Day 10 – Wednesday, June 17: Philadelphia, Sardis, Thyatira, Pergamum – Acropolis, Izmir
Today was our second last day of touring. We continued west, visiting four more of the churches mentioned in Revelation 2-3. The sun was again warm, with highs in the low 90s. However, the breezes on top of Pergamon (our last site) made it pleasant. We read from 1 Thessalonians 1 as we left the hotel at an early start-time of 7 a.m.
Philadelphia
Our drive took us northwest (retracing another Roman road system) to Philadelphia. The drive was about 50 miles, taking a little over an hour. Only two large arches remain among the limited ruins here. There was also an inscription with “Philadelphia” in Greek. We read from Revelation 3:7-13.
Sardis
Next, we drove about 45 miles to our next stop, Sardis. The visit included walking through the ancient synagogue (3rd century AD) with amazing mosaics and the reconstructed gymnasium. Driving to the other area of ruins, we also saw the huge and most impressive Temple of Artemis. This temple once had about 120 massive pillars. It dates to the 4th century BC. We read Revelation 3:1-6 here.
Thyratira
Upon boarding the bus again, we drove another 45 minutes to the next site, Thyatira. Within the site we read from Revelation 2:18-29. Like Smyrna, this site has only limited ruins, mainly from the Late Roman / Byzantine Period, although arches from the time of Alexander the Great (4th century BC) can still be seen. (Incidentally, in the fall of 2025, John’s group met David Stott, the author of Driving Through History. He was there recording a piece to be aired in May or June of 2026. You may want to look it up on Youtube!). On the way back to the bus, most of us enjoyed some wonderful ice cream!
“We covered a lot of ground again today as we visited four of the seven churches of Revelation. The most impressive sites today were Sardis and Pergamon. The temples and the steep theater were incredible!”
Pergamum
Our last site of the day was Pergamum (Bergama). Before visiting the Acropolis of the site, we enjoyed a real “mom and pop” place for a delightful homemade lunch (bread, soup, cheeses, salad, etc…). This is also a carpet “cooperative.” We enjoyed seeing how carpets were made (incidentally, this place was much, much nicer and reasonable than the “big-store” carpet places outside Ephesus). We enjoyed our time here.
At the site of Pergamum, we took the cable car to the acropolis. What an amazing view from here! We saw many temples (Trajan Athena, Demeter, Dionysus etc.). We also saw the altar of Zeus, most likely referred to in Revelation as the “throne of Satan.” Most impressive was the theater. It was the steepest in the Greek and Roman world and could hold 10,000. A few of us carefully climbed down the steps and back. It was a “stair-workout” for sure!
Izmir
It took about an hour and a half (with the heavier city traffic due to the 6.5 million who live here) to arrive at our hotel in Izmir (ancient Smyrna). It is a very nice hotel located on the Aegean Sea. We enjoyed another outstanding dinner together. Food in all of our hotels have been very good! We retired for the evening, preparing for our last touring day tomorrow.
Day 11 – Thursday, June 18: Izmir, Smyrna – Agora, Miletus, Ephesus, Kusadasi
