Ephesian for a day

A few days ago Christina, Ryan, Sam and I decided on a whim to head over to Ephesus ("Efes" in Turkish--also the name of the famous Turkish beer). This trip is about a 6-7 hour bus ride from Antalya. We caught the overnight bus, leaving at 11:30pm, arriving at 7:00am...we thought.

Over the hills and through the woods we went, traveling up the western coast of Turkey. I was lucky enough to see most of the countryside because of an unfortunate seating arrangement in which I was placed in front of a 6'5" football player who needed every bit of knee space available. Needless to say, I was in no position to recline, less I wished to shatter his kneecaps.

We arrived in Selçuk, the city closest to the ruins of Ephesus, at 5:30 am. Guess what is open in Selçuk at 5:30am? Anybody? Anybody? That's correct, absolutely nothing. We sat in a sleepy stupor on park benches of the bus lot for about 30 minutes until one of us said, "hey, lets just walk around." We started walking the sleeping city when we realized that Ephesus was only about 3 km away...an easy jaunt at sunrise. So, we headed to Ephesus with the sun rising over the Temple of Artemis behind us (more on the Temple later).

Forty-five minutes and 3km later we had wound our way up the hillside to the ancient city, only to find out that the Ephesians sleep in as well. Or, they must have back in the day, because the park of the ancient ruins did not open until 8:30am. Decision time: do we wait on more park benches, 3km closer than we were before, or, do we meander back to the city and try to find something to eat/do/sleep on.

Then, like the "Icee" sign at a gas station after a long, hot car trip with the fam, we see a half-cracked-open gate with something like "no tresspassing" written on it. Er...I mean, it might have said that...my English skills are slipping the longer I am here... We weaseled through the gate, snuck down some unpaved terrain, and ba-da-bing...we were in the middle of the ancient city of Ephesus...an hour and a half before the city would wake and allow in the rest of the world.

We roamed around, unguided and unabashedly, discovering the city of old. We sat in the empty Great Theater, where Paul tried to persuade the angry mob that yelled "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" for 2 hours (Acts19). We wandered the streets, reading the book of Ephesians, just imagining... It was unbelievable and quite surreal to think that Christianity spread, from the very city we were in, to all of Asia. I carried my Bible in one hand and camera in the other. My finger marked the book of Ephesians, and I would stop every 100 yards or so to read on, like I was reading the letter for the first time. Paul was writing to me, encouraging me, teaching me how to relate with my brothers and sister in Christ, how to live in unity, how to obey and serve, and how to dress myself with the armor of God. I discovered this book again, but for the first time.

Well, an important lesson I am learning in Turkey is that if its too good to be true, it probably is. Security found us. Luckily, we played the "ummm...I'm a tourist...I don't understand what you are saying..." card, and got away uncuffed. We had decided before entering that we would exit when the park opened, buy a ticket, then go back in. We headed for the ticket sales, walked up with our tails between our legs, bought the entrance ticket, and headed right back in! I think that Christina even got a picture of us "locked in," on the other side of the gates, with tourists waiting to enter.

After the park opened, movement was extremely limited. People flooded in like moms into ToysRUs on the day after Thanksgiving. It was hard to find room to breathe. We spent about an hour or so longer in the park, then realized that we had seen the most and best in those twilight hours earlier in the morning. We decided to head out about 11:30, each of us feeling a little more adventerous and a little more Ephesian than when we stumbled off the bus that morning.

The rest of the day we spent as any other tourist group. We got ripped off at "The Virgin Mary's House," where we paid close to 20 lira to see "where Mary retreated after Jesus died," we went to the museum, mainly because it was airconditioned, and we visited the Temple of Artemis. I was told that this was one of the 7 wonders of the world. Could have fooled me. It was a big swamp with one big column in the middle. Aparently, at one point in history, it was the sight of an amazing temple to Artemis, the God of the Ephesians. Now, its a nice home for bullfrogs, watersnakes, and cute little turtles. But hey, 1 down, 6 to go on the wonders of the world list...

Finding a bus home was a whole adventure in itself. I lost it at the bus terminal, as at least 10 agents tried to sell me "best price ticket, lady." I just screamed and they all fled. Seriously. I should try it more often when being mobbed by sweaty men trying to sell me something (it happens more than you want in this culture). Well, we wouldn't be boarding a bus home until 11:30, so this gave us more time than we knew what to do with. We decided to take another bus out to the coast, about 9km away. This was the Agean coast, something else I would be able to cross off the list. We stayed there for a couple hours, wishing we had brought our swimsuits, but getting as wet as one can without one. Then, we went back to the town for dinner in a cat-infested restaurant. Christina hates cats like I hate things that flutter...so she almost couldn't eat her meal. I just threw water on them.

11:30pm came, we loaded the bus, and were off...back to Antalya. Guess who got the seat in front of the giant again...??? Yes, yours truly. But, by this time my feet were throbbing so badly that I could really care less if his kneecaps were shattered by a reclining blow. I popped the "night time sleep aid" shot the seat back, and thanked God for allowing me another day to discover His Truth.

God is alive here. Ephesus wasn't filled with believers that day, like back in the 1st and 2nd Century. Possibly the four of us were the only practicing Christians in the whole city, but God was still there. He is still anxiously waiting for His people to cling to Him, like they once did in that city. Artemis is dead, she never was alive. Her statue is in a museum, with big "NO Flash" sign hanging over her. Her temple is a swamp. She has no power in that place. God has never left Ephesus, but the knowledge of Him has been swept away. I learned from a Spanish tour guide that the harbor actually ran right up to the city at one point, but now had retreated, as I mentioned before, to almost 9km away from the city walls. Polluted rivers had corrupted the land, somehow forcing the Agean coastline away from the city. The harbor was the lifeline to the rest of the world for the Ephesians. Now, her people had pushed this resource so far away that it meant little, if anything, to the life of the city. 'How ironic...' I thought to myself.