Amazing May part 6

 

Day four of our cruise, we arrived in Kusadasi Turkey our first and only stop in Asia.  This is the stop  I had been looking forward too.  I was not disappointed. 

The skies looked promising and our ship was met by a group of local dancers in their native costumes.  I liked their hats and their fancy steps.

  

Our guide met us and we boarded the bus for Ephesus.  Our guide was wonderful, full of life, funny and very informative.  Ephesus was originally a port city. As the silt from the river filled in the valley the city was moved to keep out of the marsh that  formed. Malaria became a problem and they needed a port to keep commerce flourishing.  The first site of Ephesus was built by the Greeks .  They built a temple here to the Goddess Artemis.  All that is left of that Temple is a column.  Unfortunately my picture didn’t turn out.

       

Our next stop was at the church of St. John.  The Roman Emperor Justinian ordered this church to be built over the tomb of St. John.  

     

Here is a baptismal font.               These little rooms to the side of the font  were supposedly  used as a treasury.  I think they might have had another purpose.

     

The clouds began to gather as we made our way down towards the city built  by the Romans and the early Christians.  It began to pour, our guide hurried us along the slippery marble street pointing out  the sites and trying to explain them to us. 

Finally Shelter.   We arrived at the dig.  They were uncovering a set of condominiums built by the Romans.

    

  

Beautiful frescoed walls.                             Tiled floors.

  

Here are the boxes full of puzzle pieces, they are carefully replaced on the walls by the archeologists.  Sheets of marble were used to decorate the walls.  The Condos had all the comforts, running water and sewage.  What an amazing place.

     

More frescos and tiled floors.

  

As we left the dig the sun came out and we retraced our steps, to see the other temples and public buildings.

Here is the public bathroom.  In winter when the marble was cold, perhaps a slave was sent to heat up the seat for the Roman..  There were several seats here, it might have been a place for debate.  Running water kept the place fresh and clean.

 

The bath of Skolasticia was a popular spot. The Roman went every day, the place had central heating.  Hot baths [Caldarium], warm bath [tepidarium] and cold bath [frigidarium] and a dressing room [apodyterium] all must have keep the Romans clean and Healthy.  

    

The Celsus Library was built in 135 AD.  It was the second largest library of the ancient world.

   

This was a big city, here is the long street leading to the great theater.

It was in this theater that the Apostle Paul went to speak.   The people here made their living selling idols[miniatures of the temple of Artemis].  They were afraid that if Paul turned people from worshiping idols their business would die.  They caused a riot in the arena and Paul was compelled to leave the city.

In this picture you can see that there is much of the city still buried in the ground.

     

We returned  to Kusadasi and visited a Turkish  rug shop.  The rugs are all made by hand. The girl is working on a silk rug.  The rugs were very colorful and beautiful.

   

The Turks welcomed us into their little shops in the bazaar.  We walked around to the local Mosque. After a long day we set sail for Greece and the beautiful Isle of Santorini.

  

Santorini is an ancient volcano.  Our ship put down an anchor and we rode in a little boat to the shore.  The city is built on the top of the caldera.  The houses are all whitewashed.  In this picture you can see us riding the tram up to the city of Fira.  We could have ridden these donkeys up the 600 steps, but the path looked a little steep.   

     

Our ship in the harbor.                                A whitewashed house, notice the narrow little street.  Most of the houses are caves built back into the hillside, with a front door and entrance out front.

  

Our first stop was at a museum.  These artifacts are from an early Greek civilization, that was found here in Santorini.

The Greek orthodox churches all have blue domes.

 

   

   

   

Did you know that the colors of the Greek flag are blue and white?  They must have been thinking of Santorini when they made the flag.    Isn’t it a beautiful Island.

  

Our last stop was at a black sand beach.   We ate our very late lunch here at a restaurant, I had a Greek salad with olives and tomatoes. 

     

Back to the ship, love that blue water of the Aegean.