Ephesus, Ancient City, Port of Kusadasi

Kusadasi Turkey, is a resort town on Turkey's Aegan coast, on the Asian continent. The nearest major airport is Izmir and the main industry is tourism. Indeed, Kusadasi is a summer tourist town. During winter, the population is under 100,000, with many empty apartments and shops that are closed. Come summer, the population swells to more than 300,000 (some say more than 500,000).

We were the only ship in port that morning. The port is conveniently located right in the main city.   

The port gates are a short walk from the ship. Even before you exit the gates, there are many shops, though not all were opened during winter. In the picture, you can see a number of yellow cabs waiting for passengers. You could hire cabs off the street if you wished, especially in winter, when there were few tourists.

We pre-booked a private tour and the guide was waiting for us just we got off the ship, holding a placard with our names. It was a very easy process to meet her.

The highlight of this port would be the ancient city of Ephesus. See this map for Paul's missionary journeys. Paul lived in Ephesus from AD 52 to 54.


However, our first stop of the day wasn't Ephesus, but the House of Virgin Mary. It is not clearly recorded where the Virgin Mary spent her last days. However, it is reasonable to believe that Mary's last days were spent in Ephesus, under the care of apostle John.

The apostle John was believed to have died in Ephesus, around 100AD. John, the beloved discipline, was the only Apostle that did not die a matyr's death. While nailed to the cross, Jesus entrusted his earthly mother to John.

John 19:26-27 "When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son!

"Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home."

The house that we were visiting has a history. Please refer to this website for the description - http://www.kusadasi.biz/virgin-mary/

In this video, we meet our guide for the day, and proceeded to the House of the Virgin Mary as our first stop on this tour. Today, we had a driver and a licensed tour guide. Therefore, there was plenty of commentary for us.

At the House of the Virgin Mary, it was not crowded at all. We were told, during summer, the lines would be really long. The actual house is not very big. This was the entrance. No photos and videos were allowed inside but you can find some photos of the interior from the Internet.

The Roman Catholic Church has never pronounced on the authenticity of the house of Virgin Mary, presumably because of the lack of scientific evidence. However, several Popes have visited the site, including Pope Paul VI (1967), Pope John Paul II (1979) and Pope Benedict XVI (2006).

This would be the place where they conduct the services or prayer services.

We spent about 45 minutes at the Virgin Mary House and surrounding areas. Our next stop would be the highlight of the trip, the ancient city of Ephesus.

Here is the video (first of 3 videos of Ephesus). In this video, we enter the ancient ruins via the Magnesia gate. We were blessed with good weather (the day before it was pouring). Bear in mind this place is completely unsheltered, other than the Roman Terrace Houses that we will visit in Part 2 of the video. Therefore, it would be wise to bring an umbrella.

Ephesus Part 1


The Magnesia Gates entrance into Ephesus.

The site was beautifully kept. Sense of wonderment as I stepped in.

Look at this sign. We learnt a lot about this sign during our visit. Our guide took pains to explain to us what it meant - "Jesus Christ, the Son of God."

This video explains it well. Remember, the early church was persecuted. Paul, in Ephesus, faced a very hostile city whose inhabitants mostly worshipped pagan Gods, especially the Artemis (or Diana). This sign was used by Christians to identify with one another.

 

However, I was subsequently informed that what our guide told us above was likely not to be correct. This symbol, which is commonly found in the Roman Empire, was likely to be just a common Roman game called tabula lusoria.  It is a simple game but it is one that soldiers enjoyed. This link provides some information - http://www.lore-and-saga.co.uk/html/tabla_lusoria.html

More pictures of the ancient site. Here, they let you wander around freely and touch all the marble columns, if you so wished.

Check out this marble column and the piece of rebar in the middle. This was how the Romans strengthened their columns, using lead rebars. Check out the video where the guide gives a good description.

A tour group passing by. This was winter and at times, there was some congestion. Again, be careful when there are large crowds, especially against petty theft like pickpockets.


