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| Celsus Library, Ephesus Turkey |
Once a month there is a group of LDS members that meet
together in Izmir, Turkey for church services. This past weekend we were asked
if we could come down and given the sermons in the service. We decided that if
we were going to be in the area we might as well go early and see Ephesus too.
Ephesus is the ancient home to the Ephesians (See Acts and Ephesians in the New
Testament).
It is crazy to go there today and see ruins of the ancient
Greek community of over 300,000 that once lived there and then areas from
Byzantium and the Ottoman Empires. It was also amazing to see Ephesus a few
days after we were in Athens. Both places have history from around the same
time period, The difference being that in Turkey you can literally walk among
the ruins to touch and experience it.
They have excavated several areas of the ruins and then
rebuilt some of the structures. It was truly fascinating to see the way these
structures were and how even after thousands of years of being destroyed and
buried in the earth there are so many details.
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| Pieces of ruins that have been excavated |
We sat in the stone Amphitheater
where thousands of spectators watched their plays and politics, we then visited
the Celsus Library that has a façade they rebuilt. It is now an iconic tourism
site for Turkey. I am glad that they did rebuild it as best as they could so we
could visualize what the whole area must have looked like when it was in the
glory days. We could feel as if we truly
were walking where Paul walked when he taught the Ephesians the Gospel.
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| Massive Amphitheater |
There were so many details cut into the stones and marble
was everywhere—the roads, the seats, the doors, the library…it was all
preserved.
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| Celsus Library, Ephesus Turkey |
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| He wanted to be in the photo with this woman |
We then went to eat in the nearby modern village of Selcuk.
Just as always, our little Lucky Dragon made friends along the street as he pet
all the stray cats and dogs and gave “çak” (high five) to everyone we passed. Lady
Hiva and I talk about the way we like the love and hospitality of the Turks.
Simple things like a free salad with our meal, or cookies from strangers…they
are so giving.
We made our way back to Izmir to explore more of the area
for the next few days.
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| There is a bird in that box! |
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| Another friend that was explaining how Turkish Tea works |
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| Just in case anyone needed a new time piece |
