Kusadasi

July 18, 2009 at 11:30 p.m. in Kusadasi

We arrived in Ephesus by 4:30 p.m. I know that I should just stop thinking that this can’t get any better, yet I wake up each morning to pinch myself and come to the same conclusion. And I am wrong every time. Ephesus is truly (up to this point) the most spectacular place I have ever seen. Ephesus was once a great city, rebuilt 3 times, of about 100,000 people and countless antiquities. It houses the Celsus Library, remnants of the Temple of Artemis, and the great theater where St. Paul preached “an epistle to the Ephesians.” Unbelievable. The main streets are made of marble stones, the pillars are so ornate and the vastness of the site is breathtaking. Hands down – this is Paradise for any historian.

On that note, I can’t help but to reflect on the difference between the historical sites here compared to those of America. Back home we have so many rules and restrictions on what we can touch or photograph or visit, but here you can climb onto a millinium old carved stone! And it has all held up pretty well given the wars and earthquakes yet we fear a hand print will ruin an artifact from the Civil War. I get the intention behind it, I just still find it interesting. Here you are expected to interact with the history. That may explain why students here are so well schooled in history and so proud of their own history.

OK, off my soapbox. We were given another 2 hours after the tour to look at the site, where as I could have spent days and never see it all. But I understand the rush – we had a 5 star hotel on the Aegean Sea waiting for us down the road. And seriously, this place is amazing. Check it out at http://www.charismahotel.com/ We were squeeling when we saw the view from our hotel rooms. We rushed down to the terrace to eat dinner and watch the sun set on the sea. Phenomenol. Now this is paradise! The outdoor pool spills over into the sea. We rushed into our swimsuits after “delish” dinner and raced to the pool. Gorgeous! We hung out, took some crazy pics and then rushed out to the beach. We had such a blast down there, though we got kicked out by the lifeguard. We went back in anyway.

Just got back to the room to take the best shower ever. We are having some internet issues so it may take a bit to get this posted. Until then, good night! Ahhhhh……

Factoid: The oldest shipwreck on Earth was axcavated in Turkey.

Blog Playlist: The Blower’s Daughter by Damien Rice; Boyz by MIA; Back to the Hotel by N2Deep; Breathe by Leaves

** Later that night, we called the front desk re: our internet difficulties and they sent a tech guy to our room to look at the laptop, not fix it, then 2 more techies showed up. They couldn’t fix it either so they let us borrow a personal laptop and an extra adaptor for the night. So nice! I returnied it all the next morning with a thank you note and 10 lirra. Orhan said “Is not normal behavior. Is the color of your eyes.” Whatever. If having blue eyes means being treated like a rock star, we will gladly take it.