2018 Eastern Mediterranean Trip - Ephesus Pictures

During the planning of this trip, we predicted that we were going to be getting pretty overloaded with Greco/Roman ruins by the end. We were right. Which is a shame because each of the sites we saw was pretty spectacular in its own right. In fact, the overall number and quality of the sites we've seen on this trip far exceeds anything we've seen in Western Europe. And I might mention, we only scratched the surface of the Roman ruins in Turkey. So let's get into the pictures of Ephesus (text post here).

Ephesus was one of the largest cities in the Roman Eastern Empire. At its peak it may have had 200,000 residents. For the detail of its rich history, here is the Wikipedia listing

Our visit started with the ruins of the Basilica of St. John

Built during the reign of Justinian in the 6th century (builder of the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul), it was one of the grand structures of the early Byzantine period.

It is always somewhat sad when I visit these ruins because you are seeing such a minute amount of what they were. So I decided in this case to show you what the Basilica would have looked like and its floor plan first

Now imagine you are looking up and down the long central bay of the church

And exploring more

The baptistry

Looking at the İsa Bey Mosque(built by the Seljuk Turks)

And the Ayasuluk Fortress, originally Byzantine, later expanded by the Seljuk Turks

Around the grounds

Just outside the Basilica grounds

In case you are in need of supplements

And a shot of color

There is all kinds of Christian associations in Ephesus including it being where the Apostle John went after the death of Christ, where Saint Paul preached and wrote, and where the Virgin Mary was supposed to have gone and spent her last days. There is a house that is reputed to be where she lived and died. Unless you are a believer, it is a lot of money and fighting of crowds for something that could be passed on.

Thought the proof that this is a holy place can be testified by evidence

Now to the City of Ephesus itself

Only a small portion of the ancient city has been excavated, the equivalent of the down town area

We entered to a pile of clay pipes

These were used for the municipal water system

This video shows the entrance to this section of the city

But, the hillside I am doing a panorama of was the location of the rest of the residential areas of the city

A Christian piece inserted in the reconstruction

The small theater

(Thank the Lord, we get our theater fix)

KNOW YOUR CAPITALS

Pay Attention!

There will be a contest on this information in a later post

 Two Ionian capitals flanking a Corinthian capital

 Two Doric capitals

Samples of various engraved decorations that would have been in the city

Making our way down to the central harbor area

This was the high rent district and there were ruins of 'terrace houses', an adjustment of the traditional Roman high end home design to fit the slope of this terrain

The public toilet showing its water flushing system

The everyday with the monumental

At the end of the street, the monumental gate to the Library, the third largest in the Roman world

Going from the Library to the Agora

The Agora covered an extremely large area

Road leading from the Library/Agora area to the port

View of the large theater that could seat 25,000

Lunch Break

Iskander Kebap

Donner meat served on a Pita bread with a tomato sauce and yogurt on the side

Durum Donner

Donner meat in a flat wrap

On to the Museum!

So many things from this part of the world were taken by Western Europeans during the later phases of the Ottoman Empire and now reside in Museums like London and Berlin

Still on the look out for a good deal on a great sarcophagus 

Gold work from the 6th Century BC

These are statues of the Goddess of Artemis, Goddess of Fertility

Buying undergarments must have been a challenge but I suppose if you are a Goddess money is no question

The Temple to the Goddess was considered to be one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient world with over 120 columns

Yet this is all that remains

Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust

 

2018 Eastern Mediterranean Trip - Day 43 & 44, Moving On, Ready To Move Home

We are done with Turkey. In fact we are just about done with the adventure. Yesterday we left our village of Kirzali, drove to Izmir and caught a plane to Istanbul, transferred and went on to Amsterdam where we are spending a long weekend with the #3's.

The flight was uneventful but not comfortable. Everything was fine in Izmir, they even got us onto an earlier flight which turned out to be to our benefit. It is a schlepp from the domestic to the international terminal in Istanbul. Then the international terminal does not have the best signage I've seen in an airport which led us to many wanderings to find the food we sought and then the Turkish Airlines club (Thank Star Alliance Gold lifetime status 😏) - wish we had more time there.

Our fight to Amsterdam was packed. We had to take bus to the plane which meant they started boarding way early. We always get on as early as we can to ensure we get space for our camera bag. But with us being away from the gate, there was no A/C on and it was hot. Even after they shut the doors to the plane, it seemed that the cooling was not working in our section of the plane. So we were pretty wiped out by the time we got to Amsterdam.

