Day 11 - Ephesus

We spent our last full day in Turkey exploring Ephesus. We made a last minute call to start our tour a little later today. Our tour reached out the night before to see if it would be possible to adjust to an earlier flight to Istanbul (we were taking the 10:30pm flight back). Our tour guide didn't want us to sit at the airport for too long, and knew our day might not be full enough to stay busy late into the evening. There weren't other good options so we opted to start at 10am, rather than 9am. This option also had the benefit of potentially avoiding rain - the weather forecast showed a rainy morning with the potential for a clearer afternoon. 

Alison coordinated our tour in Ephesus. When she is planning trips she will rely quite a bit on Tripadvisor. This strategy has been very successful. Our tour today, which was highly recommended by TripAdvisor, was excellent. We booked our tour through Ephesus Port Tours. We booked a private tour with a guide and driver. Our guide was Hakan. He is one of the best tour guides we have had anywhere in the world. 

Our hotel was located in Izmir, which is close to the airport, but far from the interesting sites in this area. We had about an hour drive to our first stop. Hakan gave us a little bit of an overview of this area. He assured us that even with our late start we would have a fabulous experience because there would be few tourists at the sites. This was great news for us, but bad news for Hakan. He told us tourism in this area has been particularly hard hit by the pandemic. Tourism around Ephesus is largely driven by cruise ships. In peak season they would have up to 10 cruise ships a day in port. Obviously they haven’t had any since the pandemic began. It sounded like Hakan hasn’t had much work in the past year. He was so excited to be our guide. He also told us he hasn’t had as much practice with english as he would like lately, but assured us his english would come back quickly as he spoke (his english was excellent). 

Our first stop was the House of the Virgin Mary. This site is a Catholic shrine located in Mt. Koressos. Tradition holds it to be the last home of Mary the mother of Christ. This place became main stream because of a revelation recorded from a German nun, Catherina Emmerich. She was an invalid who never left Germany, but described in detail the geography of Ephesus and the house where she saw Mary spending her last years. Based on the recording of her vision an expedition was organized in 1891 that followed her instructions to the current location of this shrine. 

In addition to the vision there are a number of other potential pieces of evidence that this may have been the final abode of Mary. In the scriptures when Christ is on the cross he entrusts the care of his mother Mary to John the apostle. John later travels to Ephesus and it is probable that Mary would have traveled with him. Additionally, from the location of the shrine on Mt. Koressos the island of Patmos if visible, which is the location where John wrote the book of Revelations. Beyond the scriptural record the tomb of St. John is located in Ephesus indicating he spent potions of his life in this area. Additionally, the first Basilica in the world dedicated to the Blessed Virgin was in Ephesus. This is significant because according to Christian tradition at that time they would only dedicate a church to a Christian figure that lived or visited that area. Further, local Christians in this area passed down a tradition visiting the site on August 15 each year (believed to be the date of Mary’s death or ascension, depending on who you ask). After telling us about these evidences, Hakan wanted to make it clear that we cannot know for sure if Mary ever lived here. In that sense this shrine reminded me of many of the Holy sites around Jerusalem. These sites, regardless of whether or not they are the actual sites of the events they commemorate, have been made holy by the faith, tradition, and pilgrimages of the many believers who revere them. 

After Hakan gave us the information about these sites he turned us loose to explore. We walked through the shrine and down past the fountain (famous for holy water) and along a wall where Christian pilgrims will write down prayers and supplications and stick them in the wall (this is temporary suspended because of covid). At this point it was raining, but the entire area was quite peaceful.

Our next stop, the ancient city of Ephesus, was ~5 minute drive down the mountain. Neither Alison, nor I, realized that Ephesus as a city does not exist today. There is a fourth modern iteration, that has a different name, that is little ways away. The ruins we were visiting were the third iteration of the city and was built during the Roman period. This ancient city boasts some of the most well preserved Roman ruins in the world. We love ancient ruins and were quite excited to see the ancient city. Hakan explained the reason the city was moved so often was due to the changing location of the ocean. In ancient times there was a large river that would carry water from the mountains (today the river is much smaller). In addition to water this river carried dirt and debris. These debris would accumulate over hundreds and thousands of years, creating marshy areas and moving the ocean away from the city. As a result of mosquitos from the marshes that would carry malaria, and the loss of the harbor the location of the city would move. Today the ruins of Ephesus are nearly 4 miles from the ocean. In ancient times this was one of the largest and riches port cities in the world. 

By the time we arrived at Ephesus the rain had stopped (hallelujah) and the sun was starting to come out. We could not have been more thrilled. Especially since we would spend the next few hours outdoors. We took what we needed from the van and began our walking tour. Hakan grabbed a large green container that was filled with brown pellets. I couldn’t figure out what it was, or why he would need it until we arrived at the entrance of the ruins. Hakan told us that there are many cats living in the ruins and that he likes to bring them food whenever he brings a tour. He began shaking the container and cats appeared from the canopy and surrounding area and came running to get food. One cat in particular really loved Hakan and followed us for a good portion of the tour. 

