We landed this morning in Turkey at the port of
Kusadasi.
We pulled up next to the
Queen Victoria and realized just how small a ship we have been on.
It took a while to pass through Turkish
customs. While we waited Bill Mcready
spent a good portion of the time trying to convince all of us not to
ride today, but take the bus to the various sites we were going to visit. His final words were “there will be no
support for any riders, so you’re on your own”.
Fortunately, we had already decided to be sightseers today only, and
give our legs a rest.
After finally disembarking, we left the port
for our first stop, the House of the
Virgin Mary.
This shrine is
located on the top of the "Bulbul" mountain 5 miles from Ephesus. It
is the place where Mary may have spent her last days. She may have come in the
area together with Saint John, who spent several years in the area to spread
Christianity.
We left Mary’s house to Serince, our lunch
destination. On the way, we stopped at a weaving factory where beautiful rugs
are made by hand. We got to see silk
spinning
The weaving process,
and the presentation of the rugs and tapestries
for our “enjoyment”.
Jeri found a piece that she fell in love with. Don’t know if we overpaid, but we did bargain
hard. Worked up an appetite
Sirince is a sleepy little town in the middle of
nowhere,
with a great market area,
and beautiful views from the vantage point
of the restaurant where we ate lunch (more feta and lamb, but Turkish feta and
lamb!).
Lunch ended and we were on the way to the main
event of the day, Ephesus.
Ephesus was
founded in about the 10th century BCE as a Greek colony. Since then, it has changed hands several
times over the years, Greek, Persian, Egyptian, Roman, Byzantine, and
Turkish.
The original city was about 3
miles closer to the opening of the Cayster River, but the river continued to
build up silt over the centuries, and the port became to far from the
merchants, so it was moved closer to the coast.
Many of the remains are still quite in tact
including the temple of Hadrian
two coliseums,
and the Library of Cassus.
Recently, archeologists have unearthed remains of
terraced houses that are in very good shape owned by wealthy Romans.
The houses were multi storey and were terraced to
allow for excellent views on all levels.
Feral cats were everywhere in Greece and Turkey. This one was the Ephesus version of the Wal-Mart greeter
Not riding was a good choice today allowing us
plenty of time to see Ephesus at our leisure, and by the end of the day, we
were beat.
Lesvos tomorrow.
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