Day at Sea and Ephesus

As the children were falling asleep, Marshall and I noticed that we hadn't left the port yet.  The boat was supposed to leave around dinner time, but hadn't.  An announcement was made that due to high winds, the boat couldn't leave the port until the winds died down.  Then very late, around 10pm the Captain announced that because we were leaving so late, we wouldn't have enough time to make it to Greece for any significant amount of time, so we were going to skip Greece and head straight to Turkey whenever we could leave.  Marshall and I were disappointed of course, because it meant that we wouldn't see Greece at all.  We really hope to make a separate trip some other time.

The boat finally left port sometime in the middle of the night, and was in some really rough seas, based upon how much rocking we were doing in the bed!

The next morning we got up and began to enjoy our first day at sea.  It was very windy and cold, so swimming outside wasn't an option, but we did enjoy the inside swimming pool!

We discovered the best place to sit in the buffet was at the very back of the ship.

We passed some beautiful Greek islands.

And many many Cargo ships.

We went out on the pool deck and let the kids play in the wind.

The next morning during breakfast we were already approaching the city of Izmir, our first port.  The winds had died down and it looked like it would be a great day!

Maddox was a little excited, and ready to get off the boat!

We met up with our tour group, and got our stickers- we were on bus #9- taking a tour to see the ancient city of Ephesus.

Leaving the port, the city of Izmir didn't look like a very pretty place.

But once we were away from port, you could tell how huge it was!

We arrived- it was cloudy, but very bright outside.  I forgot my sunglasses and squinted all day.  There were ruins as far as we could see.  Ephesus was a city with Greek and Roman history, but to me was most famous for the fact that the Apostles Paul and John(you know, from the Bible) had lived here for a time, and it also housed one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

Less than 20% of Ephesus has even been excavated.

It's hard to imagine this as a city filled with thousands of people. Ephesus had a very complex system of aquaducts.

Ionian columns.  I can't believe I remember that.

This was the main road through the town...paved with marble.  It was called Harbor Road because at the end of it was the city's harbor, but over time the river that passed by silted up the harbor.  Now the harbor is over 5 km away!

There were columns along the side of the road.  Can you see that man leaning on that column?  OMG.

Perhaps if I had paid better attention in Doc Frost's Greek class I could tell you what this says.  I didn't, so I can't.  Or...is that Latin?  I took that too.  Still can't tell you.

This was a home of a wealthy person, which you can tell by the elaborate tile floor.  Funny- it's 2013 and that fact hasn't changed.

This is the Temple of Hadrian, built in the year 145.

This was a public restroom.

This is the Library of Celsus, which was built in the year 120, and held around 12,000 scrolls.

 Also in the city was the largest ancient outdoor theater, which seated around 25,000 people!  It's hard to tell just how big it was, but it was HUGE!!

We had our picture taken on the steps.  Then it was time to rush back to the bus!