Day 15 – Saturday, September 24: Miletus, Ephesus, Flight from Izmir to Istanbul
Our morning started early today, our last full day here in Turkey. We added an additional site (Miletus) to the program before visiting Ephesus. We flew to Istanbul this afternoon to end the day. The weather was once again ideal, with full sun and highs in the 70s. We read from Colossians 2 and Ephesians 1 as we left the hotel.
Miletus
Following an early breakfast, we left the hotel at 7:05 and drove about 30 miles south of Kusadasi to Miletus. The last 10 miles or so was flat farmland with many cotton fields. In Paul’s day this was all under water. The most impressive thing at this site is the theater originally built in the Hellenistic Period. It was later expanded to hold about 10,000 people. Some of the marble “reserve seats” had Greek inscriptions. We also saw the bathhouses. We read from Acts 20:15-38. Paul met the elders of Ephesus here en route to his travels to Jerusalem at the end of his third mission journey.
“Today was our last full day here in Turkey. We already saw amazing sites related to the Bible. Today we saw two more, including the grand-daddy site, Ephesus! Words cannot describe how awesome many of these sites in Turkey are!”
Ephesus
We drove back north about 1.5 hours to Ephesus. This city was the fourth largest city in the Roman world (after Rome, Alexandria, Antioch). The city when Paul was here was about 250,000 in population. It was the center of commerce, located on a port. Artemis (Diana) was the primary deity worshipped here. She was viewed in the pagan world as the goddess of fertility. We began our site seeing of Ephesus at the top part of the city. We saw an incredible display of marble, columns, arches, and amazing architecture. Among the more impressive ruins was the Library of Celsus and the grand theater. In the agora (marketplace), we read from Acts 19 and Revelation 3:1-7. Paul spent nearly three years here during his third missionary journey. He also wrote 1 Corinthians from here. Before leaving the site, we grabbed snacks for lunch and also saw the Temple of Artemis.
Izmir – Istanbul
The drive to Izmir to catch our flight to Istanbul took us a little over an hour. We arrived in Istanbul in the evening. We arrived at our hotel for a late dinner. We fly home tomorrow afternoon.
Day 16 – Sunday, September 25: Istanbul/U.S.A.
After a late breakfast, we transferred back to the Istanbul Airport for our return flight back home. We saw a lot on this extension to Turkey.
