Notes from Abroad: Ephesus and Selçuk

We rolled up to the gate at Ephesus right at 8 am.  Our goals: beat the crowds and beat the heat.  We succeeded at the first goal, but not so much the second.  Fr. G did much of the explaining and educating (in Greek, natch), and tried to help our children imagine what life had been like there so many years ago.  The latrines gave us a particularly vivid picture!  The kids were disappointed a little at the Library of Celsus (so small on the inside!), and a little more when they saw that the theatre was closed for repairs (but relieved we couldn't make them walk to the top).  At the theatre, we read the passage from Acts 19 and tried to picture the riot and roaring crowds.  There's an interesting new museum/exhibit on site, new from when Fr. G and I were last there (in 1998 and 2000), which helped us imagine the city even better.  We made our way to the Church of Mary, which the children liked much better than the city's ruins.  We actually spent the most time here, with Fr. G explaining much about the layout and events that took place here. 

On our way back to the entrance, we fought the crowds headed in the opposite direction.  We dodged the influencers taking selfies and photographing random stuffed animals on ruined columns to get to the terrace houses.  I did my best to linger over the wall paintings and mosaics, but the children sped up the stairs and out of the awning, ready for the car's AC.  

We tried to visit the Cave of the Seven Sleepers on the way back to the Air BnB, but it, too, was closed for repairs. 

Despite all of the glamour and the size of Ephesus, our kids' favorite place of the day was the Basilica of St John, just cross the street from our Air BnB.  We walked to the gate at around 4, when a refreshing breeze had picked up.  The boys wandered among the different rooms, tried out the baptistry, and admired the remains of mosaics.  From our vantage point on the outer porch, we could see much of the surrounding country, including a column from the Temple of Artemis and the Isa Bey Mosque.  A quick trip to the Archaeological Museum afterward helped us imagine more--there was a very well-made film there with time lapse images of Ephesus and environs. 

We closed out our last evening in Turkey with a delicious traditional dinner, apple tea, and ice cream bars!