EPHESUS AND THE HOME OF THE VERGIN MARY

January 29

We arrived the the port of Izmir, Turkey the 3rd largest port in the country. Our tour today is to visit the House of the Virgin Mary, and the historical city of Ephesus. With the main emphasis in our schooling on Athens Greece we did not expect to see this such impressive sight. This is one of the most outstanding visits of our trip. It was very interesting that Paul and John were both in Ephesus and that John arrived with Mary, died and was buried here, Paul came to preach and was jailed in Ephesus.

The House of the Virgin Mary was interesting but there are those that feel there is no evidence to prove that Mary t ever lived here. The house was destroyed by and earthquake but was rebuilt in the 6th century AD on the same foundation but was modified on the interior to be a small church.

After our visit to Ephesus we stopped at a resort on the Aegean Sea for lunch followed by a stop at a carpet weaving school where we saw some nice carpets. I happened to say I like one particular carpet. That was a mistake as I am sure the wall had ears, we were in for a high pressure sales team. Ray told me that I will never be forgiven. It did take walking out on them to get away.

As we were quite tired after getting back I am typing this on the following day. We have a day at sea on our way to Alexandria, Egypt. We again have rough seas and my stomach is not handling it at well as it should. The forecast is for improved sea conditions and temperatures.