This was nice. The Goddess of Nike. Nike was a goddess that personified victory. She is seen with wings.

With a walkway like this, you can really have a good idea of how grand this place must have been, 2000 years ago.

Next, we would enter the Roman Terrace Houses. This was where the richest people lived. Getting in to view the terrace houses required a separate ticket, but it was well worth it. Here is the video.

This place was cool. There was a huge shelter protecting the Terrace houses. It looked like excavation work was still going on.

Take note that this site is definitely not disabled friendly. Plenty of steep steps to climb. The metal steps are all very new and sturdy. Take it slow and easy. Admire the Terrace houses along the way. Awesome.

They even found some grafitti on the walls. The drawings mainly show gladiators, caricatures and animals. The grafitti included names of persons, poems and even declarations of love. Especially interesting is a list goods and necessities of everyday life, including their prices. E.g. Barley 12 denarii, 1/2 ass; Onions 3 asses, entrance to the thermal bath 12 asses. In the Roman currency system, a denarious was a small silver coin, with the value of 10 asses (1 ass is a bronze, later copper coin)

Just look at how well preserved the walls and flooring of these Terrace houses were.

Once we exited the Terrace Houses, there were good views of the Ephesus site. Take note that we now had to climb down a long flight of stairs which could be slippery when wet, before we got back to the Ephesus ancient city.

Video of the Library of Celsus and the Theatre

Our next stop would be the library of Celsus. From wiki, I learnt that this library was built in honour of Roman Senator Tiberius Julius Celsus Polemaeanus, hence the name Library of Celsus. Celsus had been consul in 92AD, governor of Asia in 115D, and a wealthy and popular local ciizen. He was Greek, but honoured as both a Greek and Roman in the library itself. Celsus paid for the construction of the library with his own personal wealth. The library was built to store 12,000 scrolls and to serve as a monumental tomb for Celsus, who was buried beneath the library. It was unusual to be buried within a library or even within city limits, so this was a special honour for Celsus.

This pictures gives you a good sense of how magnificent the library would have been, 2,000 years ago.

After the library, we went to the famous theater. This photograph (off a signboard) shows how the theatre looked like around 1900, just as the site was being excavated. Hard to imagine at that time that the theatre would have the capacity of 25,000 seats.

The Theatre of Ephesus is mentioned in the Bible (Acts 19:23-41), the theatre was the site of the riot of silversmiths who made figures of pagan idols like Artemis (Diana). A silversmith by the name of Demetrius was named to have rallied fellow silversmiths to his cause. They stirred up the people of Ephesus, who were confused, and all rushed to the theatre. Acts 19:34 records the people in the theatre as chanting "Great is the Artemis (Diana) of Ephesus!"

This is the theatre today.


The Austrians have been heavily involved in the excavation of Ephesus. This is the second of such signs I saw that day. Earlier, the guide told us that the Austrians built the roof over the Terrace Houses too.

Took this picture of a happy cat resting on a broken Roman column.

Overall, it was a very impressive visit to the ancient city of Ephesus. There was a lot to see. We were grateful that the skies held up, though it got cloudy as the morning wore on. We exited Ephesus via the Harbour Gate (recall we entered from the Magnesia Gate) and our next stop would be lunch at a Turkish Restaurant.

Lunch was included in our tour. For lunch, the guide brought us to a restaurant called Agora Restaurant. According to tripadvisor, this restaurant was fairly well reviewed. We didn't have any choices for the lunch. We were served with some starters that included pita bread, side dishes, salads. This was followed by the main which consisted of two types of grilled meats, rice. I noticed many other tourists in the restaurants. Other tour groups (including cab drivers) also brought their passengers here. It looks like the restaurant has tied up with the various tour operators. Overall, I found the food just ok, nothing special.

The place we went to was called Bartok Authentic Looms.

