Tag: Ancient Ephesus

Architecture, ART, Attractions, Cruising, DESTINATIONS, International, Memory Keeping, Shore Excursions, TRAVEL

The Famous Roman Ruins of Ephesus

Jane Sadek

MAKING MEMORIES: WONDER & AWE IN ANCIENT EPHESUS

Join us for a marvelous tour of the Roman City of Ephesus. While no one can guarantee Mary made her home on the outskirts of Ephesus, there’s no question that what we saw later that morning was the place where many luminaries of the Roman world, Christian and Pagan, walked. Come walk with us down Curetes Street to the famous Library of Ephesus.

Strolling the Main Drag

It’s a short drive from Mary’s house to the Roman Ruins of Ephesus. I purposely created this page for Ephesus with an ascending flavor. The photos on the upper left are of the library. If you were on the porch of the library during Roman times and headed left, you’d walk past a large amphitheater on the Arcadian Road and go to the port. As I mentioned before, the ancient port is now covered over with centuries of silt and Kusadasi serves as the nearest port.

If instead, you headed straight up the road in front of you, Curetes Street, named for the priests of Artemis, then you would have entered Ephesus’s answer to Rodeo Drive. Today’s tourists begin at the top of Curetes Street and wander down to the Library. It’s a wonderful walk. You pass public toilets, bath houses, restaurants and stores which were once amazing marble edifices built to serve the Roman elite.

Echoes of the Parthenon

Though the Ancient Greeks built atop the Acropolis long before the Roman era, the Romans made their mark there and then copied what they saw all over their widespread empire. It’s clear to see in Ephesus and I’ve seen the same architectural hallmarks around Italy and in Egypt. I would see the same hallmarks the next day in Troy and even Istanbul has ties to Athens. In fact, any capital your visit in the Western World is an homage to Athens, be it Paris, London or Washington D.C.

To have had the privilege of seeing all these wonderful things is quite humbling. I certainly don’t deserve to be so lucky. It’s one of the great blessings of my life. My precious mother is the one who inspired me to get out into the world and see what I could of it. I’ve traveled further than she ever had to opportunity to do, but I know she’s delighted that’s how things worked out.

The Cats of Ephesus

Though it was never my intention to have cats as a secondary theme to my Aegean Sea cruise, they certainly made their paw mark on it. While I don’t remember cats in Crete, all our other stops teemed with cats. For Mr. Bill that’s an absolute delight. For me, it’s a photo opportunity. According to our chatty guide, one of the cats of Ephesus has its own Instagram page, but I’m not often on Insta, so I can’t vouch for that.

As in the other places we visited, the Cats of Ephesus keep to themselves for the most part and only a few lucky people are allowed in close enough to pet them. Bill got lucky in Rhodes and it was my turn in Istanbul. If you follow in our footsteps, keep your eyes peeled for our feline friends.

Back to the Boat

We did stand on the stairs of the Library and make a left. The beauty continues all the way to the souvenir and snack shops. We climbed on the bus and tolerated our chatty guide all the way back to Kusadasi where were were subjected to the Rug Merchants there. We tolerated a little of their showmanship and then escaped quickly when they started their salesmanship. The walk back to the boat was a gauntlet of determined salespeople. What have they got to lose? If they don’t grab you today, it’s unlikely they’ll get another chance at you.

Back on board, we grabbed a snack in the World Cafe and returned to our room so Bill could nap. I read for most of his nap, but then I did go to the Port Talk for Troy, next on our itinerary. After the Port Talk it was our turn to go to the Chef’s Table, but some how we were there for Korean Night. Not one of our favorite cuisines, but it was a different sort of evening from the rest of them. Confession, we did hit the World Cafe for some ice cream before going to the theater for the broadcast of a symphony. It was a lovely performance, but I’m old school. I would have preferred something live.

We have a late shore excursion the next day, so another chance to take it easy. Join me next week to see how we enjoyed it.

Architecture, ART, Attractions, Cruising, DESTINATIONS, International, Memory Keeping, Shore Excursions, TRAVEL

Ancient Ephesus with a Chatterbox Guide

Jane Sadek

MAKING MEMORIES: THE PORT OF KUSADASI, GATEWAY TO ANCIENT EPHESUS

In ancient times, Ephesus itself was an important port on the Aegean Sea, but now the sea has pulled back and the sleepy little town of Kusadasi serves as the gateway to Roman Ephesus. Ephesus was also the home of Mary, the mother of Christ, and his disciple John, according to tradition, the occult and some archeology. Come with us as we explore these ancient sites for ourselves.

