Our Travel Blog: Kusadasi (Ephesus) Turkiye

March 2

Toto, we are not in Kansas anymore! Or Greece! We are no longer in Europe, actually. We are in Asia for one day.

Today the ship was docked in Kusadasi Turkey. But in 2022 the country formally requested the UN that its name be changed to Türkiye. Too many bird jokes, apparently. The city name Kusadasi means "bird island". The city population is around 69,000. However, the population grows to between 500,000 to 2 million during peak tourist season. Thank goodness that is not now!

imagecredit https://monterey.gov/your_community/community_engagement/sister_cities/kusadasi,_turkiye.php

Today we had booked 2 excursions but cancelled the 2nd one because it seems it was a repeat. The excursion we kept was Homes of the Ancient Roman Elite in the ruins of ancient Ephesus, a half hour drive from Kusadasi. On our drive, we saw peach trees in blossom. The peaches will be ready in May.

imagecredit https://ephesiantourism.com/kusadasi-cruise-port-to-ephesus/

Ephesus was at its height during Roman occupation in the 1st and 2nd century AD. It was the fourth largest city in the ancient Roman world. More than 250,000 people lived here, but only Roman citizens could live in the city center.

imagecredit https://www.ephesus.co/ephesus-map.html

imagecredit https://www.bestephesustours.com/blog/detailed-history-of-ephesus-rise-and-fall.html

We started the tour at the Magnesia Gate which is the upper gate, and we walked through the remains to the lower gate. This is the usual path because it is slightly downhill the whole way.

imagecredit https://www.bestephesustours.com/blog/ephesus-map.html

Temple of Hadrian, 2nd century:

The remains of the homes we saw today were the homes of rich Roman merchants and prominent city leaders. The remains have been protected by a modern roof which helps to protect the colourful mosaics and frescoes on the walls. They began excavations in 1970 and opened it to the public in 2006.

The homes were constructed on terraces. The homes had advanced engineering such as private indoor plumbing, bathtubs, toilets, and underfloor heating using clay pipes to carry hot air. They were multi-story homes built around open courtyards with rows of columns to support roofs and let in natural light and ventilation.

The Library of Celsus was commissioned in 110 AD by a Roman consul as a funerary monument for his father Tiberius Julius Celsus Polemaeanus. Celsus was a prominent Roman senator and governor of the province of Asia, and his sarcophagus is interred in a crypt beneath the main chamber.

The library was designed to hold between 12,000 to 16,000 scrolls in niches along the walls. It was the third largest library in the Greco-Roman world. The library was destroyed either by fire or invasion in 262 AD but reconstructed in the 1970s by German archaeologists using the original fragments.

The Great Theater was built in the 3rd century BC and accommodated 25,000 spectators. It is being restored and will be open for visitors probably in September.

Ephesus is another city with connections to the Apostle Paul. He visited the city twice: the first time briefly, and then returning for about 3 years from 52-55 AD. He first preached in the Jewish temple for 3 months but faced opposition and moved to the lecture hall of Greek philosopher/teacher Tyrannus (the Library of Celsus was not yet built at this time). This is where the lecture hall was.

He taught there daily (for 5 hours a day!) for 2 years, preaching to both Jews and Greeks. At the time, many people worshipped the goddess Artemis, called Diana by the Romans. A silversmith named Demetrius had a booming business making idols.

imagecredit https://www.thebiblejourney.org/biblejourney1/11-pauls-journey-to-ephesus-philippi-corinth16291/the-silversmiths-riot-in-ephesus/

While there, God used Paul to perform miracles such as healings. Many people converted to Christianity and no longer worshipped Artemis. Demetrius was losing business! He incited a riot in the Great Theater, and eventually Paul had to leave the city. He then travelled through Macedonia and Greece. After Paul left, Timothy took over as leader of the Ephesian church.

Paul wrote several of the Biblical books while he was in Ephesus, such as 1 Corinthians and possibly Philippians, Philemon, and Colossians. Later while he was imprisoned in Rome he wrote the Biblical book of Ephesians to the people here. The first 3 chapters focus on Christian theology, and the final 3 chapters focus on how we should practice our faith:

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

We only saw about 15% of the remains. Ancient Ephesus is one of the largest and most extensively preserved Roman archaeological sites in the Mediterranean, second only to Rome.

At the end of the tour, we were taken back into Kusadasi for a carpet making demonstration. The seller's claim to fame is that he sold a carpet to Queen Elizabeth. This was a surprisingly fun demonstration. They gave us apple tea and Turkish tea.

They showed how their carpets are special because they are hand-made, double knotted with 2500 knots per square inch. Some are silk and some are a combination of silk and cotton.

They must have rolled out hundreds of rugs for us to look at and walk on (shoes off). The pile of rugs must have been a foot tall by the end.

Some of the rugs changed colour depending on the direction you were walking. And they did some cool twirling as well.

A keen eyed seller saw Frankie admire the Tree of Life small silk carpet. Absolutely beautiful. Only $22,000. Okay, this one part silk we give you for only $4600. Hard pass. But we do know a couple who did buy a carpet! This is the one we liked.

The tour buses are allowed in to pick up passengers for tours, but they are not allowed to drop them off by the ship. All passengers are required to walk through the gift shops to get to the ship.

We went back onto the ship for gluten-free pizza for lunch. A woman at our table choked and asked for help. About 20 crew members tried to give her the Heimlich maneuver. But because Dr Heimlich released some controversial reports, the American Red Cross has renamed it Abdominal Thrust.

After lunch we walked along the waterfront promenade for a bit.

Then we wandered around the maze of shops and slightly aggressive shop keepers. Anton's favourite shop was the turkish delight shop because he gave us a dozen free samples of different flavours of turkish delight. Anton was talking abut maybe getting the halva, it was 7 euros. The guy threw it in the bag and said yes, you buy for 5 euros.

Frankie's favourite shop was a little souvenir shop, we spent lots of time there. We spent more money here than we have the whole trip combined so far. Notice how we were in light sweaters and they were in heavy coats (with a vest underneath!). It was 17C.

Tonight for a change we ate at the specialty restaurant called The Chef's Table. They made our reservation for 8 pm but told us to go ahead and show up at 6 pm. Apparently the system can't show more than a certain number of tables???

The meal was 5 courses, preset. There was a different wine pairing for each course. Anton did not partake. Frankie did, and there was a notice in our stateroom when we got back that water would be shut off between midnight and 3 am. Oh oh......