This is a video I took of the experience at the carpet factory. They were literally throwing carpets at us.

To cut the long story short, after the elaborate sales pitch which literally included the sales staff throwing carpets at us. We ended up buying 2 small carpets at US$50 each.

By the time we were done with the carpet store, it was really raining. We went to the ruins of the Temple of Artemis (one of the seven ancient wonders of the world), but due to the rain, the family did not get off the bus. I got down to take a quick look and made a short video before getting back to the mini-bus.

We arrived back in port in good time. We walked around the port area as well as the beachfront. While it was drizzling slightly, it was still fun to explore the place. There were shops selling "Genuine Fake Watches". Oxymoron.

Yes, genuine fakes! I didn't buy any.

Thanks for reading!

Postlude - Mr Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's Founding Prime Minister, passed away on March 23, 2015, age 91.  Singaporeans grieve and mourn the loss of their founding Prime Minister.  May Mr Lee Kuan Yew rest in peace.  Meanwhile, here is photo I saw on the local newspapers, where Mr Lee visited Ephesus in 1991.

Back to our Norwegian Jade Cruise (Greece and Turkey) Landing Page.

NCL Jade - Greece and Turkey Cruise - Pre-Cruise in Hotel Traghetto, Civitavecchia

Pre cruise, we stayed one night at Hotel Traghetto in Rome Civitavecchia. We also ate at the pizza place next door. I made two videos to show you the experience.

Hotel Traghetto 
A good clean hotel that I would recommend. Complimentary Wi-Fi. Continental style breakfast with very good coffee. The biggest plus point is that the hotel is very, very near the cruise port shuttle pick up. This video will show you more.



Mastro Titta Pizza
We arrived quite late at the hotel and we did not wish to venture too far. The reception told us that there was a good pizza place just next door to the hotel so we decided to eat there. It was not bad. Rather charming place but watch that scary flight of stairs!



Some pictures to share before we continue. This was taken outside Hotel Traghetto, Rome Civitavecchia, where we stayed one night pre-cruise.
 

This was the only lift (elevator) in the hotel. It is not big, but works.



Our family room, costing 120 Euros per night. Not sure if the rate goes up during Summer. We were here in winter and I think the hotel was largely empty.


View from the small balcony of the room. We were on the first floor and you could see the junction very clearly.


Post 5 We had a late dinner at the pizza place next door called Mastro Titta Pizza. Some pictures. The menu.


Freshly baked pizza. We ordered too much for the six of us.


More pizza.

Thanks for reading!

NCL Jade Cruise - More Cruise Videos of Ship

On this page, I post more videos of the experience we had during our 10N Norwegian Jade Cruise to Greece and Turkey.

The pool area of Norwegian Jade and the Centrum


The sail away part, which was quite happening!


This was Day 2, sea day.  We pass quite close to Mt Stromboli.

Back to the landing page.

Athens, Greece; Port of Piraeus, NCL Jade Cruise (Acropolis, Aeropagus)

This was Day 4 of our 10N cruise, out of Rome, to ports in Greece and Turkey. Today, we call at the port of Piraeus, for Athens,Greece.

This is a 2 minute snippet movie of what we did in Athens.



Detailed Review
Athens has such a long, rich history and so much has been written about it. Athens is one of the world's oldest cities, having been inhabited for thousands of years. Her recorded history spans 3,400 years - that is just mind-boggling.

I shall not even try to pretend that I know very much but let's just say that reading the history of Athens and walking through her streets gives one a great perspective of time and space. It is humbling, to say the least. Even more humbling would be to visit some of the places whereby apostle Paul would have preached.

When we prepared for this visit, my wife did the work of researching and we ended up booking a driver for the day from pktravel (https://www.pktravelgreece.com). Our driver was Dimitris. The service was excellent & I would recommend them if you are considering a private tour.


