Ian's blog today.
So today we had our ‘Free day” in Selcuk. No tour to get up for early, so a slower start. Breakfast at 9am, before walking to one of the 7 wonders of the Ancient World, The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus. (How many of the other 6 Wonders can you name?). The wonder now when you see it is, "where has it gone?"
If you hopped around on our hotel's rooftop restaurant terrace, you could actually see the one remaining (reconstructed) column. Apparently this Temple was bigger than the Parthenon in Athens, quite magnificent, and, as usual, destroyed by, you guessed it, an earthquake in 367AD.
Then walk on to the Museum which has many of the finds from Ephesus, a great window into Roman life in the first few Centuries AD.
Really pretty sophisticated with hot and cold running water and sewers - if you were not a slave of course! This was the heart of Asia Minor - with a population of 250,000 in the area at that time.
Next on to the Basilica of St John, yes THAT St John, who lived here from 60AD and died here in 97AD ish. Wrote his gospel here. St Paul passed thru' as well around 65AD, and wrote a letter to the Ephesians - but they really didn’t like his messages, so arrested him and sent him on to Rome.
As usual the buildings over the tomb of St John started off small, burnt down or fell over a few time, ended up with the largest church in the Byzantine empire in 650AD and lasted until the Muslim hoards turned it into a mosque in 1360 and was then destroyed by (another) earthquake in 1397AD! As so another pile of picturesque ruins.
On the way back to the hotel and the long awaited swim (finally a sunny day) Jane stops and bargains for a scarf made from the local traditional Turkish fabric - bamboo! Yes, honest - she will show it to you if you ask nicely.
Swim, journals and some blogging, but something happened and we lost the first version of this one - so this actually is the second edition.
Dinner was out at a restaurant in the centre of town, at “the Wallabies Fish Restaurant” for goodness sake! And yes it was full of Australians... We were going to another one recommended by Lonely Planet, but it was outdoors dining and by now it was raining buckets, so we needed a warm, dry spot - this one now comes highly recommended in the rain.
We are enjoying all this cultural history, but are looking forward to stopping still for few days soon by a beach, hopefully with some sun ………….
So today we had our ‘Free day” in Selcuk. No tour to get up for early, so a slower start. Breakfast at 9am, before walking to one of the 7 wonders of the Ancient World, The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus. (How many of the other 6 Wonders can you name?). The wonder now when you see it is, "where has it gone?"
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| The site of Temple of Artemis, with the Cadi Mosque, the Basilica of St John and the Crusader Citadel in the distance. |
If you hopped around on our hotel's rooftop restaurant terrace, you could actually see the one remaining (reconstructed) column. Apparently this Temple was bigger than the Parthenon in Athens, quite magnificent, and, as usual, destroyed by, you guessed it, an earthquake in 367AD.
 |
| The Temple as it was - except it was not in a glass case in a museum in 300AD. |
Then walk on to the Museum which has many of the finds from Ephesus, a great window into Roman life in the first few Centuries AD.
Really pretty sophisticated with hot and cold running water and sewers - if you were not a slave of course! This was the heart of Asia Minor - with a population of 250,000 in the area at that time.
Next on to the Basilica of St John, yes THAT St John, who lived here from 60AD and died here in 97AD ish. Wrote his gospel here. St Paul passed thru' as well around 65AD, and wrote a letter to the Ephesians - but they really didn’t like his messages, so arrested him and sent him on to Rome.
 |
| The Basicilica of St John, or what's left of it |
On the way back to the hotel and the long awaited swim (finally a sunny day) Jane stops and bargains for a scarf made from the local traditional Turkish fabric - bamboo! Yes, honest - she will show it to you if you ask nicely.
Swim, journals and some blogging, but something happened and we lost the first version of this one - so this actually is the second edition.
 |
| Will this be big enough to wrap our lunch in? Only 15 Lira. |
We are enjoying all this cultural history, but are looking forward to stopping still for few days soon by a beach, hopefully with some sun ………….
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