Turkey Round-Up!

First of all, look what I found!

Boom! House of the Virgin Mary - April 2013

...The elusive black toilet brush! Mad props to the House of the Virgin Mary for having this fixture in their newly renovated bathrooms!

Since my last post, we wrapped up our time in Turkey with exploring the areas around Kusadasi, including the home of one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, Ephesus; the Basilica of St. John and the House of the Virgin Mary. We started our tour with the Basilica of St. John which was the closest site to the original standing of the Temple of Artemis (now a swamp) which was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Now, all that's left, is a single column which I wasn't even sure about when I was there. The Basilica of St. John reportedly marks the burial place of John the Apostle - one of Jesus' twelve apostles. Though the basilica has changed a lot throughout the centuries, I thought the neatest part was the baptistery...and of course the friendly cats that were around waiting for a pat on the head!

The baptistery at the Basilica of St. John - April 2013

This cat was trying to get some human loving by walking around the map and nudging all the people around it! - April 2013

Straight ahead and off to the left (out of this photo) is the apparent location of the Temple of Artemis which was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. - April 2013

Next up, we drove to the top of a big hill to visit the House of the Virgin Mary. It was said to be the place that she spent the last years of her life and is now a shrine dedicated to her. Regardless of your religious beliefs, it's hard not to have that 'what if?' feeling in your heart and to not feel a little bit moved by what you're seeing/learning - people devote their entire lives and generations to beliefs in religion like this and seeing something like this would be a major life event for them. I also have many family and friends who are strong believers in Christianity so I always think of them when I visit places like this. There is a natural spring here and because if its location, it's thought to be holy water so I made sure to bottle some for my mom to take home to a few of these people. Like in Jerusalem, there's also a holy wall (but not on the same level as the wailing wall, of course) where people stick notes, touch it and say prayers. I regret not taking photos of the view around us though because we were very high up and it would have been spectacular...I just missed it!

This is it! The House of Mary the Virgin - April 2013

Notes, prayers and messages of well wishes - April 2013

Our last major stop of the day (and of our Turkey tour) was to Ephesus. This was my next highest anticipation after Cappadocia and I wasn't as blown away as I thought I'd be; I enjoyed Aphrodisias much more! But, Ephesus has a LOT of history. It's been around since the 1st century BC and it was one of the largest cities in the Mediterranean region. Its location has changed four times though, as it was destroyed by man and nature throughout the centuries, and we visited the location of the fourth and final version of Turkish Efes. The most impressive remaining structures that I saw were the library (the most famous photo from Ephesus that you'll see now), the huge theater and the Temple of Hadrian which had some pretty awesome detail in its stonework. Side note: Hadrian is a pretty downplayed fella throughout history but he has an awful lot of dedications around the Greco-Roman Empire...I've made it a mission to learn more about him and his conquests! Also, a big part of Ephesus is its roman baths which were huge!

The Library of Celsus dating back to 125 AD (well, reconstructed from 125 AD) held about 12,000 scrolls back in its hay day! Our guide was rushing us a bit and I didn't get back here to take some really great close-up pictures, which is a bummer. - April 2013

Cats chillin' like villains...well, just chillin'. Behind them, you can see some old school toilets that were part of the Roman Baths in Ephesus IV. - April 2013

Temple of Hadrian...this photo doesn't really do all the details justice. - April 2013

This was neat. They're original markings in the stone and when explained to us, it translated to heading in the direction of the foot print to find love...or at least some lovin'! This way to the brothel! - April 2013

I couldn't not do this in at least one of my photos! At the Ephesus IV Theater - April 2013

This theater is one of the three largest remaining theaters in the ancient world with a seating capacity of 24,000. - April 2013

After seeing all the sites, we jumped on a bus to go get lunch...at a carpet shop. Surprisingly, it was one of the best lunches we had on our trip and following lunch, we were of course treated to a viewing of carpets. We also learned how to get silk from the silk worm's cocoons (for those who spend upwards of $9,000 US on a small silk carpet) which was pretty interesting and we saw the carpet makers doing their thing.

You probably can't see the strings of silk hanging from her hand, can you? - April 2013

At the end of the day, I got dropped off in the center of Kusadasi and proceeded to Starbucks for a sit down, chat and a Frappucino with some lovely people from our tour. The sun was up with the temperatures and it was the perfect ending to our Turkish adventures! I loved everything about Turkey (except some of the food which I only liked and the surprise 45Euro entry visa upon arrival) and would love to go back for a visit one day. I also hope more people will get the chance to visit this vast country full of history and culture! Thanks for everything, Turkey! :)