Saturday was an early start.
We met our tour outside at 7:15, amongst a large number of tour busses
and operators. Our tour guide was a
very knowledgeable Turkish woman. The
tour only had about 16 people so it was a nice size and allowed us to travel at
a reasonable pace.
After piling onto the bus, our first stop was the House of
the Virgin Mary. This was way up in the
hills in the outskirts of Ephesus. It is
believed that Jesus told John to take care of his mother Mary and so he brought
her to Ephesus to live in hiding, so that she would not also be
persecuted. She lived away from the town
and was given food by some of the woodsmen who hunted in the surrounding
forests.
Today, a small temple/church has been built where Mary is purported
to have lived. The inside is lined with
pictures of her and Jesus. Candles can
be purchased and lit in honour of loved ones.
Also, there is a wishing wall lined with thousands of wishes and prayers
sent to Mary.
I think this experience would have been much more meaningful
if I were Catholic, but nevertheless, it was still very interesting to
see. While we were there observing the
prayer wall, a Korean lady asked me to take a photo for her (I recognized she
was Korean from the Hangul writing on her booklet). I spoke briefly to her in Korean and she was
so happy—she kissed me on both cheeks and took a photo with me… so cute!
Our next site was the ancient ruins of Ephesus. This was one of the sites Hildy was most
excited about. As we arrived, there were
crowds of people and tours gathering—we knew it would be a busy day, but we
were determined to make the most out of it.
As we walked through the ruins, our guide told us the
fascinating history behind the designs and architecture of this ancient
town. The streets were all made of marble
and it was designed in such a way that on hot days, small holes would open from
the nearby fountains and wash over the hot marble in order to cool it
down. Also, the geographical location of
this city was chosen because of the slight ocean breeze that is ever-present
and serves to circulate the air, ensuring maximum comfort to the
inhabitants.
The ancient town had an underground sewage system which
would even use warm water in cold months to keep the toilets heated and
comfortable. Furthermore, there were
separate water pipes and ducts flowing throughout the city showing advanced
plumbing knowledge.
We saw carvings of the present day prescription symbols,
which illustrated the location of a hospital.
Also the goddess Nike was located in a nearby carving, which was later
adapted into the Nike trademark in the 1980s.
Our guide took us to the Library of Celsus, which was built
as a memorial to Gaius Julius Celcus Polmanus, the Proconsul of the province of
Asia. It included underground
passageways to the nearby brothel for discreetness.
We also had the chance to enter the Grand Theater, which is
where St Paul preached to as many as 24,000 people. During our last visit to Ephesus, this
theater was closed for restoration, so Jessie and I were both very pleased to
be able to go and experience it this time around. The acoustics are amazing!
Another interesting experience this time was the Terrace
Houses, which were not open to the public during our last trip. These displayed ancient living spaces which
were still intact with pictures on the walls, beautifully tiled mosaic floors,
amazing architecture etc.
When we were planning our trip to Ephesus, Jessie and I knew
there were many cats. We knew Hildy
would get a kick out of bonding with the cats, so we picked up a package of cat
treats to bring along with us. We gave
these to Hildy who gladly spread the love with the feline friends. The cats would follow her around and meow for
more. She became quite the popular VIP
in Ephesus, at least with the cats.
At one point, all of the people in our tour were watching
Hildy feed the cats, and the tour guide got frustrated because no one was
listening to her. She had to interrupt
the group in order to regain their attention.
It was totally worth it to see the immense joy Hildy got from feeding
the “poor little things”. She was
convinced that they weren’t cared for and were starving and thirsty, even
though we saw various places where cat food was laid out for them. It was evident that the cats were taken care
of, but Hildy still believed otherwise.
Following our time in Ephesus, our guide showed us St. John’s
Basilica, which was quite beautiful from the outside, but is falling apart on
the inside. Our guide informed us that
many of the building materials have been ‘recycled’ over the centuries from
Ephesus to the basilicas etc. This is
why the ruins have only partial materials remaining.
Our last stop was a bit of a tourist trap. We ended up at a leather factory where we
were ‘treated’ to a fashion show. This
was my first fashion show to date and I was surprised to see how seriously and
ferociously the models walked down the runway.
This was a private fashion show so I thought the whole affair would be
laid back, but it seemed to have a very professional aura.
Afterwards, all of the guests were invited into the
warehouse to see and buy the merchandise.
The products were beautiful and extremely high quality, but also had
extremely high price tags. Hildy made
the mistake of admiring a nice beige jacket and soon she had a sales manager
beside her urging her to try it on. The
jacket’s price tag had a listed price of $1,600 USD, but this manager
generously informed Hildy that she could have it for only $800… what a
deal! I couldn’t tell whether she
actually wanted the jacket or not, but eventually she told me in German that
she didn’t know how to get out of the sale.
The manager was quite determined, but in the end, Hildy did not end up
taking the jacket.
Soon we were on the bus back into Kusadasi. We had several hours left before the ship
left port, and so we decided to check out the Grand Bazaar. Hildy had never experienced this type of
market before and was eager to see what it was all about. This only lasted for about five minutes.
When we arrived at the Bazaar, we were surrounded by male
store owners ushering us into their stores and hounding us for sales at a
‘special price, just for you!’. Hildy
was soon overwhelmed and exclaimed “Get me out of here!” The event was short lived, and Hildy never
wants to return to a bazaar in Turkey.
We came back onto the ship and were all relieved to have the
comforts of home once again. We had a
nice dinner with our lovely waiters Tito and Purna and then went to see a
fantastic show at the Mainstage. We are
all very impressed with the entertainment programs on this ship; they’ve been
the best I’ve seen so far.
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