Return to Ephesus

While clients frequently reject cruise itineraries that take them back to ports they've already visited, there inevitably are alternative side trips on paths not previously taken. On our return to Kusadasi, I found that taking the exact same shore excursion route can also yield a unique experience. How?

Library of Celsus in Ephesus

All of us bring our personal backgrounds and beliefs to our travel and jobs, and that influences how we approach our subject matter. As luck would have it, our guide was the grandson of immigrants from Crete, which gave us an additional connection, since Julie's grandfather immigrated to the U.S. from Crete.

In Ephesus, our guide shared stories about early Christians. In the first century A.D., Christians could be thrown to the lions and ripped to shreds for the entertainment of the masses simply because of their beliefs. This obviously made them cautious about what they said and to whom. To be certain he was talking with a fellow Christian, one person would casually scratch an arc in the ground with his toe. If the other was a Christian, he would casually scratch a mirror image of the arc, crossing through at one end, with his toe. The result was what looked like a crude outline of a fish, the same symbol you'll see on the back of mini-vans throughout the heartland of America.

Our guide four years earlier spoke about Mary, the Mother of Jesus, and the Apostle John, who reportedly spent their final days around the great city of Ephesus. He spoke at length about Paul, who wanted to preach the Word of God in the large Greek Theater in that city and who wrote letters to the Ephesians which, like John's Book of Revelations and the fourth Gospel possibly written in Ephesus, are included in the Bible. Our guide this time touched on those pillars of history, but not in as much detail, preferring to share less famous anecdotes, including an explanation of a more complex symbol found etched all around Ephesus that, like the fish, had secret meaning for Christians.

A far less religious marking along the road leading up toward the town from the coast was a primitive ad for the house of ill-repute at the corner across from the Library of Celsus. Our guide said there was a tunnel beneath the street from the library to the whore house. While certainly not exactly the same experience, it reminded me of how my high school friends and I would walk to Thrifty's for an ice cream while we were ostensibly at the library to study. We were always looking for girls too, but we certainly never found carnal knowledge there.