Monday 24 September – ‘ere we is in Izmir; being educated at Ephesus.

Izmir, with a population of four million people, is the third largest city in Turkey. İt is one of the oldest cities in the Mediterranean basin, with more than 3000 years of recorded urban history and up to 8500 years of history as a human settlement, since the Neolithic period. It is also the home of our guide, Gőkça. Our hotel, the Swissôtel, is opposite the busy harbour and is a just a short walk from a spectacular sunset (more about that later).

This morning we boarded our bus for the one-hour drive to Ephesus, an ancient Greek city first built in the 10^th century BCE and occupied by the Greeks and the Romans.  It was destroyed by the Goths in 263CE and then rebuilt, however its importance as a commercial centre declined as its harbour silted up.  It was eventually abandoned in the 14^th century and only rediscovered, under several metres of soil, in the 19^th century.  It has been partly uncovered and is now one of the largest Roman archaeological sites in the Eastern Mediterranean.  We were able to walk past the baths, down the long marble-paved main street, between the remains of tiered houses, to the Library of Celsius – a spectacular sight, with about seventy per cent of the original having been restored.  We paused for a group photo here, as well as individual photos, then moved on to the expansive commercial agora and the smaller official agora; the small, roofed Odeon theatre, seating about 1,500 people; and the large, open-air theatre with a capacity of about 25,000 people.  We also inspected the toilet block used by the Roman men.

After an enthralling couple of hours we moved on to visit the one remaining column of the Temple of Artemis, originally a Bronze-age edifice but then destroyed by a flood in 730BCE and rebuilt from about 550 BCE .  The story goes that it was destroyed in 356BCE by an arsonist who was seeking fame at any cost.  The story also goes that Artemis was too busy to respond to the fire as she was assisting at the birth of Alexander the Great.

From there we moved on to a carpet factory, where the proprietor treated us to a fascinating demonstration of carpet weaving.  It was mesmerising to watch the skilled weavers making a carpet from wool, cotton, silk (or a combination), using the double-knot method for which Turkey is famous.  This was followed by a light lunch with a choice of wine, beer, mint tea or raki, no doubt to soften us up for the sales pitch that was to follow.  We purchased a beautiful rug that will take pride of place on the wall of our loungeroom.  As an added inducement, the Turkish government underwrites all delivery costs, so in several weeks we will receive our rug to our door, complete with certification as to its authenticity.  It will become a family heirloom.

From there we took a long drive up a mountain to the house where Mary, the mother of Jesus, spent her last years.  She was brought there by the disciple John about four years after the crucifixion, and the house where she lived is now a shrine.  We drank the holy water, which comes from a spring that passes under the house, and looked at the thousands of personal prayers and pleas that are written by visitors and pinned to a wall near the house.

Then back on the bus and back to Izmir.  Not long before sunset, we ventured out to the waterfront, where we sat in the park, enjoyed an Efes and a coke, and watched the spectacular sunset.  Then a light meal at a nearby restaurant and back “home” to bed.

Today we received another history lesson.  Gőkça showed us how the ancient earthernware water pipes fitted together - just as PVC pipes do today.  She explained to us all how to identify the different types of columns – Doric, Ionian, Corinthian, Composite.  She taught us how to recognise whether a theatre was roofed or open – look for evidence of drainage.  She pointed to a statue of Victoria, the Roman Goddess of victory, and referred to her Greek equivalent: Nike, now immortalised in sporting footwear.  She explained that the origin of rolling out the red carpet was the local custom of pouring red wine on the marble pavement in front of Cleopatra, a frequent visitor to Ephesus.  And, most important, she told us of the toilet rituals of the Roman males.  She is a walking encyclopaedia.