An Early Morning Tour

A good friend cruised the Aegean earlier in the year and she thought seeing Mary’s house was one of the highlights of her trip, so I booked that tour, even though it would mean an early departure from the ship, as we did in Athens. So, I was up before Bill and got my shower, ate my breakfast bar and got ready for the day. Bill was interested in breakfast, so we went to the World Cafe for him to browse the buffet and I took advantage of their Diet Coke to offset the one glass too many I’d enjoyed the night before.

We found our bus and were safely in our seats by the 8:30 departure, which did not happen right on time. The daughter portion of a mother/daughter duo showed up to make us wait for her mother. There’s always someone who can’t seem to make it on time. Lo and behold, it was the lady who got lost on Crete. Thankfully, once she made it to the bus that morning, there was no more drama.

When we got on the bus, the guide was talking and she never stopped. OK – she had instructions to give, though we’d already heard them for three days in a row, then she had to let us know what was delaying our departure and then she started giving us the tour highlights, but we got more than the highlights, we not only got lots of details ad nauseum, I began to notice that to keep up her constant chatter, she was also giving us her life history, including the in vitro origins of her twins. TMI, for sure!

Well, I listened the best I could, trying to ferret out the important stuff stuffed in between the life events of a Turkish mother of in vitro twins! Bill on the other hand turned off his headset and snoozed. As part of her ongoing dialog with herself, our guide was quite interested in acquainting us with the goods which would be available at the souvenir shop close to Mary’s House.

Now, according to her, you wanted to go to the open air shop, not to the shop inside the restaurant. The open air shop had the blessed plates and icons. Not all plates and icons were blessed in the shop, but our guide was happy to help you know the difference. She never told us blessed by who or blessed for what, but they were blessed and we needed them – according to her. Even though not blessed, the shop had other merchandise available and she gave us a good run down of those, but assured us she’s be available for assistance during our time at the site.

Visiting Mary’s House

I was all prepped for a truly spiritual experience. The group climbed off the bus and immediately split into two groups. One was all about the blessed platters and the other group headed down the sidewalk, past the souvenir shop, to the holy site.

I took the photo of the the Mary statue, passed by an area with folding chairs, where groups had special ceremonies, and there we were at Mary’s house. The guy next to me looked just like my handsome, sophisticated and extremely smart husband, but when he stepped inside the small building he became a loud mouth skeptic, pointing out all the reasons this couldn’t be where Mary lived. There went my spiritual experience. I had an urge to grab his ear and drag him out of the building, instead I grabbed him by the arm, shushed him and then drug him out the back door.

I wanted to die. Here these people had traveled from all over the world to see this edifice and my husband had just been a very ugly American using his outside voice. He was walking very cocky, like someone who’d just debunked an urban legend. I had to calm myself and breathe before I could even talk to him. So we used the restroom facilities.

When I finally felt as if I could talk to him reasonably in an appropriate tone of voice I asked, “Did you realize the building we went into was not actually the home that Mary lived in, but a recent construction built over the foundation, of what is believed to the real thing?” His answer was more of a snort than anything else, as if to point out how obvious it was that it wasn’t her real house, but after the snort, he kind of got a funny look on his face, as if he were getting clue that he might have missed something.

Then I asked if he’d listened to anything the guide had said about authenticating this location as the home of Mary. Well, then I got an earful of how ridiculous our guide was and of course, he didn’t listen to her. So I replied, “If you had listened, then you would have known…” and I went on to tell him the many reasons why it is generally accepted as Mary’s house by authorities of various disciplines, both historical and religious.”

His demeanor changed somewhat and I scolded him a bit for embarrassing me. I admonished him to either listen to the guides or keep his mouth shut in the future and we can discuss authenticity privately. I had to listen to a little more pushback, blaming his faux pas on the inadequacy of the guide, but he had gotten the message. He wondered if I wanted to go back and see the house again and I assured him I most certainly did not. I was too embarrassed.

So, we headed back towards the bus and there was our guide directing all the shoppers on the proper blessed plates to buy for their homes. While I had no interested in the plates, blessed or unblessed, there was a counter of crosses of various sizes and prices. Had I been alone, I would probably have bought several, along with a handful of the smallest ones, but Bill was in no mood for me to create any benefit for our guide, which certainly she gets if we buy anything or she would not have been as focused on selling us the blessed plates.

Our next stop was the Roman ruins of the port city of Ephesus and there were no doubts about its authenticity. Come back next week for a real treat!