Selcuk (Ephesus) Basilica of St. John

The Basilica sits on a hill top overlooking present day Selcuk. If it had survived to present day it would be one of the largest churches in the world.  It was built in this location on the traditional site of John's grave.  According to local history, John wrote his Gospel on this hill.

The grave of the apostle John.

A model of the basilica.

A groundskeeper - spraying for weeds.

Isa Bey Cami from St. Johns' Basilica hill  (Isa = Jesus, Bey = Mr. Cami = Mosque)

Road Trip! (To Ephesus!)

We finally made it to Ephesus! It was really cool trip ☺
I thought I'd put together some of my best/most interesting photos.
Our first morning in Selçuk was market day; and it just so happened that the market started right in front of our hotel. It was a great opportunity to practice my street photography skills. 

A street in Selçuk 

 Dad thought this guy was funny;  he's soldering a handle onto a pot between his knees.

 

 A man and two ladies sit at a little table on the street to eat breakfast.

 

I was almost run over by the karate kid on the bike. 

A vendor

On the second day of our stay we took a tour. The tour included the house of Mother Mary, Ephesus, and the Temple of Artemus.

As it turns out I didn't take a picture of the actual house....

The House of Mother Mary

 Statue of  Mary on the road to her house. Our guide told us that the statue is neither old, nor gold; if it was gold, it wouldn't still be there ;)

 The Wishing Wall

EPHESUS!

 Ephesus is seriously the city of cats, there were cats here and there and everywhere! 

Look at all the people! This is Ephesus on a slow day. 

Our guide

 

I can't remember what building this is.

 The library

 Out side the gates there were people selling genuine fake watches with a straight face.

 Here is a very poor picture of the largest theater in the world.

 Outside the theater; I'd amazing, the farther you get from it the bigger it seems!
 (I didn't realize that I uploaded the crooked photo until now. Oops)

Really old graffiti

 

Quotes from out Tour Guide:

"If you want to get on the bus, it's the white one." (That's him with the Blue umbrella)

"It's only three hundred years old."

"[talking about Ephesus's prison] It has a great view but no windows."

The Train Museum in Selçuk

Having a little fun. 

 Sam climbing into a train.

 Look we were here!

Selcuk Bus Tour: Ephesus Part 2

After Mary's House we got back onto the bus and went to Ephesus. During July and August, Ephesus can get 40,000 tourists. (There's a port city not far away, Kusadasi, that has a cruise ship dock.) On the day, we were there the guide said there might be as many as 6000 people. There is a lot of Ephesus still buried and excavations continue. At it's peak, Ephesus was home to about 60,000 people, covered about 8 sq km and was one of the three largest cities in Asia Minor.

Ephesus is renowned because it is the best preserved ancient city. However, much of it still requires some imagination!

or a guide!

If you see water pipes, you're in a Roman city.

There was work underway to protect some of the marble streets with recycled wooden sidewalks.

Sam and Johanna

Nicole and the fabulous hat Cam bought her at Sirince the day before.

Melted lead helped to lock columns in place.

Ancient game board.

The small theatre.

Amazing sculptures somewhat worse for time and earthquakes. Many of Ephesus artifacts have been moved to museums in other countries. The local museum is currently undergoing renovations. I am sorry we missed it.

The Library of Celsus. An amazing site.

Public washrooms used by men. The women "went" at home. It wasn't unusual to employ a servant as a seat warmer. Marble can be chilly.

The Agora - or market place.  The apostle Paul would have had a shop here making and selling tents according to our guide.

From the Agora you can see (almost) Ephesus' hill top prison situated inside the city walls.

Some reinforcement required.

The main road from the harbour to the city.  The river has silted the harbour up so the water is now farther away than in ancient times.

The large theatre where public meetings were held and which figures in the riots and unrest detailed Acts 19.

The enormous size of the theatre, with seating for 1000 is more apparent when you get farther away from it.

Every ten minutes there's a little Roman dramatics for the tourists.

 

Ephesus was really overwhelming.  I was grateful we weren't 5 among 40,000!