| |
|
| Day 3: The
first of our flights around Turkey. We got up at
4:30 AM for our trip that will eventually take us
to Kusadasi. While the bus took our luggage the
night before, we hopped a plane to the airport at
Izmir. |
| From there, a 1-1/2 hour
drive to Sardis, an ancient city over 5,000 years
old. Sardis was the capital of the Lydian Empire.
We toured the ancient shops and the remains of
the largest ancient synagogue. There were rich
floor mosaics and a bath-gymnasium complex. It
was very hot this day!
|
 Touring
the ancient shops at Sardis
|
| On the south side of the
highway was the spectacular Artmemis Temple. This
massive temple rivaled those at Ephesus, Samos
and Didyma. It was built sometime around 200 BC. The
temple has 8 columns on the short end and 20 on
the sides. We had a great time climbing all over
the structure.
We arrived at the Hotel
Fantasia that afternoon. Probably the least
favorite hotel on the trip, despite its ocean
front accommodations. Laundry was very expense
and the bus boys kept chasing us off the
restaurant deck.
|
 The Artemis Temple |
 Delusions of
Grandeur
|
Day 4: This
day was one of the highlights of the trip,
because we went to Ephesus. Ephesus
is described at being unmatched by any
archaeological site anywhere in terms of sheer
magnitude. Legend has it that Ephesus was founded
on this site in the 11th Century BC after the
Apollonian oracle gave the founders cryptic
instructions to establish it at the spot
indicated by a fish and a boar. Androklos, son of
the King of Athens was frying some fish there
when a fish jumped out of the frying pan
scattering coals and starting a brush fire. A
boar then ran out of the brush and was killed by
Androklos.
Ephesus prospered under King
Croesus of Lydia in 560 BC and later under
Alexander the Great who arrived in 334 BC. Later,
the Great Temple, one of the Seven Wonders of the
World was located here. Yet it had sunk below
ground level and disappeared.
|
 Group
in Front of the Library
|
Ephesus entered its golden
age during the Roman era when Augustus Cesear
declared it the capital of the province of Asia.
At the time, it had a population of 250,000. Only
the silting up of the harbor threatened its
prominence. The present ruins
belong almost entirely from the Roman era. We
walked the colonaded street, visited the great
library with its secret passage to the brothel,
and toured the remains of the Roman Baths.
|
 Diana
with Diana
|
One of the spectacular
structures at Ephesus which we did not get to see
is the horseshoe-shaped Stadium which was built
during the Hellenistic period and restored during
Nero's reign (54-68 AD). The Stadium could hold
25,000 people. During the early ages, various
sports such as boxing and wrestling were held
there. During the 3rd and 4th centuries,
gladiators fought there while Christians met
their deaths to the lions. Vengeful Christians
later destroyed the stadium. However,
we did see a spectacular amplitheatherwhich held
thousands of people. We were entertained by Kaz's
reciting of a Shakespearean sonnet from the stage
of this Amplitheater.
|
 Group
Meeting Room
|
 The
Amplitheater
|
| After
lunch, we visited the Sardis museum that contains
many of the statues and other artwork recovered
from the Ephesus site. That
night, we went to Sirince, a small Greek village
in the mountains for dinner. We had a wonderful 6
course meal. We got back to the hotel at midnight.
|
