Kusadasi

Our bus ride from Cappadocia was actually 14 hours long. We finally arrived in Kusadasi, and we were fortunate, indeed. Our hotel room had a view of the Aegean Sea.  There is a walkway along the seashore, so there is a lot of activity when we look out of the window--walking,  fishing, playing, talking.

One advantage of visiting now is the lack of crowds but the weather is cooler

Priene:   This is an excavated Greek city ruins.  The Aegean Sea used to lap the shores of this city.As time went on, the silt from the Meander River (This is where the word meandering comes from.) which flowed into the sea near this city eventually built up the land forcing the sea to recede.  These city ruins now overlook fertile farmland.  This city was set up so that all secondary roads ran at right angles to the main road.  It also has a large amphitheater which seated about 6,500 people with the first row reserved for the VIPs, and a large bouleuterion (an outside city council chambers).

Senator David in the bouleuterion: "How can we solve the drainage problem we seem to have here?"

The sea is about 10 km away now.

Amphitheater

Seats for VIPS

Residences

Spring is coming

Miletus:  This Greek city archaeological site has not been excavated.  In its heyday, it was a port city, but is now part of the fertile plateau.  When St. Paul was evicted from Ephesus, he came to Miletus to preach about Christianity to the inhabitants.  Our guide showed us the ruins of a very large  Roman bath, the Baths of Faustina, situated here. These were heated by in floor heating--water heated by  fuel and distributed by pipes under the floor of the pool.

Amphitheater

Certain groups of people, i.e. the Christians, would mark a section of seats with either writing or by symbols.

Covered walkways such as we have now in our stadiums

The sea used to be just beyond the trees, and there was a small bay where the small white pillars are situated.

                                Bouleuterion (council chambers) and the agora (shopping centre)

Baths of Faustina,

Fountain  on the edge of the bath

Didyma:  Temple to Apollo  is situated here. It is one of the largest temples of the Hellenic period; and  at that time, was one of the main temples for prophesies.  The kings and other important people used to come here to get advice from the oracle--a person who seemed to see visions and receive information from the gods.  They would talk to the priests who would then talk to the oracle.  The priests would return to the person making the request, and give them the oracle's advice.  The advice would often have many different meanings. For instance , a king from Persia wanted to conquer another nation.  Before going out to war, he went to the oracle at the temple.  The oracle advised that a great nation would fall.  The Persian king went to war believing that he would win.  As it turned out, it was the Persian kingdom that fell. This site is well preserved and there is some reconstruction going on. The blocks used in the construction of this site fitted as closely together as did the blocks used in the Incan temples in Peru.

Pillar bases were all different

Fine workmanship

Initial of the contractor

Secret signs of Christianity 

"Oh wise and mighty David, what does the future hold?"

Pillar toppled during an earthquake

We visited a mosque in order to get a closer view of St John's Basilica where St John is buried.  The basilica is not open to the public.

Mosque Garden

                                            Our Asian friends hamming it up for the cameras

St. John is buried under St. John's Basilica

In the foreground of the picture is a column of the Temple of Artemis which was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.  In the background at the top of the hill on the left side is a medieval castle.  Below the castle is the mosque.  On the right side of the picture behind the column is St. John's Basilica.  Three religions have existed on this site at different periods of time.

St Mary’s Church:  During the persecution of Christians, St. John brought Mary, Mother of Jesus, to Ephesus. St. John stayed in Ephesus. Mary lived up in the hills in a little house.  The Christians in this area would make a pilgrimage to her house even after it had disappeared.  In the 1800`s, a German nun had visions and described where  Mary`s house was.  This nun had never been to the area.  Priests from Izmir (a city north of Ephesus) followed the nun's visions and the information from Christians in the area who made pilgrimages to the spot; and found the base of an old house up on Bulbul Dagi not far from Ephesus.   A small chapel was built on the footprint of the house. This chapel has continued as a pilgrimage place for the Christians.  Three Popes have visited this site and left gifts.

The base is all that is left of Mary's house

Prayer Wall

 

We were all looking forward to our next stop.