Change of Guard Ceremony video - Check out their slick moves with bon-bon shoes 


Our next stop, was a viewpoint on the way up to Mt Lycabettus. This was our ride for the day and the driver, Dimitris, a real fun guy to talk to.  Dimitris shared with us that he was formerly a navy diver with the Greek navy.  He was a military man. 

A closer look at the side of the van. We love guiding, we love Greece! Nice tag-line.

The weather today was good and it would get better. We were blessed, this is winter. It could easily have rained. The views from this lookout were breathtaking. See the Acropolis in the distance. We would be headed there later.


After taking in the views, Dimitris drove us up the hill a bit more, till we reached a place where the vehicle could no longer ascend. He then said that we could walk the rest of the way up to the top of Mt Lycabettus, but make sure to take the exact same path back to the van. If we took the wrong path, we would end up on the other side of the Mountain and won't be able to meet him!

So we took a leisurely walk up. Some of the steps were fairly steep and it would have been rather slippery, had it been wet. So be careful if you want to do this climb.


The climb was definitely worth it. Check out the views from the top. There was a church up there as well as a restaurant. Both weren't opened yet when we were there.

Even though the restaurant wasn't opened, the toilets were! So we all took a toilet break here, before heading back to the van. On the way back, we saw the funicular train. I think it started at 9AM and departed every half-hour. So it wasn't very frequent.

Temple of Zeus
Our next stop was the ancient Temple of Zeus. It didn't take long to get there, at most 15 minutes. Dimitris advised us to buy the 12 Euro combined ticket for the Acropolis at the entrance ticket booth and that would also give us entry to this temple. Great idea. We spent about 20 minutes looking at the temple ruins, which were the remaining columns.

Our next stop was the first stadium of the modern Olympic games. This place was just a 3 minute van ride from the Temple of Zeus. The stadium was made completely of marble. We didn't enter, just took photos from the outside. This was like the gift shop.

After this, we would be headed to the Acropolis - definitely the highlight of the day. Before we go there, check out the video I made of the trip so far.

This was the cover of the report of the 1896 Summer Games, officially known as Games of the I Olympiad. Only 241 atheletes from 14 nations participated, but already it was considered a great success. Today, the Olympic legacy lives on, with about 10,500 competitors from 204 nations competing in the 2012 Summer Games.


Panathenaic stadium sign, from the outside. The stadium was reconstructed from the remains of an ancient Greek stadium and the only one in the world built entirely by marble from Mount Penteli.

Our next stop would be the highlight of our day in Athens, the famous Acropolis! We saw the Acropolis from Mt Lycabetttus earlier that morning and we had bought our combined tickets for the Acropolis (12 Euro adult) from the ticket station outside the Temple of Zeus. All this created great anticipation. Buying the tickets at the Temple of Zeus where there were no lines for tickets also saved us some time. Good suggestion by Dimitris!

The Acropolis is an ancient citadel located on a flat-top rock, 150M above sea level, with a surface area of about 3 hecares or 7.5acres. Earlier, we were at Mt Lycabettus, 277M above level, however the top surface area was not very big.

The site contains several ancient buildings of great historical and cultural significance. The most famous was the Parthenon - a former temple dedicated to the godess Athena. The Parthenon is regarded as an enduring symbol of ancient Greece, Athenian democracy and even western civilisation.

The Elgin Marbels (or Parthenon Marbles, a collection of ancient Greek classical scriptures) were controversially removed by the 7th Earl of Elgin in 1806 and sold to the British Museum in 1816.

Check out the video I made of our visit to the Acropolis. Thank God for the beautiful weather on that day.

This was the entrance to the Acropolis, where we would have to walk up.

The views as we walk up. Gorgeous day

There was a lot of restoration work going on, which is inevitable given how old these structures are. We couldn't go into the Parthenon, so we had to admire the structure from the outside. Hopefully tourists can enter the Parthenon in the future.

There was a good crowd here, even though it was winter.

