We have a couple days on our own, no official tour. Our hotel overlooks the old town part of the city, but it is hidden by trees, and part is the bay.
We walked a bit today down to the old Roman harbor, up through some old town streets, to the clock tower, old bazaar and Hadrian’s gate then a stop for a coffee….
Our last tour day in western Turkey is of Ephesus, the house of Mary and the city of the Ephesians, visited by Paul and John.
We visited here in 2013 with Malik, our grandson. comparisons, then and now
The great amphitheater is under renovation now for safety
Our walk along the main columnated street to the terrace houses. We did not visit there last time, but there is more excavated now than there was then. We entered at the top, in the area of the first agora where orders were made for large trade transactions.
The gate separating 2 parts is the city
The main street
The terraced house excavating
The library, the 3rd largest after Alexandria and Pergamum
The ancient amphitheater, under renovation
Remember the lukewarm Christians who received a warning from God in Revelation? We visited the ruins of their city which archeologists have begun excavating in the last 20 years. The site is large and the reconstructions are impressive. We visited along the main columnated street, a temple, and a 4th century church.
The church has many mosaics uncovered too
The scripture becomes clearer when you see the sights. Laodociea it’s just 10km from Pamukkale’s warn springs with an aquaduct bringing warm water from there. It also was fed water from the cold mountains on the other side. The description of the Christians neither hot nor cold fits the city, when the waters meet.
It is a not if a drive, 3 hours east from Kusadasi, where we are starting 2 nights, to the area of the white castle mountain, Pamukkale with the Roman city Hieropolis on its summit. The calcium rich spring has covered the mountain side for, they say, 12 million years.
Above it, the ancient city is being excavated and restored by an Italian group and the local university.
The museum there has pieces from the excavations of the temple and theater
The gem of Istanbul, this church, turned Mosque, turned museum, back to mosque, to mosque/museum. Non Muslims can’t enter the floor, but our views from the 2nd floor were amazing anyway! Several of the Christian era gold mosaics are still visible and we were able to see them.
The largest palace of the Sultans of Istanbul, 70,000 sq meters, mostly outdoor courts, but beautiful palace too.
Inside this first gate, all the people can enter. The largest court of the palace is open to everyone
Inside the middle gate requires permission from the sultan
Sections of the palace are now exhibition rooms for gifts, armor, jewelry, and robes of the sultans
The last gate, the inner gate,, into the residence is the sultan
This area is the personal lodging of the Sultan, at least 4 wives, and 300 our so concubines…. and of course the children. There is a beautiful viewing place for him to survey his kingdom
Another section of the palace holds the jewels
And last, the Sultans’ robes
Whirling Dervish ceremony
Very solemn, very reverent, and very interesting.
We started out day with a cruise on the Bosporus strait with Europe on 1 side and Asia on the other
Cruises down to the 2nd of 3 bridges and back
We visited the spice bazaar or Egyptian market for a taste of these shopping areas. Instituted by the sultan as a way to pay for the mosques, each is associate with a mosque complex. Each sultan built a more elaborate mosque than the last, 36 of these. Not to be outdone, Erdogan built the newest and largest in 2019, which allows 63,000 for worship.
We visited the area is the ancient hippodrome, where chariot races were held in Roman times. Now it is the central area of old Istanbul
The Blue Mosque, named for the tiles in the ladies gallery, was just ending noon prayers, so we were able to visit today. It is on 1 side of the hippodrome.
After a rest, we visited the Grand bazaar
We arrived in Istanbul after a very very early flight from Amman, and thankfully, our Turkey tour meet us and delivered us to our hotel in the old city of Istanbul, with no agenda for the rest of the day! We walked a bit to get the lay of the neighborhood, found a great restaurant for dinner and just rested! We are in the Sultanahmet district! The great monuments are just around the corner and down the block from our hotel!
Neighborhood streets
Dinner! A Michelin recommended place and a delicious dinner
Delicious dinner!
Our last full day with the Viking extention in Jordan started with a long drive. 4-5 hours. Viking had a great lunch arranged for us before we went to the ruins of the Greco Roman city Jerash from 1st c BC
The theater
The colonnaded street
The Joys of Retirement Production Company 