We visited the ruins of ancient Ephesus back in 2012 as part of our Greek islands trip, But sites like this never wear out — we went today, and I could go back again tomorrow. It is a step back in time, and a realization that people 2000 years ago lived very much as we do today, in many ways.
It was not as hot today as it was seven years ago, even though we were visiting more than a month later in the year. The crowds were equally thick on both visits.
One thing different was that the main theater was closed back in 2012, as it was still in the process of being restored. We got to go into that theater today, and to fully appreciate its size (it seats more than 30,000 spectators).
After a nice lunch at a nearby hotel, we continued on to the ruins of the Church of St. John. The thought of going back here had made me cringe, as we had an absolutely terrible guide here back in 2012. Our tour leader today did a much better job, and even made the site interesting.
The promoters of tourism here insist on conflating John, the Apostle, with John the Epistle writer, with John of Patmos who wrote the Revelation. Bible scholars have long known that these are not all the same person (John was a common name in the ancient world, just as it is today).
After finishing at the church, we drove to the Ephesus Archaeological Museum.. This was not on our itinerary in 2012, and may not have even existed then. It appears to be a fairly new museum, and the exhibits are limited to artifacts found here in Ephesus.
The collection is quite interesting, especially two large representations of the goddess Artemis (Diana in the Roman pantheon) who was the primary deity of pre-Roman Ephesus. It was well worth the time.
After a bit of down time back at the hotel, we took our very oversized coach (we have a 46 passenger bus for 11 travelers and one tour leader) and drove about a half hour out into the hills to a winery.
A winery in a country in which the primary religion forbids consuming alcohol seems a bit odd, and the wine wasn’t really all that great. But the food was pretty good.
At dinner, we toasted a couple who will be leaving us. One of their mothers had an episode of heart arrhythmia and wound up in intensive care back in California. So they cut their trip short to return home. We hope everything turns out OK, and we are sad that our group will now be only nine.
[Note that we will be without internet the next few days, so posts will be delayed.]
It was not as hot today as it was seven years ago, even though we were visiting more than a month later in the year. The crowds were equally thick on both visits.
One thing different was that the main theater was closed back in 2012, as it was still in the process of being restored. We got to go into that theater today, and to fully appreciate its size (it seats more than 30,000 spectators).
After a nice lunch at a nearby hotel, we continued on to the ruins of the Church of St. John. The thought of going back here had made me cringe, as we had an absolutely terrible guide here back in 2012. Our tour leader today did a much better job, and even made the site interesting.
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| Church of St. John |
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| Artemis |
After a bit of down time back at the hotel, we took our very oversized coach (we have a 46 passenger bus for 11 travelers and one tour leader) and drove about a half hour out into the hills to a winery.
A winery in a country in which the primary religion forbids consuming alcohol seems a bit odd, and the wine wasn’t really all that great. But the food was pretty good.
[Note that we will be without internet the next few days, so posts will be delayed.]
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