Our Great Big Fat Greek Holiday Episode 2

Our Thanksgiving Greek Cruise Came With a Turkey Leg

It was Monday, October 10^th, Canadian Thanksgiving and Day 5 of our Greek adventure. Appropriately we spent day in Turkey or the Republic of Turkiye (Turkeeyah) as it now prefers to be known, roaming the ancient ruins of Ephesus. 

Getting to Ephesus involved a 90 minute drive from the resort city of Kusadasi, Turkey where our ship was docked for the day. Ephesus has been around since the 11^th century BC. There are a number of legends as to who founded Ephesus. My vote goes to the Amazons, a tribe of female warriors who named the city after their queen, Ephesia. 

The ruins of Ephesus are now located 8 kilometres from the Aagean Sea, but in its heyday, it was a very important port city. A few thousand years of silt has left it severely landlocked as well as a little run down as the city was abandoned in the 15th century AD when the port could no longer function.  Two thousand years later the Aegean Sea is now 8 kilometres distant from Ephesus. 

This is a rendition of what the street may have looked like 2,000 years ago. It is by the artist Marina Amaral, a digital colourist who specializes in adding colour to black and white photographs and “breathing life into the past”. 

https://marinamaral.com/about

Ephesus is cuddled in a small valley between two well worn mountains in the Taurus Range. At one end of the valley is the land entrance to the city and the other end, the ancient and now non-existent sea entrance. The site was chosen for its ease of defense as only one wall was needed stretching between the mountains at lands end. Our tour started here as it was a downhill walk to the bus pickup so an easier stroll for those of us who over indulged a the breakfast buffet.  

Over its 2,000 year history, Ephesus has been invaded and ruled by many different civilizations with recorded histories available from the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Turk and Ottoman eras. But it was during the Roman rule that Ephesus reach it full glory. Those of us who hit the coffee bar a little hard at the buffet welcomed one of the ruins, 1,500 year old toilet. There was plenty of room for everybody with no issues about gender. On the other hand TP and hand sanitizer were non-existent. 

Due to its long existence Ephesus contains the ruins of temples, churches, synagogues and a few columns from the Ottoman area. The most iconic is the Library of Celsus. Mostly destroyed in 262 AD, the front façade survived into the 10^th or 11^th Century when it too was toppled by an earthquake. The facade was re-erected over 8 year period starting in 1970. There were no assembly instructions available for the work.

 

I was not surprised to discover that the Romans had invented condominiums over 2,000 years ago. They are called the Terrace Houses and were built around 200 BC. The site consists of residential houses terraced above each other. The units came with bedrooms, common areas, kitchens and private washrooms. 

The houses were heated and had hot and cold running water. Glass had not been invented so the rooms were lit  through openings in the halls. The inside rooms had frescoed walls and the floors adorned with refined mosaics.

I can only wonder what the strata fees were.  

Our last stop was to be the grand theatre, capable of hosting over 24,000 visitors. Sadly we were running late and the stop became a walk-by and like many of the ruins, it was under repair and access was prohibited. 

History is unclear but it is believed that construction started around 3rd Century BC and was renovated and enlarged several times over the next 900 years.

Photo: https://twitter.com/romanhistory1/status/1174052205315448837

Among the ruins near Ephesus are a several significant Christian sites. They include the Church of Mary, Basilica of St. John and the House of Mary. I have not fact checked but it is said that Ephesus is mentioned several times in the New Testament. It is believed by some that the Virgin Mary was taken to Ephesus by St. John the Apostle where she lived the remainder of her life. 

Again this is difficult to fact check as much of the proof was from the visions of a 19^th Century nun but it was known that John had been asked by Jesus to look after his mother and John did spend time in Ephesus.  In fact the Basilica of St John is believed by some to have been constructed over the burial site of John.  

The plan for Day 6 was a an exciting one for me. I woke up in Istanbul. It was 1963 and I was sitting alone in the theatre mesmerized as James Bond traveled to Istanbul to fight the evil SPECTRE organization with the beautiful Tatiana on his arm and a Walther PPK in his hand. It was here that Istanbul became indelibly burnt into my memory and on my bucket list.  Look out SPECTRE, here I come. 

Alas, SPECTRE had nothing to fear as we did not leave the ship. As we enjoyed breakfast, Nonie had a some difficulty holding down breakfast. With visions of COVID dancing in our minds we headed back to the room for a COVID test. Negative but upset tummy continues for the day. Around 4 o'clock it magically disappears. Another negative test and we started to relax. No problems packing away soup and crackers for dinner with another negative test before bed. Vacation saved. 

But SPECTRE should not get comfortable, because we are coming back.