Ephesus

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Day 11: Upon disembarking from the bus in Selcuk we were escorted to our hotel. It was too early to check in so we left the bags behind the reception and sat and waited for our 0930 tour; that's right, no rest for the wicked. While we waited we met a brother and sister from Australia who were going on the same tour as us. After the bus ride, where no one spoke a word of English, it was nice to be able to meet new people without the problem of a language barrier. We introduced ourselves to Matt and Amanda and got to know each other for an hour and a half.

The tour bus eventually showed up and we were on our way to Ephesus. The first thing you notice as you enter Ephesus is how well preserved the ruins are. If you don't want to believe me then take Terri's word for it. She described them as the best collection of ruins she has ever seen; this coming from someone who has seen a lot of ruins in her travels. Now, what would a blog entry be without a bit of a history lesson (Once again coming from someone who almost failed history in high school). Ephesus was first a Greek city and then a large Roman city on the west coast of Asia Minor (bordering the Aegean sea). It gained it's notoriety during the Roman time period so that is what I am going to focus on. During the first century B.C., Ephesus was the second largest city of the Roman Empire and the world carrying a population of 250 000 people. The largest city of course being Rome. Ephesus was the capital of Asia Minor (similar to a provincial capital) with the capital of the Roman Empire being, you guessed it, Rome. It is said that the Gospel of John may have been written in Ephesus. Paul also is said to have lived in Ephesus and that he wrote the letter 1 Corinthians from the Ephesus tower where he may have been imprisoned for a short time. Now many of you know that I am not by any stretch of the imagination an actively religious person but to be able to see where the history of cultures began to develop and how it all ties back to religion is really quite interesting.

The tour itself only took us through maybe a tenth of what remains of Ephesus. They are still excavating it today. There are so many things historical and architectural that I could talk about. I am only going to mention a few things as nobody wants to read a 10 000 word blog entry and quite frankly, I don't want to type on either. If you are interested and want to know more; google it. One thing I would really like to point out is the size of the theatre. It could hold 25 000 people. Our guide made the claim that this is bigger than the one in Athens, Greece. Since I haven't been to Greece yet I have no comment. Terri said they are close in size but she wasn't sure which one is bigger. The next thing I would like to note is the Roman toilettes. Although there was no privacy and no plumbing (similar to a communal outhouse) they had one thing figured out; it is more comfortable to sit down when going to the bathroom. So why is it, 2000 years later, that Turkey has not come to terms with this concept. I personally prefer a toilet seat to squatting over a trough. Maybe it is just me!! Okay, time to whine about the heat once again. Ephesus is in a valley amongst foot hills and the air doesn't move. From my experience I would compare it to Kelowna in the summer only about 10 degrees hotter. It was definitely over forty and probably close to forty-five. Terri compared it to the heat she felt in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt. Either way it was (insert expletive here) hot!! Once again, if you don't want to take our word for it let me add perspective to it. Matt, the Australian we met, works in temperatures that reach 50 degrees centigrade and stay there. Even he was finding it hot in Ephesus.

Next we headed off to the House of the Virgin Mary. It is an active church about 7 km outside of Selcuk that is thought to be the last place Mary lived. The guide mentioned that she moved to this remote location after the crucifixation of her son Jesus. It was actually quite ironic to have a practising Islam try to convince all those on the tour that a major Christian icon did indeed inhabit this area. Maybe ironic isn't the right word; but, interesting.

Now we were off to a leather producer. What did the have to do with Ephesus; absolutely nothing. It was one of those things where the guide most likely makes a commission if we purchase something. It was still pretty neat to see. They put on a fashion show for us and fed us free apple tea (similar to cider). Some of the products are very unique including reversible leather jackets. I too became part of the show as they grabbed one male and one female from the audience, accessorized us and made us walk the catwalk. Not only did I wear a very nice feeling leather jacket but I rocked a pair of of slotted, hot pink glasses. To answer all of your question; YES, Terri did get pictures. It was a fun experience and I was tempted but I couldn't justify the $1100 dollars to get the jacket I wanted regardless of the fact that it would cost $2500 in Canada for the same jacket. I once again escaped unscathed.

Our final stop was what was left of the Artemis Temple. Although once considered one of the 7 ancient wonders of the world there is little to nothing left of it with the exception of one reconstructed column.

Did I say our final stop, my mistake, now we were off to a rug warehouse. They had a very nice selection of rugs and we did learn a thing or two. Did you know that the cocoon of one silk worm contains over a mile of silk? The process by which they harness the silk is pretty amazing to see as well. Some of these rugs take up to twelve years to make. They described the differences between the rugs made in different regions and the colours used to dye them; all of them naturally occurring. We also learned the difference between a rug that was meant for Royalty and those that the common people were allowed to possess. Apparently if you were caught owning the wrong rug; OFF WITH YOUR HEAD! Terri did purchase a nice rug from the Milas region of Turkey known for it's monopoly on 80% of the countries tobacco distribution. The dye that is mainly used comes from the tobacco plant giving a nice pastel mixture of browns and yellows. Momma Bear mentioned that it would also be easy to match furniture to; needless to say, I wouldn't have picked up on that.

After that it was back to the hotel. We had a minor issue with rooming in which they gave us one double bed. It was quickly resolved by Terri going down and having a conversation with the manager of the hotel. The Artemis hotel is only a minor upgrade from the Sinbad Hostel as we had our own bathroom but my towel still felt like sandpaper; I'm pretty sure I could have taken the rough edges off of a piece a marble with how stiff this towel was.
We went out to grab a bite to eat with our Australian friends. They picked a little place that served more a western quisine which was okay by us because it had been ten days of Turkish food by that point. What we ate wasn't important; I had fish and chips and Terri had chicken. What was important was that one of the servers went around doing magic tricks and believe you me, he is good at it. The food was good, the entertainment was great, and the frosted Beer Mugs were even better. If I could remember the name of this place I would recommend it but it seems to have slipped my mind.

Over dinner we continued to have a nice conversation with Matt and Amanda. They are essentially doing the same things in Turkey we are but in reverse order. After an exhausting day and with the midnight hour approaching we all decided it was time for bed. We agreed to keep in touch via Facebook; or so I thought. Word of advice, it you want to keep in touch with people you have met in your travels get their email address. With over 400 million users on Facebook do you know how hard it is to find someone with as common a name as Amanda or Matt. Yes, I do have their last name but that still yielded over 8 000 Amanda's and 11 000 Matt's with that surname. We are in Cappadocia at the same time and we believe we have a hot air balloon tour the same day so hopefully we run into them again so we can keep in touch. Oh yeah; Danette, Terri wanted to mention that she is going to finally get her hot air balloon ride so that you can no longer rub the Egyptian one in her face.

Good Night

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Comments

[Aunt Cathie]

Catwalk
You're too sexy for that jacket...