Ephesus
Our itinerary has changed a little but this map shows the general area we have sailed in since we left Athens. All of our stops have been around the Aegean Sea
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I just changed the settings so all of the photos in this blog can be viewed in a larger full format size by just clicking on them and scrolling though the individual sets. What you can see embedded is not the full photo.. I thought that was how I set up the photos originally but I missed it.
Today we docked in Kusadasi, Turkey, from there our tour bus took us to Ephesus where we saw some pretty incredible architectural ruins that date back to the 11th century BC. Ephesus was the center of Mediterranean commercial trade for centuries. Cleopatra and Mark Anthony visited Ephesus and Cleopatra’s sister is buried there. Saint John the Evangelist, Saint Paul; and the Virgin Mary were at the site or very nearby, and John and Mary are both buried there so it has significant for Christianity, Greeks, Persians and Romans had control of the city at various times. Th eoicture of me int he blog is at the Hercules Arch. I am supposed to be getting strenght from Hercules. In reality, it was a place to lean against since my feet hurt.
A massive earthquake destroyed much of the city in the sixth and seventh centuries AD.. Some parts of the city, especially the homes of the rich (called the terrace houses with their views to the Aegean Sea) were amazingly well preserved . A major restoration project is working on these homes, and like with the ruins in Santorini raised walkways were built so tourists can get close to the ruins and look down into the rooms.
On the way back to Kudasasi we stopped briefly at the Temple of Artemis.
This was a half day excursion which ended at an interesting rug making demonstration and of course a sales pitch. The rugmaking and rug artwork (check out the cats in the photo gallery) are pretty impressive but what impressed me nore this that Turkey is working to keep the traditional hand rug making craft alive by teaching unemployed young people, mostly women, how to weave rugs. The program is subsidized by the government. I admit we ended up purchasing a beautiful red hand woven rug for our dining room so the sales pitch worked.. We needed a new dining room carpet so what better time.
In the evening there was a music concert onboard by a choral group called The Choir of Civilizations. Its members are all Turkish but come from multiple religious groups. Their goal is to reflect the values of Turkey in a symbol of unity. The group was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. I found the performance very moving.
Despite today being a short day, it was hot and tiring. Here are some of the photos from the day.
Hope to write more soon but need some sleep. Today was very hot and tiring. Tomorrow is another long and very hot day in Rhodes, Greece with a full day. This is a gallery of some of the photos we took.
