Ephesus & Sirince

An amazing day today in Turkey. We left the lojman at 8:00 am and took a bus to Ephesus. According to Herodotos and others, Ephesus was founded by Ephos, queen of the Amazons. In Greek times, Artemis became the city's goddess of choice. Then in Roman times, she was given the name Diana. Ephesus is, of course, an important city for Christians as well because of its associations with the apostle Paul and the early Christian church. It was here that Paul started speaking at the basilica and lecture halls and was riling up the artisans. Demetrius, who made his living creating shrines to Artemis, got pissed off and thought Paul would take away all their market business by converting people to Christianity. They'd be out of the shrine and idol-making business. Part of our tour today included the amphitheater where Demetrius got everyone gathered and where they all shouted their cheers to Artemis. Paul wanted to go there and speak to the people but was dissuaded - this was a wise choice as he'd probably have been torn apart by the angry mob.

Ephesus is a great place to get a fairly clear picture of what it was like to have lived in the Hellenistic and Roman periods. This city has some of the best preserved ruins - there are homes with mosaic floors, temples to Artemis, latrines, markets, brothels, a library and two amphitheaters. One of the most remarkable parts of the tour was a look at the terrace houses that went up into the hills over the city. This was where the rich folk lived. Here you could see large reception areas, kitchens painted with frescos of birds and fish, tiled floors, and enormous bathrooms.

Through an ingenious plumbing system composed of terra cotta pipes, Ephesians could have hot and cold water, fountains, baths, and water running in the latrines to carry the waste away (along with a fresh stream that ran under the feet so one could use a sea sponge and clean up afterwards).

After our tour, we went to the nearby village of Sirince to get lunch. Gary, Rena, Becca and Sarah and I wandered up the steep roads until we found a sign for the Alis Pension Cafe and Bar. We walked down a dirt path to a wooden gate shaded by a large fig tree. Along the walk were several fruit trees - pomegranate, quince and peach - as well as olive trees. We got to a terraced area and ordered beer and mezze. A boy picked a peach and gave it to Sarah. Later the proprietor's older son picked peaches for all of us - huge, ripe, sweet peaches, the best I've tasted. Our meal consisted of a tomato cucumber salad with olive oil, fresh cheeses, small lamb kebabs, bread, olives and fresh pressed olive oil. This was the sort of meal people have on the Food Network - perfect setting, perfect company, perfect food.

On the bus ride home we made an impromptu stop along the road where a woman was selling dried chilis. Her husband invited us to pick ripe figs from the trees behind the house. We talked with the family, ate amazing figs and bought strings of dried red chili peppers.

I'll follow up with some pics for those of you who don't have Facebook.