Coming to Amsterdam has been a regular for us since we started these long trips. Staying with the #3's is like a diver coming up from a deep dive with waiting spots to avoid the bends. We are officially off the adventure trail, into something more homey and familiar but not full cold turkey back to our regular life.

I do have a project here...building a Greco/Roman Temple Monument to the 3A, now officially recognized as the God of Super Fast Internet. I got one picture post that had been waiting for days because of our internet problems in Turkey and am looking forward to getting the rest up soon.

2018 Eastern Mediterranean Trip - Aphrodisias/Pamukkale/Hieropolis Pictures

Day 38 and our agenda was going to two different sets of ruins

And yes by the time we are finished posting all the pictures from here in Western Anatolia you will be begging de-I...I mean BEGGING him to please, Please, PLEASE, PLEASE don't travel anywhere that has Greco-Roman ruins.

Our agenda today was the ancient cities of Aphrodisias and Hierapolis along with the travertine hot springs of Pamukkale

Getting to Aphrodisias required taking the Aphrodisias transit bus

If you are on a budget, you can grab a quick bite or drink before you go

Our guide and I had a long conversation while we were going through this city about its nature

It was known as one of the premier places for sculpture in the Roman Empire. Augustus had given it Imperial favor and it had a renowned school for sculptures for centuries. However, it should be noted that Augustus was the Emperor who bragged that he converted Rome from a city of brick to a city of marble. The thing that I noticed as we explored the city was the large volume of similar pieces, both for construction and for decoration. Rome was known for its engineering and its ability to create replicable process. So my contention was this was in fact a sculpture, stone work factory.

Here are a couple of sarcophagi. There were tons of them lying around

Need to bury someone of status? 

Tell us what from our long list of optional designs you would like on it

Then there was this long line of capitals...the tops for pillars

They are all the same size and of similar decoration

I could see some representatives of some Roman town coming to Aphrodisias 

"Hi we want to build a temple to honor so and so"

"Well what's your budget? Let us show you our fine selection of styles of columns, capitals, statues, etc."

That's my theory

The cult of Aphrodite was dominate and of course there was a temple

Study of business man in a rush taking in the ruins

Delving into the depths of the temple ruins

A theater you say?

Ha!

You are wrong

An amphitheater

Monument to the cult of the Emperor

Inside the museum we see a variety of the types of figures that could be used when one contracted with the artisans of Aphrodisias

A favorite of mine

Nero's mother crowning him Emperor

Nero had his mother murdered about four years later

Meal time

Beet Salad

Fresh bread - the bread here has been uniformly yummy

Two kinds of Pide - Savory stuff cooked in side a bread dough

A stir fry of beef and vegetables

Go here!

Bread and Pide made to order

Food from scratch

Yum

Some views en route

Ordeal at the Terraces of Pamukkale

The whole area has been formed by hot springs which are bringing up calcium carbonate that is covering underlying strata resulting a series of terraces

The waters are supposed to be healing and people walk down to bathe in them

You are not allowed to wear shoes...you just walk bare foot over the either 1) hard nobby foot hurting rocks ore 2) the smooth, slippery, water covered rocks

Our guides INSISTED Wife and I try this

You can imagine our excitement and joy

The great theater in Hieropolis
Because, darn it, we WILL see another theater

2018 Eastern Mediterranean Trip - Day 42, Pergamum

It is our last day in Turkey and except for some family time in Amsterdam, the last day of this adventure.

We were back on the road for a long drive to the ancient city of Pergamum. Like so many of the ancient sites, it has the similar history starting way back when civilization began in Anatolia. But it really hit its stride in the post-Alexander the Great period and it continued through the Roman times. It features an Acropolis that is on a very high hill that was a bitch to drive to (glad I didn't have to do the driving). And it is the home of a rather amazing complex, the Ascelpion, which was a mammoth facility for medical practice. It had been in use for a long-time but was made famous by the renowned physician, Galen. What was interesting (as always with Roman stuff) is how similarly this facility looked and operated like a modern hospital.

The summer heat which is very hot here in the Mediterranean is starting to pick up. Today was in the low 90's. Wife and I were flagging. It is a good time to be ending the adventure.

I sooooo many pictures. Even if we had the internet to upload them, I haven't had the time to work on them. Hopefully I will start getting them posted after we get to Amsterdam.

