Good Grief! two blogs in one day, but i'm on a roll and i started reading about Ephesus and started looking at my pix and decided to put some of them up, too. first of all, i reported in my first blog post about Mykonos, the wrong date of embarkation. we started this trip on 18 Nov 2012. i think we were in Izmir on 19 Nov, or thereabouts.
the Turkish coast is beautiful and the Turks are very kind to visitors. Izmir is a metropolitan area full of people going to work and busy, busy, busy. our tour took us out of the city and into the Seljuk area where Ephesus is located. from the roadway you see beautiful stone structures in the middle of nowhere--and they were part of the ancient city of Ephesus dating long before Christian times.
the Shrine of the Virgin was the first stop on our tour and it is purported to be the last home of Mary, Mother of Jesus. this beautiful statue is in the area of the Shrine, which consists of buildings and prayer wall, crowded but respectfully attended by thousands of visitors every day.
i am a tourist who loves to hear every single word uttered by our guide and for one of the only times in my travelling life, i lost the group. i was so busy photographing the beautiful ruins and the gorgeous terrain as well as the cute kitties, i lost our group and i still can't believe it. we were issued radio receivers and headsets so that our guide could speak to all of us and i got so far behind that the audio was breaking because of distance and all the stone. of course this means that i have to go back, but i'm still unhappy with myself for missing out on the wonderful audio portion of our tour. i've done research since and i know something of the history and what some of the buildings represent but the guide had so much more information...
this is the grand facade of the library, facing east to provide morning light for readers. one reference stated that the library contained 12,000 scrolls.
i believe this is the reconstructed ancient road to the sea, a harbor which was silted in by the river.
when i was finally found by my travel buddy and my tour group, we boarded our bus and headed for the tomb of St. John the Evangelist. it stands on a hill above which is a mosque. while we were walking up to the tomb, the call to prayer issued forth from the mosque and it was an interesting experience, the first time i had actually heard the Muslim call to prayer, not just a recording.
the tomb of St. John the Evangelist has been extensively excavated and reconstructed and is beautifully cared for. i believe that the Roman Catholic Church maintains the Shrine of the Virgin and at least part of the tomb of St. John.
and, back to the ship, a great meal, to bed early so that we could get to our next port call.
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