Turkey surprised me. It appears to be very modern. 97% of the people of Turkey are Muslim, and yet it is a secular country and is tolerant of all religions. Our first visit was to fhe final home of the Virgin Mary. It is believed that St. John the Apostle brought her here after Chist's crucifixion. Her home is small with 3 tiny rooms. It is now a chapel. The house sits on a quiet hill overlooking Ephesus surrounded by green trees and there's a spring that she would have received her water from. We were given a clay pot to fill with the water, but I wasn't able to bring it on the plane. : (. Oh well, I still have the pot and that water has been running for over 2000 years. The original foundation of the house is shaped like a cross.
From Mary's home we were driven to Ephesus, the third largest city.of the Roman Empire. 250,000 people lived there. The city is well preserved. Walking down the streets I could imagine Mary and John walking here, doing their shopping. Well, why not? It made Mary feel more human to me thinking about this. There were many shops, theatres and to the left was their library. Our tour guide told us that when the king visited Ephesus red wine was poured out onto the street, thus the saying "roll out the red carpet".
Turkey surprised me. It appears to be very modern. 97% of the people of Turkey are Muslim, and yet it is a secular country and is tolerant of all religions. Our first visit was to fhe final home of the Virgin Mary. It is believed that St. John the Apostle brought her here after Chist's crucifixion. Her home is small with 3 tiny rooms. It is now a chapel. The house sits on a quiet hill overlooking Ephesus surrounded by green trees and there's a spring that she would have received her water from. We were given a clay pot to fill with the water, but I wasn't able to bring it on the plane. : (. Oh well, I still have the pot and that water has been running for over 2000 years. The original foundation of the house is shaped like a cross. 
From Mary's home we were driven to Ephesus, the third largest city.of the Roman Empire. 250,000 people lived there. The city is well preserved. Walking down the streets I could imagine Mary and John walking here, doing their shopping. Well, why not? It made Mary feel more human to me thinking about this. There were many shops, theatres and to the left was their library. Our tour guide told us that when the king visited Ephesus red wine was poured out onto the street, thus the saying "roll out the red carpet".
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