Ephesus

The day started with breakfast on the roof top terrace.  Then three of us walked to the Isa Bey Mosque, built in 1375 and still in use while being restored.  There are massive chandeliers with electricity saving bulbs and the columns were salvaged from the ruins of  Ephesus.  We put on black and white geometric patterned chadors and head scarves. The Imam gave us a tour and said  he does not like the machine made carpet.  His son made the tiles in the store which raises money for the restoration of the mosque.  Of course I bought one and told him Inshallah I will be back in Turkey one day.  A surreal experience.

Then a shoeshine man started cleaning my shoes despite my protests. I gave him three lira, he wanted 20, I said 5, we agreed on 10 as I snatched back my 5 before it became 15.  So $5 for a shoeshine and lesson learned to not slow down while saying no.  Sellers can sometimes be persistent to the point of being aggressive.  We take it in stride.

The basilica of St John and the Citadel are really something, ruins but requires less imagination to envision than Troy.  You can see forever from the site.

I cannot even describe Ephesus so will not attempt to.  It is huge and fascinating with a population of 250,000 at its peak and everything was clad in blinding white marble. We went at 3:00 pm rather than at 9:00 am with the thousands of cruise ship tourists.  I have about 100 photos.  It took about three hours to walk through.  It is incredible.

All in all it was a wonderful day ending with a walk around a small country village, apple tea at the cafe, then supper in the garden of a Turkish family.  He is a guide, she restores antiquities.  They have a mission to preserve village life.  Everything was homemade, organic, fresh and vegetarian. The olives were from their trees, homemade olive oil, unbelievable salads, delicious pea stew and an eggplant dish that I had two helpings of even though I am not a huge fan of eggplant.  I have the recipe.  Shredded carrots stir fried in olive oil and mixed with yoghurt.....I cleaned the plate.  Dessert was fresh honeydew melon and watermelon.  This is a new venture and we were the first group. It will be a success.