On Saturday morning, we woke up in Asia, ready to explore the ancient city of Ephesus.
We definitely continued to follow our routine of getting ice water, spray bottles, & our cooling cloths ready to bring on our next HOT adventure. This time, we did our excursion through the cruise, so it was very well-organized, and we got to travel everywhere on an air-conditioned coach bus, which made it much more pleasant!
Our tour guide was awesome, teaching us some Turkish words on the bus & sharing a lot of the history of Ephesus with us before we even arrived. He was also amazing at finding the only shady spots in the whole area to give us a little break in between walking in the open sun.
Our whole family decided that the ruins in Ephesus were the most grand ones we've ever seen! There were marble lined streets, temples with amazing architectural details, ruins of decorative fountains & bath houses, sculptures, statues of Greek Gods lining the streets, and an amazing theatre built in the BC era, where John the Baptist spoke to the Ephesians in biblical times. This city must have simply beautiful to experience back when it was a bustling town!
Built around 104 CE, the fountain of Trajan is one of the finest monuments in Ephesus. It was constructed in honor of Roman Emperor Trajan.
"The Temple of Hadrian is one of the best-preserved and most beautiful structures on Curetes Street. It was built before 138 A.D by P. Quintilius and was dedicated to Emperor Hadrian, who came to visit the city from Athens in 128 A.D. The facade of the temple has four Corinthian columns supporting a curved arch, in the middle of which contains a relief of Tyche, goddess of victory."
"The Library of Celsus is considered an architectural marvel, and is one of the only remaining examples of great libraries of the ancient world located in the Roman Empire. It was the third-largest library in the Greco-Roman world behind only those of Alexandria and Pergamum, believed to have held around 12,000 scrolls. Celsus is buried in a crypt beneath the library in a decorated marble sarcophagus. The interior measured roughly 180 square metres (2,000 square feet).
The interior of the library and its contents were destroyed in a fire that resulted either from an earthquake or a Gothic invasion in 262 CE, and the façade by an earthquake in the 10th or 11th century. It lay in ruins for centuries until the façade was re-erected by archaeologists between 1970 and 1978." (Wikipedia)
"The Ephesus Theatre was first built in the Hellenistic period (3rd century BC) on the slope of Mount Pion taking advantage of its height and was later expanded by repairs at various times.
In the 1st century AD, the Apostle Paul spent over three years in Ephesus preaching the Gospel. According to tradition, he delivered a sermon condemning pagan worship in this theater.
According to the Acts of the Apostles (19:23-41), the theater was the site of the “riot of the silversmiths” in which those who made silver figures of Artemis rioted because Paul’s preaching was bad for business.
In the 3rd and 4th centuries when wild animal fights and gladiator games were in great demand, the Theatre was used for this purpose together with the Stadium.
In modern day, concerts still take place in the Theater of Ephesus today due to its amazing acoustics, allowing artists to even perform without a microphone. "In the modern era Elton John, Mikis Theodorakis, John Baes, Ray Charles, Sting, Diana Ross and many more have performed here in Ephesus."
Walking through the marble streets, we were entertained with a reenactment of ancient times, which brought the city to life for us!
You're never going to guess who we saw walking around Ephesus with us... Sarah and Paul!!! At this point, it was just funny that we saw them everywhere, so we had to snap a big family picture with them!
We were told it was an insult to NOT bargain in the marketplace, and you should never pay full price for anything. Our guide also advised us not to buy the Turkish Delight candy- it's a rip off there and even the shop owners know it... They definitely do their best to get you in their stores... They walk around handing out a lot of compliments & try to sucker you right in. Good thing we can hold strong!
Brian tried an authentic Turkish beer, and even though it tasted like Bud Light, it was refreshing on yet another insanely hot day!
Driving away from Ephesus, our tour guide pointed out this gigantic stork's nest on top of an ancient bath house. It was huge!
Driving through the countryside, we were struck with how much greener it was here than in the islands of Santorini.
We passed a famous statue of The Virgin Mother Mary on the way to see her home, where it is said that she spent her last 8 years with John the Baptist in Ephesus.
Mary's house was small, but was located in the most peaceful & beautifully landscaped area! It was full of tangerine, pomegranate, and olive trees, and I could have sat there all day, enjoying the peace and quiet!
Outside of Mary's house, we found the "wishing wall", which was filled with people's wishes and prayers on paper and strips of cloth.
We got back on the road and went to some Turkish bazaars, or marketplaces, and apparently, they are known for their "genuine fake watch" stores... We found it hilarious!
After a bit of shopping, we went to a carpet store for a demonstration of making hand-knotted silk rugs. It was neat to see the process begin from the silkworm pods, to spinning the silk, and trying the looms they use to hand-knot every piece of silk. Many of their rugs take several years to finish and their price reflects the work put in to them! (Needless to say, we didn't buy any rugs this time...)
The owner of the rug store was very passionate about his business, and while it was a bit of a sales pitch, it was neat to hear about and feel the different styles of rugs they make.
We were given complimentary Turkish bread treats (they were SOOO dry) as well as wine and sodas while we watched the demonstration (We were just happy to finally be in an air conditioned building)!
To give you an idea of what we were looking at, this small 5x7" framed "rug" took almost 3 years to finish and is being sold for the equivalent of $40,000! Like I said: We didn't buy anything this time, but some of the pieces were breathtaking!
Before heading back to the ship, we decided to find a restaurant to enjoy on land, and came across this little Turkish place right on the marina. There were some big fans going to make it slightly tolerable, and everyone enjoyed their meal off the ship!
When looking through the menu, the prices in Lira (Turkish currency) were not easy to understand, but I think we learned that 200 lira (their largest bills) is about equivalent to $6 in American money.
Not exactly traditional Turkish meals, but Emily said the pizza was her favorite meal of the whole trip, and Ben loved his burger (minus the sauce they served it with)!
We tried the turkish sampler, but it seemed to have more Greek influence than we expected... but it was still delicious!
The waiter said he had a"gift" for us at the end of the meal, and he brought us lovely plate of watermelon and hard plums...
Emily didn't want to be insulting to the waiters "gift" so she spread some watermelon around on her plate... It looked pretty convincing if you ask me!
Kusadasi was a success, and everyone found it to be one of the most beautiful stops we've made on our whole trip.
Back on the ship for dinner, Ben surprised us with an interesting entree choice: quinoa stuffed peppers! Gerald tried to talk him out of it, saying that most kids don't like it, but he stuck with his choice and he ended up loving it!
Once again, we couldn't get the kids to join us, but Brian was on board for more stupid pictures with me! Afterwards, Ben, Emily, & I went back to turn in early while Brian and Abby went to the headliner magic show for the evening, where they sat next to... wait for it... Sarah & Paul!!!
We had an awesome time today exploring Turkey, and are looking forward to waking up back in Europe tomorrow!
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