Day 14: Ephesus

Day 14:  Ephesus  (Christmas Eve)

The first part of today’s tour took us to the House of the Virgin Mary.   This was a feature that I had not visited on my previous trip in 2000, so I was quite keen to see it.  We were amazed to see that the Virgin Mary also has significance for the Muslims and is mentioned several times in the Qran.   Apparently a German nun, who never travelled out of Germany, several times had visions of the house where Mary ended her days.  Eventually scientists traced what the nun described in her writings to this place, where foundations dating back to the 1^st century were found.  The location coincides in a general sense with this area, as it had always been believed that Mary would have lived in this, the same area that the disciple John came to.  From the cross, Jesus had beseached John to look after his mother and so it makes sense that she would have lived where he lived and there is no dispute among scholars that John came to live around here.  

From the 1^st century foundations, a new stone house has been built.  The Roman Catholic church has declared the house a sanctified place and some believe the springs nearby to be carrying holy water.  Three different popes have visited the house, the most recent being Pope Benedict in 2008 (I think).

From there we travelled to Ephesus and spent about an hour and half there.  It was a beautiful  sunny day and the reconstructed ruins looked wonderful against the blue sky.  Our guide, this time a very pretty young Turkish woman, Isik, explained all that was to be seen very well.  She exploded a couple of myths that are commonly told about Ephesus but otherwise told much the same stories that I had heard from Hakan.  Roger was excited to see Ephesus and Robyn and Damien declared it to be the best they had seen in preserved Roman ruins.  The fact that so much of it has been reconstructed gives a sense of  perspective and reality to what otherwise may just look like a pile of rocks.  This is particularly so with the library, the front of which has been very extensively reconstructed. The theatre at Ephesus is breathtaking- seating for 25,000 and in Roman days it would have been overlooking the ocean.  The platform where the Emperor sat can be seen at the front and it takes only a little imagination to see the Emperor putting his thumb up or down to determine which of the gladiators will live or die.

We were taken to a restaurant for lunch Turkish style.  Out came delicious soup and bread, then salad, then a casserole, then chicken kebabs then dessert!!! We all found it very tasty but there were two Sth Korean girls with us and they struggled – epecially with the beetroot on the salad.   It was a huge place, seating 300 people I estimate, obviously used for weddings because it was permanently set  up with green seat covers with orange bows and a swagged bridal table.  When done for the first  wedding, it probably looked quite stunning but now, probably 100 + weddings later, it’s all looking very tired and tacky.  Robyn and Damien of course joked about changing their wedding venue, having the wedding at Ephesus and the reception there.

With our stomachs groaning, we were then taken to a leather factory.   Robyn’s eyes lit up when she heard this as she saw a possibility of buying what she has always longed for – a red leather jacket.  We were treated to a 15 minute fashion parade – all six of us – and then let loose in the show room.  I’ll just abbreviate the next hour by saying that we left, not only with a red jacket for Robyn, a brown/black for Damien, a chocolate brown one for “Pappa” and a red one for “Mamma”.  The salesman really had to work hard on “Mamma” and the more he called me Mamma the more diminished were his chances.  However, at the very last minute, with his “all time special price”, I caved in.  As we were walking out, we remembered that it was Christmas Eve, so are calling the jackets our presents to each other.

From there it was to the museum at Ephesus, which houses many of the statues and artifacts that have been removed from the ancient city for their protection.  It was good to be able to now imagine them in situ.

The day had still two activities.  Firstly to the location of the former wonder of the Anciet World, the Temple of Artemis.  There is now just one reconstructed pillar left, so imaginations were needed big time.

Finally, we went to a carpet weaving factory.  With four leather jackets to our names, they had no hope!   However, it was good to see the weaving happening.   When I saw it last time, it was a group of ‘’Turkish mammas” who were at work, but this time, it was five young girls.  The owner, who was able to converse with Rob and Damien in Dutch, but who also spoke excellent English, explained that they bring girls in during the low season and teach them.  Having been trained, they are set up with a loom at home and contracted to weave a carpet over something like a ten month period.  In this way, the tradition of the hand woven carpet will live on.  Robyn enjoyed learning how they make the knots.  They brought out about twenty carpets of course, in the flamboyant style with three men throwing out the rolled rugs to the boss’cue and of course, eliciting all the appropriate oohs and aahhs.  This particular company do tiny silk rugs about 30cm square and we were all tempted to maybe add one of those to our luggage.   But even they were $350 each, so we thanked them for the apple tea and their time and left them without a sale.

I am up in the middle of the night writing this blog.  The beds at this lovely hotel are very ‘’orthopaedic’’ and I twice woke up with a searing back ache.  The second time, I decided to have a shower, some Panadol and come down to the lobby to finish this blog.  It is now 1pm your time and I am picturing Christmas dinners roasting in ovens and the various families gathering around various Christmas trees to open gifts.  Of course Chris, Cathy and James in New Zealand will be half way through the afternoon, so maybe they are now having their Christmas afternoon nap.    Hope the gruelling trek went well Chris and that you had the energy to tuck into Christmas dinner. 

Unfortunately I cannot post this blog yet as the internet won't connect properly.  I will have to wait until I can connect to post it.