Day 25: KUSADASI (Ephesus)

A lazy morning as we continued to head for Turkey.  Late breakfast, did some reading then a light snack as we docked at what was once a small fishing village and now is a resort mecca.  There were 5 other cruise ships in dock, all just making brief stops to visit Ephesus.  The place crawled with tour buses!  It was another sunny, warm day - ideal for being out and about.

Ephesus was built by one of Alexander the Great's generals as his home base.  It was a Greek foundation, but later taken over by the Romans.  Back then it was built on a hillside that sloped down to the harbour or Bay of Ephesus.  At its height it had 250,000 inhabitants.  But in the 7th century the mouth of the bay silted up, leaving the huge bay as a stagnant lake.  Malaria became rife, killing off most of the population.  The city was abandoned and forgotten, eventually being buried under mudslides and natural detritus.  Earthquakes destroyed most of the buildings.  The lake eventually dried up, remaining as a valley.  Today Ephesus is a 30 minute drive from the sea.

In the late 18th century a German mystic, Anna Emerich, had visions of Our Lady's last years, and from her detailed descriptions the remains of Mary's House were discovered. Pilgrims came, as did the archaeologists -- and today about 20% of ancient Ephesus has been unearthed and reconstructed.  The work goes on.

Our first stop was to "Mary's House".  This is a stone chapel built on the site of what was reputed to be the home where Mary and John lived, and Mary died.  There is a spring there (a little like Lourdes) where people collect water to take home.  The site is on a hill outside of Ephesus, a place of safety where the christians built their simple homes to escape the persecutions that were common in the cities.

Thankfully our buses then dropped us at the top end of the old city, so it was all downhill after that.  We walked down the main street paved in marble, past baths and shops and a couple of temples.  The Odeon is a small theatre seating 1500 where they held concerts and plays, the the senate met.  Towards the bottom, near what wuld have been the harbour, is the mighty Library of Ephesus - a most imposing structure.  It was the 3rd largest library of the ancient world after Alexandria and Pergamum.  Nearby is the great arena or amphithetre of Ephesus, capable of seating 25,000 people.  St Paul preached here, causing a riot among the silversmiths, and was taken into protective custody in a prison we could still see on a distant hill.  Indeed Paul lived in Ephesus for 3 periods of time during his

missionary life.  

The agora or marketplace was harbourside as one would expect, catering for sellers of fish and other market produce as well as household goods.  Near to this are the ruins of the Church of St Joh, where the Ecumenical Council of Ephesus was held which defined the doctrine of the Theotokos.

After an early dinner the entire ship's company was bussed back to Ephesus to the Odeon which was quite magical with the ruins lit at night.  We sat in the theatre, on cushions thankfully provided by the ship for a 45 minute concert provided by a harpist and small string orchestra.  Classic works by Bach, Rachmaninoff, Handel and others.  Drinks served amongst the ruins as we arrived.  It was a really enjoyable experience:  they billed it as their "Azamazing Experience"... and free!  Then the schedule was to sail for Patmos at midnight.

Some photos of ther day's visits are here.