Ephesus

–Authored by Michaela Marquardt

On January 9, 2011 we started out our day by taking a one hour flight from Cappadocia to Izmir. Once in Izmir we bused up into the hills of Kusadasi to see The House of the Virgin Mary where it is believed she came to live with St. John during the last twenty years of her life. At this site we were able to see what is thought to be a baptismal fount, the home/church where Mary lived and a wall full of small pieces of paper with prayer requests from visitors.

After our short visit there we boarded the bus again to Ephesus were we spent several hours walking around the grounds of one of the best preserved ancient Roman cities. The city of Ephesus dates back to the Neolitic Ages, 6000BC. The city was called Apasas during the Hittite period and was a port city in ancient times with Greek settlers from around 1050BC. The portion of Ephesus we visited was founded around 300BC by Lysimakhos, one of the generals of Alexander the Great. Ephesus’ golden age was during the Hellenistic and Roman Periods and had a population of 200,000 people. It was the capital city of the state of Asia and the largest port in the area. While walking through the city we saw sites such as the Eastern Gymnasium, the Baths of State Agora, the Temple of Hadrianus, the Library of Celsus and the Great Theater which had a seating capacity of 24,000 people.  On our way back to the bus we were able to walk along the Marble Street which extends from library square to the theater and was used by chariots and pedestrians. We had a great day at Ephesus and several people on the trip commented that it was their favorite day/site of the trip! A must see if you ever travel to Turkey.

Michaela