Following John!!

Tuesday Oct 4, 2011

Our first morning breakfast on the ship. We went to breakfast at 6:00 AM as we were headed off early to Kusadasi and Ephesus. The buffet was already a buzz with people. There were lots of choices and it was just hard to make sure you found what you really wanted for breakfast rather than dishing up a lot of other stuff. Tomorrow I will be better at dishing up now I know which lines are for what I really want. After we were stuffed as a Thanksgiving turkey, we were ready to discover lost civilizations, haggle with magic carpet salesmen, avoid possible shipwrecks, and make a pilgrimage to holy ground. Yes we were ready for everything the day might throw at us!

Our tour group had one of the earliest departures from the ship so we were soon on our way. When we loaded on the buses I suddenly had a greater appreciation for the "Insight Standard". This bus had seats so close together I couldn't put my knees out straight or I would be wedged in and never get out. I was glad the trip was only 30 minutes as my knee caps were getting a bit tender. As the guide who was guiding us for the morning trip to Ephesus and Kusadasi welcomed I thought "shouldn't we have someone from the area be our guide instead of some misplaced westerner" His speech came across as someone possible from the USA. Once he introduced himself I realized I was as ignorant as most of the tour group. He had quite a humorous way of letting us know that Turkish does not mean some dark skinned guy with a moustache or beard. His English was real good but occasionally he phrased things in way you realized he was from another culture. He had an interesting chatter all the way to Ephesus and we learned about Turkey and some of its culture. The land was fertile with lots of orchards with apples, oranges, pomegranates and peaches. It really looked like the land of milk and honey. As we were about 3 miles from the site the guide asked us where we thought ancient Ephesus was and then said "look around you because all this area is built on top the ancient city". You could see some terraced areas where there were partial remains of walls. History talks of Ephesus as a port city but here we had just driven 20 km from the ocean. River silt has really changed the face of the plain and also been the reason for the fertile area. When we got our first glimpse of the archaeological site we were immediately struck by the expanse of the area. It was huge and filled with partially standing buildings, roads and walkways and a huge ancient city that spread over more than 10 city blocks. Only 10 percent of the city of an estimated 250,000 people has been excavated so far. What was done was grand. A person could have spent all day and still not seen it all. After a bit of free time for exploring we piled back in the bus and headed to Kusadasi to meet Mr. Tony (for short). He is an expert in carpet weaving. We were welcomed to a very posh building with beautiful plush carpets hanging everywhere, we walked past a jewellery shop filled with gold and silver, diamonds and emeralds. We were ushered up stairs and invited to be seated on the plush seats the lined the walls, we were served drinks, Dad and I had a lovely apple cider, and then the presentation began. There were at least four guys rolling one carpet out after another as we were told of the qualities of each. They were exquisite and truly were worth the 600-2000+ Euros they wanted for them but alas I was not in the market for such a deal.

After watching carpets fly we were left to explore the bazaar area of Kusadasi. Though these places are all similar they all have their own charm. The people were very kind but a few are bit aggressive so I did my best to avoid eye contact and not look to interested if I wasn't. As always our time passed all too quickly and we were soon back on the ship having our lunch and headed for Patmos. We sailed through a narrow passage between the Greek Island of Samos and the coast of Turkey. Asia on our left and Europe on the right. We arrived in Patmos in the mid afternoon. It is a small island and in half hour we had taken a bus tour of much of the inhabited area. We took a walking tour through a main town square where the town hall was. This area was situated high above the port area with the streets built in narrow mazes like so many of the island towns. Next stop was the grotto where much of the book of Revelations was received by John as he was exiled on this island. Of course the area has a church built over it and has been turned into a shrine. It was touching regardless of the pomp and ceremony to realize we were actually walking where early Apostle had lived and taught the true gospel of Jesus Christ. Sadly the people of Greece are very set in their superstitious ways and a change in attitude and perspective will need to precede the accepting of true doctrine today. Such a friendly people I hope I can see the day the restored gospel flourishes in Greece.