptist and Mary moved to Ephesus where she lived until she died.  John put her up in a house at the top of a large hill to protect her.

We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but I took a picture of a picture of the altar built at one end.

We also gathered holy water from a blessed stream and I brought it home for the kids.

in sAfter this we returned to the archeological site for Ephesus.  Home to the Ephesians in the Bible, Ephesus was a modern marvel of the time.  It was one of the largest port cities in the Mediterranean and had 250,000 people.  We saw many reconstructed buildings that were excavated including the famous library - you can see it in the background.

The main streets were made of marble and they had some sidewalks which were all brightly colored mosaic stones.

We saw the public toilet area where the citizens sat around a fountain filled with frogs whose croaking masked the sound of their business.  Running water flowed through the bathroom to whisk away waste and to let people wash their hands.



We also saw a large stadium where 25,000 people could sit.  We were told that a Sting concert partially destroyed the foundation which now has to be repaired. 

You could see a great view of the stadium from a hill jut above the Appian Way - a marble path leading from the city to the former waterfront that Cleopatra and Mark Antony used when they visited.


After seeing Ephesus we went to a Turkish lunch buffet and shopping center.

Then we went to St. John's Basilica where John the Baptist lived and preached.  He baptized people in the in-ground font at the left.


Finally we went back to the port city of Kusadasi to see how silk rugs are made.  We watched a guy take a silkworm cocoon and after getting it started, he pulled almost a mile of silk thread from the single cocoon.  You can read more about it here.  Then we watched a lady making a rug.  She was on a fairly small loom and with the speed at which she worked you could tell it would take a long time to make a single rug.  Shellie looked at a 6'x9' rug they priced at $40,000 and I made her run away.

We hoofed it back to the ship after our 7 hour tour.  Next day is on the Greek island of Santorini.