Hello Everyone,
It is Saturday, October 2nd. We left Istanbul very early this morning for Izrim airport. we then drove about 1 hour to the town of Selcuk where the ancient City of Ephesus is located. There is still a lot of excavation to be done but this city is fabulous. The city was also one of the largest Christian communities. Ephesus became the capitol of the province of Asia. One of the highlights is the Celcus Library. Maybe this was the first city with condos? There is evidence of luxury homes and Terraces Houses. The city also had an impressive theatre with the best accoustics. I busted out a few notes to test the accoustics. A verse from Summer Time. One new thing I learned is about Nike, the goddess of Victory! I see why Nike uses that name. When the library @ Celcus was burned down, we lost a great deal of history and knowledge.
after Ephesus we headed to Bulbul, the area where Mary was said to have spent her last days. The House of Mary. A small stone building perched admidst trees. It‘s a beautiful and peaceful place. Sory, no pictures were aloowed inside. I do have photos of the outside and the prayer wall. People leave notes of prayer on pieces of cloth or even a luggage tag. Plan ahead and take an empty bottle with you to fill with Holy water that comes from the spring and uns through the church.
This is a long and wonderful day traveled mostly by road. We continued onto Bodrum, where our hotel is located and is overlooking the Aegean Sea.
Ja’vonne