August 3, 2012
Yesterday’s highlight was Ephesus, a city that from around the time of
Alexander until the Mediterranean silted and “moved” the harbor two miles away (600 years later) was one of the great cities of the ancient
world. It’s certainly one of the great ruins today, with plumbing (a
communal toilet and sewer system) that medieval Europe would have envied. It was reputedly the place where Mary spent her last years and is buried. The 25000 seat theater still houses events. The library is one of the most recognizable ruins of the Greek World. The city was also home to early Christian proselytizing.
An extra treat was that the port is Kusadasi, Turkey, whose bazaar is the second largest in Turkey–and after Cairo, a clean and friendly place. The
guide was quick to point out that in 1924, Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, created a secular Muslim state, separating Church and
State; “Turks,” she sniffed, “don’t wait for the government to do things
for them, unlike the Egyptians. You’ll notice when the stores opened,
people were cleaning the entrances themselves.”