TURKEY – EPHESUS – An Old Lady with a Backpack

NOVEMBER 30 – DECEMBER 3, 2024

Ephesus is a place I have long wanted to go to. I always felt it would be cool to walk the streets of where the people that the apostles preached to actually lived.

Paul wrote his letters to the Ephesians around 60 AD. It is also one of the seven churches of Asia mentioned in the Book of Revelation. The Gospel of John may have been written here because the Apostle John is actually buried here. The House of the Virgin Mary is also here. More on those sites later.

The city was famous in its day for the nearby Temple of Artemis (completed around 550 BC), which has been designated one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. There is nothing left to see of this once magnificent site. Only models can give you an idea of how grand it was.

In ancient Greek mythology, Artemis is the goddess of the hunt, nature, vegetation, childbirth and chastity. In later times, she was identified with the moon. Her Roman equivalent is Diana.

We took an over-priced taxi (my distrust and hate of taxis got renewed. Why do I EVER think they will be fair??) to the top gate of Ephesus and walked our way down and through the ancient city. Its importance as a commercial centre declined as the harbour slowly silted up. In 614, it was partially destroyed by an earthquake. Despite all this, there were many fabulous structures still standing.

The latrines were rebuilt with modern cement, but still gave you an idea of how people were not shy about bodily function. It must have been a great place to gossip!

The jewel of Ephesus is the Library of Celsus. It was the third largest library in the Greco-Roman world, behind Alexandria and Pergamum. It is believed to have held 12,000 scrolls. Interestingly, this was not only a library, it was also a mausoleum, containing the tomb of Gaius Julius Celsus Polemaeanus who had been consul in 92 AD and who was the governor of the province of Asia. After his death, his son, Consul Gaius Julius Aquila had the library built in his father’s honor. It was completed in 135 AD.

It was a massive structure with two rows of four sets of double columns (16 total). The lower columns have 4 alcoves containing four female statues representing Wisdom, Virtue, Insight and Knowledge.

It seemed every square inch had some sort of design in the marble.

A theatre capable of holding 24,000 spectators was not open to the public, as it was undergoing restorations.

A little further along was the Church of Mary. It dates to the 5th century and coincides with the Council of Ephesus, where Mary was officially declared the Mother of God.

It was quite a large church with a huge baptismal font.

Our entry ticket included the Ephesus Experience Museum. It told us the story of Ephesus and Artemis through Imax-like / holographic theatres. At one point we felt like we were on a chariot entering the city. It was very cool.

We walked the 3 km back to town.

We stopped at a lovely little outdoor restaurant for dinner. There were cute kittens running around chasing leaves. It was real cute, the food was delicious and we both got back to our Airbnb sneezing like crazy, both allergic to cats. 🐱

The streets are lined with orange trees, dripping with fresh oranges.

We had an amazing Airbnb. It had a large balcony, which we never used because it was too cold, but we COULD have!

It was directly across the street from an ancient aqueduct and cistern.

The Airbnb was also just a few meters from the Church of St. John, where the apostle is buried. Emperor Justinian had this Church built (548-565) over the ruins of the original church dedicated to St. John. Even though it is now in ruins, it is evident to tell that it was a massive structure.

Another “Church of St. John” was built in the 9th century and left this one unpopular. I find that bizarre because the tomb is here. It was the only part of the site that looked cared for.

The old church had twists and turns and it felt like we were in a maze. I’m sure local kids play hide-and-seek here!

From the church, it was a short walk up the hill to the Ayasuluk Citadel. Ephesus was originally a harbour town; but as the river silted up, people migrated away from the malaria swamps and up the hill towards Ayasuluk. The defensive walls were built in the 6th century, using disused stones from Greek and Roman buildings. They also built the defensive walls around the Basilica of St John at the same time, effectively turning the site into a citadel.

The walls of the fort are 4 meters thick and 1.5 km around with 17 towers. Inside, there is not much left to see. There is a small, ruined mosque, a part of a former church turned into a cistern, a couple of Ottoman cisterns and foundations of a couple of houses.

We found it amazing that the walls were still straight and strong.

The afternoon was rainy so we went to the Ephesus Museum. There were old statues, artifacts and old, Old, OLD money dating back to the 7th century BC.

We were having an apple tea (delicious) with the Airbnb host, at his shop.

Pierre said he served in Cyprus in 1974. The man from the shop next door overheard us and said that his dad served in Cyprus in 1974. It was a touching moment for the two men to embrace each other, 50 years later, in the spirit of peace.

Another shop owner joined in our conversation. The conversation turned to the 1978 movie “Midnight Express”, a true story of a young American caught trying to smuggle drugs out of Turkey. He was sentenced to 30 years in a harsh and abusive Turkish prison. (He eventually escapes.) He said that movie destroyed Turkish tourism for 4-5 years. We all agreed that media can affect and skew our thinking. He emphasized this by saying that he was afraid to go to the United States because of movies depicting street shootings and other violence. He finally got the courage to go and found it was not like the movies at all.

We took a really overpriced taxi up a very steep mountain road, full of switchbacks to see the Virgin Mary’s House. It was about a 5 km drive and it was very steep, but it was still not worth what we paid.

As you may recall, when Jesus was dying on the cross he entrusted his Mother to John. When the apostles were being persecuted in Jerusalem, they fled to various places. John fled to Ephesus. Considering he was now responsible for Mary, it makes sense that he brought her along. Legend has it that he put her up in a stone house in the mountains.

A crippled nun, who had never left her native Germany, had a vision of where Mary’s House was. The church decided to investigate her vision. Lo and behold, a house was found exactly where and how she envisioned it. While the Church has never officially acknowledged the authenticity of the house, pilgrims flock to this shrine, as do Popes.