It's time to get moving again! After four years in Tbilisi, Georgia, John, Julie, Nutmeg, and Ginger are off to a new adventure. From August 2013 we will be in Cairo, Egypt. It's a new culture, new language, and another opportunity to be functionally illiterate. This blog will continue to record some of the things we see and discover. Stay tuned!!
After a lazy Wednesday, which included saying goodbye to Erica and Giga, and some more fish sandwiches, we got to bed early for our 5:00 a.m. pickup the next morning. Jim, Irma, John, and Julie were off on a two-day overnight trip out of Istanbul to Ephesus, which was a former Greek, and then Roman, city in Izmir Province in Turkey. With it's extensive ruins it is a popular tourist destination. We flew to Izmir and joined a group tour which visited several sites before we were dropped off at a hotel in Selçuk for Thursday night. Our first stop was the House of the Virgin Mary, a Catholic and Muslim shrine. Small, and extensively reconstructed, it was nevertheless interesting.
Our Tour Group
Mary's House
Knocking at Mary's Door
A Couple of New Friends in the Gift Shop
Next was a stop at the archaeological site of Ephesus. These grounds are extensive and we wandered through for a couple of hours. Highlight included the Library of Celsus and the open-air theatre which had a capacity of 25,000 had had been used for drama as well as gladiator combat.
Ephesus Ruins
Our Tour Guide
Grave-site Ruins
This used to be the Sea Coast
Library in the Background
Library of Celsus
Theatre at Ephesus
After lunch was the obligatory stop at the carpet shop for a demonstration of silk weaving and an educational lecture on carpets. No, we didn't buy any.
Spinning the Silk from the Cocoons
Weaving Demonstration
Weaving Demonstration
Carpet Showroom
A Couple of Small Carpets -- Probably Over $3,000 each
From there we moved to the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Today this site consists of little more than a couple of columns in a marshy field.
Friday morning we got back in the tour bus for a three-hour drive east to Pamukkale, which means "cotton castle" in Turkish. This is a World Heritage site famous for its hot springs and travertines, terraces of carbonate minerals left by the flowing water. The ancient Greco-Roman and Byzantine city of Hierapolis was built on top of the travertines. We toured through the ruins and then took a few minutes for a dip in the waters.
On the Drive to Pamukkale
Solar Energy in use on every Apartment
Approaching the Travertines
Ruins of the Ancient City
With our New Friends from Yesterday
Enjoying the Warm Waters
Back to Istanbul late that night and the following morning we all headed off to the airport to return home.
