A history lesson

July 14th

So today we woke up early (let's call a spade a spade - it was 5:00am) in order to catch a bus tour that was taking us to Ephesus to view the ruins which relate back to the 5th century BC. We were promised a nice air conditioned bus which gave me visions of this

But in reality we got this below...

Anyway turned out great, it was air conditioned and confortable and being a small group things went along very smoothly. Also Sheryl wanted to pay for this tour using her credit card but they didn't have a machine with them so the tour company just had Sheryl pay for two gas fill ups along the way. Only in Turkey.

Our first stop (well after a couple bathroom breaks) was the Church of Saint John.

It is believed that Saint John came to Ephesus along with the virgin Mary sometime between 37 and 48 AD. John was also joined with Saint Paul who visited Ephesus between 55 and 58 AD. Saint John created a church here and was buried beneath the church. It is believed he lived to be 100.

Tomb of Saint John

And the batismal area

And me in it.

And one last photo of the outside of the church.

From here we went to the ruins of Ephesus. These ruins date back to 550BC when the Temple of Artemis was completed. This temple was one of the seven wonders of the world but today only one column is left.

You have to strain to see it but in the centre of this picture is the last remaining column

Most of the ruins that we saw related to the time the Roman Empire ruled this area. By the end of the first century AD it is estimated that Ephesus was home to between 400,000 and 500,000 people. They had an open air stadium that held 25,000 people. Brutus (yes the fellow who had the run in with Caesar) apparently lived here for two years. Below are some photos of the site.

Not much of the site to see here but had to get a picture with us in it.

A walk down main street.

That's Medusa up there, snakes in her hair and everything but now she's the only one turned to stone.

When you gotta go you gotta go, and here is where they went. A steady stream of water under this structure flushed everything away.

The library

Another view to get a feeling for the architecture.

One of the many statues, but we also found three never seen before.

And lastly two photos of the stadium.

PS, the temperature in the shade was 37 degrees and over 40 degrees in the sun.