This was the view point where tourists congregated to take photos. It is a raised platform and the space on that platform was not very big. You could get excellent views of Athens from there, as well as views of the Parthenon. However, please be very careful with your belongings especially when you are in crowded places. Congestion of tourists is the best place for pickpockets to operate and there are very sophisticated pickpockets in Athens.

Another view of the Parthenon columns. You can literally see the restoration work going on.

We spent about an hour taking in the sights from Acropolis. Then we head down and found our way to the Areopagus. Here she is.

The Areopagus is the site of the famous Areopagus sermon by Apostle Paul, as recorded in Acts 17:16-34 of the Bible.

Acts 17:16 - "Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatory."

Having now visited the Acropolis, I can start to appreciate the meaning of "the city wholly given to idolatory". Imagine the splendour of the grand Acropolis back then!

Paul was moved by the Holy Spirit to preach the gospel of Jesus and the resurrection. Paul went to the synagogue and had a dispute with the Jew, and with other devout persons, philosophers and pagan worshippers.

Acts 17:19 - "And they took him, and brought him unto Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is?"

At Areopagus, who did Paul address in his famous sermon?

Acts 17:22-23 - "Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you."

A most remarkable observation. Mankind would rather worship unknown Gods than the true God and saviour. Paul goes on to explain,

Acts 17:24-25 - "God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;"

Eventually, Paul called on the people to repent,

Acts 17:30-31 - "And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent; Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead."

Jesus had died on the cross for all of mankind's sins. Repent!

Imagine Paul standing at this point, preaching to the pagans. I stood there too, but I didn't do any preaching. The weather was great and I was certainly brought back almost 2,000 years in time.


Who was Paul addressing when he gave the famous sermon? This picture is a reproduction of a painting by Raphael 1515, depicting Paul delivering his sermon on the Aeropagus. From the Bible, we know that Paul was preaching to Judges as well as senior religious people.

Well, we had to move on with our tour. By now, it was about noon, and we were feeling hungry. It was time for lunch!

This video shows you our lunch and the New Acropolis museum.

We met up again with our driver. He dropped us off at one end of Adrianou Street (37.975731, 23.724949), it was like a small bus interchange. Dimitris advised us to walk along Adrianou street as there were many restaurants and cafes where we would get some food. It was by chance that we ate at the restaurant Kotoli.

We walked along the street, for about 400M, and we came to Kotoli.(37.975731, 23.724949 - type these co-ordinates in Google maps to get the exact location)

The restaurant - Kotoli.

We ordered 2 platters from the menu (large platter and seafood variety, 26 Euros each), a Greek salad and some drinks (including 2 Greek beers, diet coke and a cafe latte).

Greek beer tasted really good after walking the entire morning. Cheers!

This is what the seafood platter (26 Euros) looked like. All the items were fresh of the grill and tasted lovely. There was so much to eat!

We had a fabulous meal and they even gave us complimentary dessert (a scoop of strawberry ice-cream) as well as a shot of some very flavourful and sweet Greek spirit. The bill came up to 82.90Euros.

After the meal, we met up with our driver again and went to the last stop of the day, the New Acropolis museum. The museum was fascinating because they built it on top of Byzantine ruins. Apparently, when they were excavating the foundations for the museum, they found a large Byzantine complex, including beautiful mosaics. In order to preserve the archaeological site, they erected columns to build the new Acropolis museum, while creating enough space below so that excavation works could continue.

We spent about an hour at the museum, before heading back to the ship. We got back to the ship at about 3pm. Overall, it was an excellent day in port.

We bade farewell to Dimitris, our driver. He impressed us with his passion for his country. It was fortuitous that I managed to record down his spontaneous response to our question. Watch this video again, to get what I mean.


Back on the ship, I did a video while on the sun deck, watching passengers enjoying the pool. There was also three vessels from the Greek Navy (Hellenic Navy) docked beside the Norwegian Jade. (One frigate, one fast attack craft and one submarine). Here is the video.

Thanks for reading and visiting my blog!