Day 13: Ephesus, Miletus, and safe arrival in Istanbul

I feel like I am repeating myself when I mention how long our days are, but I really can’t help it because we do cram so much into such a short time period. This morning, we packed up our stuff and hopped on the bus and headed to Ephesus. Ephesus is one of the most complete and impressive ruined cities in the western world. It’s location on the Aegean Sea was made it a convenient location throughout history, and the city we see there today was founded in the 4th century BC by Alexander the Great’s successor, Lysinachus. Under the Romans, Ephesus because the chief port on the Aegean, and most of the surviving structures are from this period. Ephesus played an important role in the spread of Christianity - the apostle Paul visited this location on several occasions, as one point living there for 3 years before being driven out following a silversmith riot, who were mad that he was encouraging the Christians to stop buying the idols the silversmiths made. This riot, as well as several of his other trips, is documented in the book of Acts. Due it’s proximity to the coast and the excellent condition of the ruins, Ephesus is a popular tourist destination, and although we arrived first thing in the morning, it was already moderately crowded, much more so than any of the other sites we had visited in Turkey thus far. We strolled through the city starting at the upper gate, stopping to admire the Odeon (small public meeting theater), Temple of Domitian, Gate of Hercules, Temple of Hadrian, and the ancient restroom. Perhaps the most spectacular view came at the end of the long, marble covered street - the Library of Celsus, building in 117 AD, has two stories of columns and towers above the rest of the city. Turning right after exploring the library, we eventually came to the gigantic 25,000 seat theater, into which it is not unknown to squish 40,000 people today. This is the theater spoken of in Acts when Paul is trying to defend himself against the silversmiths, and we sat in the seats while Pastor Rob stood in perhaps the same spot as Paul and read from the Scriptures. It is truly an impressive sight!

After leaving the ancient city, we stayed in Ephesus and headed over to see the Basilica of St. John, built on the site on John the apostle’s supposed tomb in Ephesus. John, who lived for the last part of his life in Ephesus, is the author on the book of Revelation, written while he was exiled on the island of Patmos. Ephesus is the first of the 7 churches of Revelation written about by John. The basilica, built in the 6th century AD, is largely in ruins, but you can still see many of the columns standing, and the baptistry in the center section of the church was recently uncovered. Near by the basilica, One lonely column is all that remains from Ephesus’ great Temple of Artemis, which was considered one of the seven wonders of the world.

After leaving Ephesus, we stopped by a Carpet Center to have some lunch and get a demonstration on how Turkish carpets are made. These carpets are beautiful, of course, but as they are handmade, and require intensive labor, they can also be quite expensive.

Our last stop in the Aegean region was down to visit Miletus, the city to which Paul retreated when it was too dangerous for his to return to Ephesus on his third missionary journey. Not much remains of the ancient city, but we saw a beautiful theater, and walked through the Baths of Faustina, which was a model for the Turkish Baths.

We headed back up to Izmir after that, hopped on a plane to Istanbul, and after a drive through the city past the Sea of Marmara, we are settled in our hotel near Taksim Square, the Times Square of Istanbul. We have a busy day tomorrow, as it is our only day to see Istanbul, so I will leave you here! Our trip is quickly coming to an end, and I hope you stick with us through our last days.  God bless!

Categories: Holy Land.