Cruise to the Holy Land- Part Five

Okay...so the titles are getting pretty boring.  I'll have to go back and be a bit more creative when I get to the end of this long process!  Remember you can click on any photo to make it larger!

Moving on...Turkey Day in Turkey!  

After another much needed and relaxing day at sea, we arrived at the port of Izmir, Turkey.  It's a big, beautiful city and the location where the ship docked was by a big park and a lot of seaside restaurants.  We quickly got off the ship and found taxis to split between several families. We were with Cherringtons, Pextons, and Lottie.  We had three taxis and they agreed to take us up to Mary's House and then to Ephesus.  

Dallin and Travis

Mary's House is way up a mountain about half an hour out of Izmir.  It is thought to be the house that Jesus' mother lived in when she moved here with the apostle, John, after Christ died.

Mary's House

Spring fed wells by Mary's House

Prayer wall...

Prayer messages on little strips of paper tied together

It was so chilly!

 From here our taxis drove us back down the hill and dropped us off at Ephesus.  I really had no idea what Ephesus was all about.  I knew it was mentioned somewhere in the scriptures and so that made it a really old city.  I had no idea how large it was or how well preserved the ruins were.  When you first approach it, you really only see a smaller amphitheater....then you wander down the lane a little more and as it curves around you see how really big it is!!

An ancient backgammon game carved in stone.  You could touch everything!!

Travis in the smaller amphitheater

 Ephesus was first built by the ancient Greeks in the 10th century B.C. It was conquered and razed many times throughout history.  In the 1st century B.C. it fell to the Roman Empire and became a very important port city to the empire.  It was rich and prosperous until it fell to the Goths ( not the ones white faces and black eye makeup and spikes) in 263 A.D. 


Soon after this the port area began to silt up and the city began it's decline.  Today the sea is actually 8 kilometers from Ephesus.

The Goddess Nike

Some of the terrace houses

 The Library of Celsus, the façade of which has been carefully reconstructed from all original pieces, was originally built 125 AD in memory of Tiberius Julius Celsus Polemaeanus.   Celsus paid for the construction of the library with his own personal wealth, and is buried in a sarcophagus beneath it. The library once held nearly 12,000 scrolls. Designed with an exaggerated entrance — so as to enhance its perceived size, speculate many historians — the building faces east so that the reading rooms could make best use of the morning light.

The Library of Celsus

This is the most magnificent structure in Ephesus ancient city. The Great Theatre is located on the slope of Panayir Hill, opposite the Harbor Street, and is easily seen when entering from the south entrance to Ephesus. It was first constructed in the Hellenistic Period, in the third century BC during but then during the Roman Period, it was enlarged and formed its current style that is seen today.
It has the capacity of 25,000 seats.


The theatre was used not only for concerts and plays, but also for religious, political and philosophical discussions and for gladiator and animal fights.

 We just happened to catch a little show right before we had to meet our taxi drivers.  It was fun!

 We made our way back to Izmir and asked to be dropped off at the market or bazaar area.  We found a nice little restaurant and the owner ushered us all in and insisted on pushing tables together so we could all sit with each other.  We had some döners which are like gyros and some fresh squeezed pomegranate juice.

The nice restaurant owner

  We never really found the bazaar we were looking for...just an area of really obnoxious and determined vendors.  We rushed through without buying anything and then walked about 3 kilometers back to the ship.

Some monument that was cool looking

Do you see our ship in the background?

It was a really great day and I loved visiting Ephesus!  

That night in the dining room, the chef really did make an effort to have something on the menu to celebrate Thanksgiving.  There was "Black and White Turkey"  I think this meant light and dark turkey.  There was "Sweet Potatoes"  which were actually mashed potatoes with a blob of jam on the top and to top it all off, something called pumpkin pie that was unlike ANY pumpkin pie I have ever seen!  A neon orange, gelatinous concoction with a pine nut crust.  Those who ordered couldn't even get past the first bite.   It was all pretty funny and I was glad I stuck with the fish! 

Later that night all the kids hung out in our cabin for awhile and watched a movie and played games.  They are all such a great group of kids and teens!!!

I hope I'm not boring you to tears with all these blog posts....if I am, I guess you can tune out now because I still have two more ports to go...Athens and Rome!

love and miss you all,
-corri