2018 Eastern Mediterranean Trip - Day 41, Village and Cooking

Help!

Falling further and further behind with pictures.

Spent a very chill day walking around with our guides in the countryside around where we are located and in their village

Sooooo many more pictures taken...

Then on top of that, we had a cooking class/demonstration with their chef and I took a billion more pictures and videos

We are the only guests tonight and tomorrow so we ate all together with the staff...very cool...one of those experiences we cherish when we travel.

Pictures will come...Promise

2018 Eastern Mediterranean Trip - Day 40, Ephesus

We spent our day in Ephesus, a city with great history and renown for both students of Ancient Greece and Rome and for Christians. Ephesus was a major community in the Classic Greek world. It reached its peak in this incarnation up until the time of the coming of the Persians in the 5th Century BC. Ephesus chose to resist the Persians, was conquered and burnt.

The city rebounded. By the time that Alexander the Great was conquering the Persian world, Ephesus was again a major city. It was already known at that time for the cult of the Goddess Artemis. About this time the famous Temple that became one of the wonders of the ancient world was built. It had 120 pillars.

Ephesus was absorbed into the Roman Empire in the First Century BC. It became the capital of the Province of Asia Minor, one of the richest in all the Empire. During the next three hundred or so years it would grow to a city of around 250,000 with all the monuments and amenities one would expect.

During the First Century AD, Christianity entered the picture. The Apostle John came to Ephesus after the crucifixion. A cult developed in the 18th century that the Virgin Mary followed him their as well. Paul followed, stayed for three and a half years, wrote his letters to the Ephesians and left a significant Christian community.

Alas Ephesus had reached its peak in the 2nd and 3rd Centuries AD. It's port began silting up cutting of trade. Earthquakes caused major damage. It remained a good sized community but in decline until the coming of the first Arab raids in the 8th Century AD. From this point on it recedes in historic importance.

The actual visit was nice. The ruins are not as impressive as some we  have visited but they are laid out in way that allows you to visualize the city much better than others we have visited. We also saw an ancient church erected in the honor of St. John and visited a very good museum. Pictures galore were taken which we will get to you later this week.

Ephesus is very close to where we are staying so we did not have to spend the hours in a vehicle we did yesterday and we got back at 4 PM with plenty of time to relax.

2018 Eastern Mediterranean Trip - Day 39, Still more Ruins

This is going to be the Ruin-a-thon of all trips. In part this is because the western part of Anatolia is incredibly fertile and has been a source of rich agriculture that has been a foundation of civilized wealth for the same time period. Now in all due respect as with so many thing in our travel experience life, Wife and I brought this upon ourselves. When we explored visiting the Aegean Turkish area, we saw the great number of highly rated historic sites that all came from the Greek/Roman period and made them the priority on which we searched for a guide.  We also made a decision we wanted to work from a fixed base unlike in Jordan so we would not need to pack and unpack

The consequence of that decision is we are having long days because it takes a lot of travel to get to the various places we are looking to visit. Combine that with the internet problems and I've decided to make a change in blog posting tactics. I will be posting mostly commentary until we leave Turkey which is this coming Wednesday. Then we descend like the Mongol Hordes upon the poor family of #3 in Amsterdam ravaging them of their frites and liquor. AND making use of their certainly better internet to finally get the freaking hundreds of pictures we are taking of the great ruins of Turkey. This will allow me to give the time and focus to the pictures and the descriptions that they deserve.

Today we drove a long way and saw two very different sets of sites. You will see all that in the pictures when they get up. This trip to Turkey has been very different than the trip we took three years ago when we were in Istanbul primarily because we are using a guide for the bulk of our visiting, we are in a physical location where we are quite isolated, and our days are packed with the agenda we've created. We had some times where we felt there was a lack of attentiveness to our needs by the team (hotel owner and guide) that led to a bit of discontent yesterday. But we communicated well and feel they heard us and today was much better.

I want to talk briefly about visiting Turkey for those of you who know the score of Americans who are terrified and think coming here is like coming to Syria. THAT KIND OF THINKING IS CRAZY. Turkey has been a secular country for almost a century. The area we are in is like California. I asked about issues with Ramadan and was almost laughed at. This is a prosperous, liberal part of the country and has been a joy to visit. And it is really cool. So get off your you know what and come here.

This is an UNPAID promotion for Western Turkey Tourism. LOL

Talk to you tomorrow.