Ephesus

We arrived in Turkey this morning, docking in Kusadasi, which is a short bus ride away from Ephesus. Ephesus used to be on the seacoast, but over time, the sea was pushed back by silt from a river. We had a very knowledgeable tour guide who normally leads 12-14 days tours focused on the journeys of St Paul since he spent several years in this area, known as Asia Minor in the New Testament.

Our first of three stops was the house where Mary, mother of Jesus, lived in Ephesus. John brought her here when he moved to this area between 37 and 48 A.D. to avoid persecution in Israel. It is a small house, but what puzzled us is that it is very high on a hill so it was a very long walk to the city and back. Maybe Mary was able to ride an animal to and from the city.

We walked the length of the recovered portion of the ancient city of Ephesus, about 1 mile, but fortunately it was all downhill. The restoration efforts continue, but most of the cost is not in excavating, but in preserving what has been excavated. You can see how steep the marble street is in this picture. (The two story building at the end is the restored facade of the LIbrary.) This is the original street so we can be pretty certain that St Paul walked this street.

One amazing thing is that this city had running water in all the buildings as well as a sewer system. They build a 25 mile aqueduct to bring water to a large cistern building, then ran pipes from there to the buildings. One large street has a 6x8' sewer underneath it that remains operational today.

Also pictured is the great amphitheater that could seat over 50,000 people. There were also several smaller amphitheaters in town, one of which could "only" seat 2500 people. It's also pretty certain that St Paul preached here during the three years he lived here. Our guide mentioned how they recently used it for a concert and verified the near perfect acoustics. Both Mary and I had a much greater sense of history in visiting Ephesus than in Jerusalem and Bethlehem.

Our last stop was St John's Basilica. This is a 6th century church built over the tomb of St John the Apostle. It was destroyed in a severe earthquake around 1365 and never rebuilt. Restoration efforts started in the 1920's. They have a scale model on display (see picture) so you can appreciate how large it was when originally constructed.