Click on this link for more photos of Ephesus
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| Kusadasi |
Okay, today was Kusadasi, Turkey. That was the port city and it is a beautiful, and apparently very hip, summer hang. Very Hamptons.
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| Kusadasi |
But our real destination was the ancient city of Ephesus. This was a great highlight. It is a massive excavation of a city of over 200,000 inhabitants. The city they are uncovering was founded in 100 BC and it is the third city of Ephesus to have existed in the area, the other two having been previously destroyed. The big enemy in the area is earthquakes and volcanoes. Get this: Mary, the mother of Jesus, the Apostle John, and Paul all lived there, hence Paul’s letters to the Ephesions. I guess I didn’t see that coming. At any rate, Ephesus is the largest and most important Roman ruin in the eastern Mediterranian.
Here is a shop outside the Ephesus site and yeah, that sign does say, “Genuine Fake Watches”.
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| Cat in a tree, dog in the back |
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Looking down Main Street in ancient Ephesus.
I thought it would be less crowded, but this was quiet compared to the summer time, according the tour guides. |
Ephesus is an ongoing and active archeological site. There is a huge section of many acres on the hillside where a roof has been erected and they are doing amazing restoration work. And restoration consists only of cleaning. The following photos show some of their incredible results. These are interiors of homes and shops. Notice the extraordinary condition of the floors and walls. The colors are especially beautiful. Remember, this site is 1,500 years old! Again, more photos of this site can be found at this link.
Okay, we all know that the Romans were decadent. Apparently, it was common practice for the wealthy to eat to excess and then purge. Consequently, a common household room was the vomitorium. You can’t make this stuff up. Anyway, there it is, to the right.
Here are the original symbols for medicine and pharmacy. They’re in Ephesus!
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| The Library, a very famous site here |
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| Library detail |
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| The Theater. Paul preached here. It seats 24,000! |
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| Theater from down the block |
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| My first Turkish coffee |
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| Rest room scene |
Back on board the ship life is a bit slow. I should have brought running shoes. I’m getting no exercise and feeling it. We eat a lot and I can feel pounds jumping onto me! Trivia keeps us busy and Diane and I won a bottle of champagne at “name that tune”. Go figure! It’s always a good way to spend time meeting new and interesting people. So far, we seem to be meeting a lot of Canadians and Brits. Good fun.
The show with the singers and dancers last night was not good! I was really surprised because I generally enjoy them in all their cornball glory, but everything from costumes to lighting, direction, and the whole concept was wacky. They really promoted this show because it had amazing special effects with screen projections, which were, in fact, remarkable, but they left out some basic concepts about a show. Classical music morphed into rock, Bridge Over Troubled Water, a Beatles medley sung in period Louis XIV costumes and wigs for no apparent reason. Why we even took a turn to the Beatles was a mystery to me. Then a girl and guy duet in matching blue seaweed gowns. I mean, seaweed gowns? On a guy? I did a double take! The saving grace was an appearance by the Cruise Director, the Aussie who does standup. He’s hysterical! Great timing and quick, quick, quick!