We explored the ruins and Hakan told us all about the history of Ephesus. He was quite knowledgable and since we were fascinated by the history and there were very few other tourists we really took our time. While the situation is really hard for Hakan with so few tourists, it was incredible to have this amazing place mostly to ourselves. There will hopefully never be another time it is this empty. We stopped to look at all of the little things - pipes built by the Romans, examples of cement that is thousands of years old and still holding up, and fig trees. After the city was abandoned it was covered by dust and buried. They have been excavating it and have uncovered the main portion of the city. During the first portion of our walking tour Hakan kept telling us that these ruins were nothing compared with what we would see further on. 

One of the points of interest was a sculpture of Nike. It was very well preserved. 

After the sculpture we entered the main thoroughfare through the heart fo the city. In this section Hakan explained to us how this street would have divided the rich and poor citizens (rich citizens lived on the left side of the main thoroughfare. We saw examples of ancient shops, statues, writing, baths, toilets, and temples. These ruins were incredible. 

About halfway down the thoroughfare we came to the terrace houses. These are a a number of houses that have been excavated and are now covered. They contain examples of beautiful mosaic work. It is an extra fee so Hakan asked us if we wanted to visit them, we were an emphatic yes. We like to do everything we can when we are traveling, even if it costs a little extra. We don’t know if we will ever be back here, so we wouldn’t want to miss out. 

Before we entered the terrace houses Hakan asked Alison if she would like to give away his remaining cat food. She said yes, of course. He took her phone and gave her his container of food. He told her to shake it really hard 10 times and then to pour out the food in a line on the ground. As soon as she started shaking the food the cats came running from out of all the rocks and crevices of the ruins. Alison had a look of pure joy on her face as she fed the cats. They loved her. 

We toured the terraced houses and Hakan told us about the people who would have lived here. We saw the ongoing archeological efforts and enjoyed the beautiful mosaics. It is crazy because we were the only people in the terrace house area for the 30-45 minutes it took us to walk through. 

Next we moved onto one of the iconic buildings in Ephesus - the library. The building had been completely knocked down through earthquakes and neglect, but has now been reconstructed using mostly original pieces. It is quite the ancient building. 

After the library we headed out to the amphitheater. It is large and well preserved. This is a very common feature of ancient cities. Hakan pointed out this is likely where Paul preached to the Ephesians. 

The amphitheater was the last stop of our ancient Ephesus tour. It is an amazingly preserved ancient city. It was honestly much more fascinating than I expected. I would 100% recommend visiting Ephesus. 

Our next stop was the Temple of Artemis. Really what is left of it. This was once one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, but sadly all that is left is one solitary column and some ruins. Most of the columns and building materials were pilfered for use in other buildings (including possibly the Hagia Sophia, although Hakan pointed out that while many guides will share that fact, it is not certain). Even though not much remains it was a good stop. If for no other reason than because from this spot you can see 3 different religious traditions represented. In the foreground you have the remains of the Temple of Artemis a pagan religion. In the background is a Mosque, a Muslim building. Next to the Mosque are the remains of the Basilica of Saint John, a Christian church. This area of the world is truly a melting pot of ideas, religions, and people. 

After the Temple of Artemis we were hungry. Hakan took us to a local restaurant for lunch. We were the only people at the restaurant and they brought us amazing food. They brought a pile of hot and cold starters with lot of sauces and delicious homemade bread. The main course consisted of beef and chicken kabobs with rice. We had fresh fruit for dessert. The fruit in Turkey has been so delicious and quite plentiful. 

When we finished lunch Hakan went over our options for the rest of the day. We decided to visit the Basilica Of Saint John. We were a little torn over whether or not to visit this site, both Hakan and our guide in Istanbul mentioned that many tourists are disappointed in the Basilica of Saint John so the tour guides recommend not making the stop. I was indifferent and Alison wanted to go so we went. The Basilica of St. John was a basilica in Ephesus. It did not survive and is now only ruins. It was constructed by Justinian I in the 6th century. It stands over the believed burial site of John the Apostle, although the remains that were believed to belong to St. John were moved to the Vatican. It was modeled after the now lost Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople. Not much of the church remains, this site reminded Alison and I quite a bit of the ruins at Capernaum in Galilee. 

I can see why some tourists are disappointed. If you were expecting a grand church, that is not what this is. However, Alison and I love religious history and quite enjoyed these ruins. According to tradition after John was exiled to Patmos he returned to Ephesus around 95 AD. He lived out his remaining years at Ayasuluk hill in Ephesus, where he wrote his gospel and letters. Tradition holds that he died around the age of 100 (extremely old for that time period) and was buried in Ephesus according to his last request. 

We still had a few hours left before our flight. Hakan took us to visit his home town of Kuşadası. Kuşadası is a beach resort town. Its seafront promenade, marina, and harbor are lined with hotels and restaurants. Just offshore on Pigeon Island is a walled Byzantine castle that once guarded the town, connected to the mainland via causeway. Hakan dropped us near the castle. We spent the evening exploring the castle and then walking along the harbor. We watched the sunset and enjoyed our last moments in Turkey. 

When we were done our driver picked us up and took us back to the airport. We caught our flight back to Istanbul, which was the first leg of our journey home.