Blogs from Ephesus, Aegean, Turkey, Middle East - page 5

Fri -Ephesus I’m a bit behind in the blog but now I am sitting on the ship, overlooking the Greek Island of Patmos surrounded by a jewel blue sea. Beautiful….but we are going back to Turkey, in particular, Ephesus. What a day! Having been to Pompeii and hearing that Ephesus was so much better I was really looking forward it – but really you can’t compare the two. One is a lost city found, the other has always been there. Pompeii is about the village. Ephesus in its day was a big thriving business centre. This was the first time we really encountered the crowds but Enis is expert at skirting around them and finding a spot for us to listen. Actually he was very good at giving us a lot of information on the bus ... read more

Pues por fin arrancó nuestro viaje del año: Dos semanas en Turquía. Este viaje fue todavía más controversial entre nuestros conocidos que el viaje del año pasado. Cuando antes simplemente nos preguntaron: "¿Cambodia? ¿Qué hay ahí?" ahora si fue todo un drama con mucha gente: Que si los terroristas, los talibanes, la guerra civil en Libia, y un largo etcétera. Eso demuestra que en México sabemos muy poco de estos lejanos lugares del mundo (yo no sabía casi nada del país hasta este viaje). Los participantes en esta ocasión fuimos Sandra y yo, nuestro amigo César y Julián "el cuñao" que repitió por 2do año consecutivo. Igual que la vez pasada decidimos organizar todo el viaje de manera independiente en vez de tomar un tour, primero por que sale mucho más barato que los viajes mas ... read more

Efes... read more

Merhaba from Selçuk! I am waıtıng for the group at the hotel and am breakıng my no ınternet goal! Just wanted to say that all ıs well. The trıp has been great so far - we have been to the WWI battlefıelds at Galıpolı, the ruıns of Troy (complete wıth horse), and Ephesus was even better than I hoped! Amazıng what ıs left and almost ımpossıble to ımagıne ıt as ıt was. We had a free mornıng today so I was up early and off to the House of the Vırgın Mary (where she ıs saıd to have dıed, although she ıs not burıed here), the Cave of the Seven Sleepers, the Isma Bey mosque (buılt ın 1375), the Basılıca of St. John the Baptıst (where ıs ıs saıd to be burıed), and the Ephesus Museum. ... read more

June 15, 2010. Turkey is an interesting study in dichotomy. Long poised at the junction of Europe and the Middle East, the country has played roles in shaping civilizations, as well as soaking up on influences from both regions. Once a stronghold of the mighty Byzantines, it was eventually placed under the Ottoman Empire, whose reign stretched as far as Northern Africa to the west and Western Asia to the east. The collapse of the Empire in the early 20th century signaled the start of a modern republic that advocates a secularist stance but whose population largely clings to Sunni Islam. There are few places elsewhere where you can see this duplexity and perhaps none more so than in the Southern Aegean region. The port of Kusadasi, which greets most visitors arriving from the Mediterranean via ... read more