Ephesus

We arrived at Izmir, Turkey without a plan. I had read enough to know that the main destination was Ephesus about an hour away. I also knew that it was pretty expensive for the family to take the excursion to Ephesus. Ephesus is important to Christians because the apostle Paul was assigned to preach to the people there. While there he was imprisoned and wrote Ephesians. So to bring the bible to life, we wanted to go and visit. We got off the ship and the first person to speak to us in English asked what we wanted. I explained that we wanted to go to Ephesus. He gave us a very good price, much better than I could have gotten from the ship. We negotiated the price and then he went to find a driver who spoke English because he was just a facilitator. After a few minutes he came back and stated that he couldn't find any body that spoke English and that he would drive us. This was actually good for us because apparently he is one of the best english tour guides at the port but he doesn't do much guiding anymore.We got into his car and drove out of Izmir and into the Turkish countryside. His name was Ali and he was very nice and explained much about his country. He obviously was very proud of his country and wanted to show it off. We drove in the car for an hour and I was wide-eyed the whole way, just taking in as much as I could. Originally I had just wanted to make it to Ephesus, but then decided it would be nice to also go to the reputed house of Mary (the mother of Jesus). Supposedly she was taken to Ephesus by the Apostle John. On the way, Ali said we should pay the entrance fees with our credit card...I suddenly realized I didn't bring my credit card, it was sitting back on the safe on the ship. Thankfully, Ali offered to pay our entrance fees into Ephesus up front and we would pay him back. I figured out that by the time I paid him for the tours and for the entrance fees I wouldn't have much cash left to purchase souvenirs (the rest of the money was left in our cabin on the ship as well). Well it was the best I could do and so I took him up on his offer. We first went to Mary's house because it was furthest away and it was small, so if we got trapped behind tourist buses we would be there for a long time. It was definitely a tourist destination now, complete with kiosks selling souvenirs and a cafe. We walked up to this humble house and got in line. The house consisted of two rooms of modest dimensions. No personality, no decorations, no flair but I could imagine her living there. Now, whether she actually lived there or not, I don't know, but she could have, and that was good enough for me. The most interesting site was the wall of letters that people leave for Mary. People leave letters for Mary to answer or leave their troubles for her to work out. It was literally a wall of paper, many of which have been seasoned by the elements. I wondered how often this wall gets pared back. Next to the wall were a few fountains with water, supposedly with special healing power. Since I felt good, I opted against imbibing. We loaded up the car and the next stop was Ephesus. Tickets were purchased and we bought a nice book that showed the way it used to look and compared to how it looked today. Hailey commandeered the book and explained to us about each place, she did a nice job as a tour guide. We walked through the ruins with an eye of amazement. Feeling the surreal nature of this place and trying to come to grips with the history that had taken place here. We walked the main street past all of the old facades, down to the library. This edifice looks like it will topple over at any minute, a tall thin structure tacked up against another building. We then walked down to the open air stadium. A large half-circle structure with a platform at the front. At the exit of Ephesus there were a lot souvenir shops. We bought a few items to remind us of our time there and then hopped back into the taxi. During the car ride I asked several questions to Ali about his faith, as he was Muslim. He offered to take us to a Mosque before we went back to the ship. We excitedly agreed, what better way to get a feel for somebody's religion than have them take you on a personal guided tour. We got off at an exit that wound us through Izmir city. It was very crowded with traffic and I started to become a little nervous because we only had a little over an hour before we needed to be back on the ship. The city of Izmir has dozens of Mosques (maybe hundreds), easily identifiable by the minarets that shoot into the sky. We pulled up to a light blue mosque on the top of a hill that overlooked the harbor, off in the distance we could see our ship docked in the harbor. Ali spent several minutes talking about his faith, the importance of the mosque. He explained the importance of taking off your shoes before entering, covering the heads of the girls with scarves. He took time to tie each scarf on each of my girls...and they looked great. We really felt a great deal of reverence and respect for this religion. Although I am not a believer in the Muslim faith, I couldn't help but feel a great deal of respect for Ali and his religion. We walked into the Mosque and it was covered wall to wall in tiles, all beautiful colors. We took pictures and marveled at the beauty. He allowed us to take several pictures, which we appreciated. Our time came to a quick end at the mosque and it was time to ride back to the ship, trying to take in all that Izmir had to offer. Reluctantly, it was time to leave this wonderful day behind. Info Transportation to city: cruise ship (MSC Magnifica) Transportation to Ephesus: taxi 20 Euro/person, roundtrip. Sites: Ephesus 20 Turkish Lira/person; Mary's house - 12.50 Turkish Lira/person