EPHESUS AND IZMIR

At 7:00 a.m. we checked out from the Conrad Hotel and proceeded to the Ataturk Haveliamani Airport. From there we went on a short flight to the enchanting city of Izmir.
We went directly to the restaurant in a field then proceeded to Ephesus, the Roman Capital of Asia Minor (Anatolia). We climed the Ephesus Mountain and visited the home of the Virgin Mary, where we also celebrated Mass before we drank water from the sacred spring.
We also stayed for a while in that area, the Meryem Ana Evi, where a Carmelite nun gifted us with a medal and “estampita “. We proceeded to the antiquities of Ephesus, a very enchanting excavation of the ancient city where we saw one of the Seven Wonders of the World, the ruins of the Temple of ARTEMIS of Ephesus. There also were the ruins of the Temple of Apollo and the Library of Celcius. We entered the ruins of the Roman Bath and the Amphitheater.
According to our guide, the great ruins that we were touring was only 12% of the ancient city, where 250,000 people lived during the ancient times.
It took us a long time just looking at the amazing ruins that sprouted out from the excavated mountain. We didn’t have a chance to enter the Basilica of St.John.
We checked in at Hotel Pullman, Etap Konak at 35260 Mihatpasha CAD, 128 Konak.
At the airport that morning I learned two signs at the Tuvalet (toilet ). Baylar (male), Bayanlar (female )
There was no certainty how the name Ephesus evolved but the Cimmerians attacked it in the 7th century B.C. Got back into its feet again soon. It became prosperous in the 6th century B.C. It also came under the rule of the Lydians and then under the Persians. In 334B.C., Alexander the Great captured Ephesus and his death brought dark days to Ephesus which was ruled in 287 B.C. by the Lysimachos.
Later, Ephesus came under Roman sovereignty and Emperor Augustus declared it a Metropolis. In 262 A.D. Ephesus was destroyed by the Goths and never regained previous importance.
At this point of our pilgrimage, camaraderie was fully established. Each one could sit with anyone and somehow feel at home. Everyone was turning to be a “cowboy”, like when during our cruise of the Golden Horn I invited them all for one action song, Father Abraham, and everyone delightfully participated.
Everywhere we went there were always souvenir stores and as always, the women in our group cannot stop their tendency to buy this and that item that more often than not delayed our schedules.
The baggage now almost doubled. Some shopped in thousand of dollars while the spirit of the pilgrimage was sometimes left behind.