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!
jane sadek 