Roots

So I was on my own for the first time in my overseas travels and I have to say I was kind of scared...if we are keeping this blog rated PG..."poop-less." I was going to go to the town of Menemen which is where my great grandmother was born and lived until the Greek/ Turkish population exchange in the 1920's. Problem is, the town is so tiny most Turks haven't heard of it, and being a white female who doesn't speak the language, and is traveling by herself, I couldn't really find a safe and easy way to get there. SO instead I went to Efes (Greek: Ephesus) which was amazing. I walked through a compound house structure that was built in 3rd century AD and still had the mosaics and paint intact even after 2 earthquakes and multiple reconstructions. PAINT! We can't get the paint on the walls of the bathroom I share with my siblings to last more than a year and this stuff was still bright like it was applied yesterday. Ephesus is rumored to be the place that the book of John was written in, it also has a huge gladiator graveyard, the Library of Celsus and The Theater (which was the largest outdoor theater in the ancient world, thus why it gets to be called just "The Theater"...much like "Madonna" or "Cher".)

The Theater is also the place where Saint John gave his speech denouncing Artemis to the Ephesians and preaching the word of Jesus. They sat there and for three hours chanted something along the lines of "Praise Artemis" at him before running him out of town. The Library of Celsus is one of the most beautiful pieces of ancient architecture I have ever seen (1st picture.) There is just something so majestic and mighty and humbling about the facade. I could have sat there for hours, it was wonderful. As I walked down the marble streets all I could think about was the fact that not only did John the apostle walk these same steps, but Cleopatra and Antony, Alexander the Great and possibly even the Virgin Mary. All of these people came to this spot and walked these halls and carved crazy greek writing that I can't read on these walls. Okay, and now you know what a dorky history geek I am. There is no hiding it at this point. I love this stuff.

After walking around a little bit more and getting to the top of the excavation site. OH...did I mention that Ephesus is only 25% "dug up" at this point? Yeah, this is what they have found after going through a quarter of what could possibly be there. SO NIFTY!! Anyways, I got to the top of the site and realized that they were selling "audio tours" at this entrance that I had missed at the other one. Now normally I would have to go because I would be in a group and someone undoubtedly has to pee at this point, and another wants to see the shops, and half of the group is hungry and the other half is sunburned...but wait...I was traveling alone. So you know what I did? I applied some sunblock to my nose, retied my shoes, and bought myself an audio tour and walked back through the entire thing!!!!! It was glorious. I didn't have to stop to take pictures either because I had already been through once, and I learned a ton more (audio tours are the most amazing thing known to man.) So amazing.

Okay I am going to continue this post later and tell you guys about the House of the Virgin Mary as well as some f the bumps in the road to getting back to Istanbul. But for now I have to make sure everything is ready for the bus tomorrow. Keeping everybody in my thoughts and loving on ya from overseas.

~Claire