Our next stop was Kusadasi,on the west coast of Turkey, near the historical site of Ephesus. Also nearby are The Virgin Mary's House and the single remaining column of the Temple of Artemis (one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World)....so it is fair to say we were quite excited about today.
It is widely believed that Mary spent her final years in the area of Ephesus, having been brought here by John the Baptist
Click here for the story of the house where Mary lived.
The house has now been made into a chapel.
Outside we were able to get some healing water from a natural spring that still flows there.
Husb needed some - he had recently had the dreaded lurgy that had swept through our family the week before...
This is the wishing wall with every spare inch of wall crammed full of wishes and then even more on top.
Proof on a Postcard that The Virgin Mary really DID live here.
But we didn't stay long because we were on our way to the well preserved ancient city of EPHESUS, with its excellent examples of Roman architecture.
These are the Roman Baths. People entering the city needed to be clean!
Pillars of the main street.
Looking into the Council Auditorium-you would have had to have been invited or royal to have got a seat here.
Husb ran up the steps for a photo.(!) Look at that blue sky.
I, on the other hand, didn't run up the steps for a photo.
NIKE, the Goddess of Victory - Can you see the Nike swoosh in her clothes???
If you could touch both of these pillars you had the strength of Hercules. Get innn!
Walking down to the famous library
past the Temple of Hadrian
and the mens toilets with the continual flushing stream flowing underneath
and here it is. THE CELSUS LIBRARY. Magnificent.
Details of the statues
The statues in the niches of the columns today are the copies of the originals. The statues symbolize wisdom (Sophia), knowledge (Episteme), intelligence (Ennoia) and valor (Arete). These are the virtues of Celsus. The library was restored with the aid of the Austrian Archaeological Institute and the originals of the statues were taken to Ephesus Museum in Vienna in 1910.
Looking up
We carried on walking to The Great Theatre-WOW!
It has a capacity for 25,000 people
We had one more place to visit and when we got there - a bit of marshland with a few rocks - we were like "Errrr, What is THIS???"
It just happened to be ONE OF THE SEVEN WONDERS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD (woopsiee) but today only one single column remains.
Artemis was represented with a mural crown, with a disc behind the crown; on her breast, a garland of flowers, as a sign of her influence in spring time. Lions cling to her arms; as mother of wild beasts, she has many breasts; her legs are closely bandaged and ornamented with figures of bulls, stags, lions, and griffins; at the sides are flowers and bees. This figures may have resembled the original image of the goddess which had fallen from heaven.
We thoroughly enjoyed this morning but I HAD A NEW SEA TO SWIM IN - THE AEGEAN SEA!!
So we nipped back for our cossies and had an hour ticking
off
"Swim in the Aegean Sea" TICK
YIPPEEEEE
Yet another great day.
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