Our early morning began as a race to the airport. We had a plane to catch. The trip through Istanbul to the Ataturk Airport was quick and our experience inside smooth. None of us were surprised to see among the many Turkish shops a Starbucks. The Turkish coffee that we hear so much about in the west is mostly for special occasions where one may sit and enjoy the company of friends, family or guests, whereas tea makes regular appearances throughout the day. In other words, the quickness of Starbucks doesn't exactly fit with the culture.
Our 45 minute plane ride passed in a flash and we landed in Izmir, the third largest city in Turkey. (Istanbul is the first with something like 20 million residents - imagine that San Diego! And Ankara, the capitol, is second). When we collected our luggage, we were collected by our guide, a man named Shercan. Shercan accompanied us in the van and he gave us an extremely detailed historical lesson on the region...it was wonderful and rich, but we were all so exhausted and hungry that it was difficult to pay attention. Luckily enough for us (and for our poor guide) we stopped at a roadside restaurant for brunch. The restaurant bordered a farm and a mountain side and it was absolutely heavenly. Complete even with fig leaves.
The climate of Ephesus, where we were driving through, is MUCH like California. We've seen a number of similar plants that grown in Southern California, including, get this, eucalyptus trees. (Yes, I am aware that these are native to Australia.) But see for yourself how similar our two chapparels are:
From lunch, we went the famous tile shop in Turkey to have a demonstration on the ancient art of tile making that has been a part of the Ephesus culture for centuries. The blue tile in the Blue Mosque (hence its name) are actually from this small town and it was incredible to see a master tiler at his art. We learned that his family had been making these pieces of art for seven generations.
He made a masterpiece in under two minutes.
Margie, a gal in my group, gave it a go and alas, she was not able to make a masterpiece, but we all had a good laugh. From that room, we explored the building some more and were able to see the master artists who draw the designs on the pottery at their art.
After viewing masterpieces and glow in the dark pottery, we all browsed around the unbelievable shop and purchased goodies of our own.
I purchased a pair of beautiful coffee cups and I will be only too happy to bring those out for special occasions.
After our tour we embarked once more in the van down a long, lovely road, bound for a very special destination.
This photo is from the drive up to an absolutely incredible historical and religious site: the House of Mary. We were able to visit what is believed to be the place where Mary, the mother of Jesus, spent her last few years on Earth.
The site has been restored, but it was a miracle that the place was found to begin with. The house sits alone on top of an impressive hill, tucked among a grove of olive trees. Regardless the amount of loud and pushy tourists, there was a peace there that will stay with me a long time. Walking through the blessed Mother's house was truly a moving experience.
At the site, there was a cistern that had been redirected to run through faucets. It is a part of the experience to drink the water, so we all enjoyed our sips from the refeshing spring.
I wish we could have stayed longer in this peaceful place, but Shercan had more scheduled for us to see, so after parousing the shops, we hopped back in the van and drove off to the ancient city in Ephesus.
The site was so large that only a shot from far up above could capture it all, but here are a few of the highlights:
As shown by this next photo we are being accepted by the locals.
We've seen hundreds of wild cats and dogs, and this one decided to curl up with Carole after we sat down.
I will post more photos of this incredible place later along with a video of my lone hike to the top of the theater in the last photo. To tell you a bit more about this place, it was a city that lined the seaside, although today the water has receded substantially and it was one of the largest locations of active commerce. Shercan described it as the ancient version of a combination of Washington DC and New York City. It had been occupied by the Romans, early Christians, and numerous other cultures before being swallowed uup pby sand, dust and time.
Today, much of the site has been uncovered, but the archeological digs are likely to continue for another fifty years.
If you zoom in really closely, you can see my group waiting for me to finish my journey about midway in the photo on the right side.
I'm very glad that I made the pilgrimage to the top. The view was unlike anything I've ever known. Had the group not been patiently waiting for me, I could have sat up there for hours feeling the wind in my face and seeing the ghosts of the ancients come to life on the stage beneath me.
There was a real sense of eternity there. Though there were no reproductions or living history demonstrations happening, it was almost as if you could still hear the laughter in the theater, or the running water in the Roman baths. The place may be in ruins, but the tales of the long gone have not been forgotten.
Sweaty and out of breath, I rejoined my group and we continued on to the end of the road to return to the van that had luckily driven to the otherside of the enormous site to meet us.
The drive to our next stop was not terribly long, but we dropped off Shercan with many expressions of thanks for his exccellent tour.
Our next destination was the seaside town of Kusadasi. Our hotel was directly across the street from the beach. We all quickly freshened up then hit the streets to find dinner.
The sunset stroll beside the Agean sea was marvelous.
Our dinner, just like everything else, was a lot of fun. We ordered kebobs and a variety of appetizers. The beef, lamb and chicken kebabs came with spicy peppers on top. I sat with our trip leader Mesut, our driver, and the driver's company manager - the latter two were very impressed by my immersion into Turkish culture. I was mirroring the way they were eating, practicing my basic Turkish words, and I was chomping down the spicy pepper as if it was nothing. One of the guys asked Mesut where I was from and they found my latina heritage to be fitting for my enthusiasm toward the peppers. I think I really shocked and awed them when I spoke Russian to the manager who too spoke Russian. I think I may be a positive example of globalization kinda like these Coke cans:
What would dinner be without a follow up of icecream? And Turkish Icecream is unbeatable. They make it out of goatsmilk and it is SUPERB!
I'm afraid there may be no going back to American icecream after this trip. My group and I enjoyed a wide variety of flavors, the three of which featured in the above photo were vanilla, pistachio and black mulberry. Two words: mind-blowing.
This whole trip has been exactly that. It's difficult for my mind to wrap itself around the fact that I am in Turkey, the grounds that have played so large a role in history throughout man's existence. It is an incredible trip and I fell humble and honored to be a part of this wonderful group that is with me.
But now, it is nap time. I've still another day to write about and a whole afternoon of activities to fill!
Until later my dear readers.
Your humble author,
S. Faxon
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