The Bible Comes to Life! (Tuesday)

We got an extra-early start on the day, and had to meet the group at 6:45 a.m. for an early departure into our next port, which was Kusadasi, Turkey. It was here that we met our local guide, Ayca (pronounced " I ' - cha"), who took us by private charter bus to what we feel has been the highlight of the trip so far, Mt. Koressos, or "Nightengale Mountain," which is home of the little house where the Virgin Mary is believed to have spent her last days on earth. Ayca told us that there is much proof of this both in the bible and in local archives. Of course, as we all know, the bible recounts Christ's command to his beloved disciple, John, to take Mary and care for her after his death...and local records here show that John later came to live this area, presumably with the Blessed mother.
The site contained a small church, or chapel, adjacent to the little single-room house. This is a very holy site, and is revered by muslims and Christians alike (Mary is honored by muslims as the virgin mother, and they actually have much respect for Jesus, whom they revere as a prophet). There was a shrine with candles in the chapel, with soft recorded music of a cloistered choir of nuns singing latin playing in the background. The feeling of reverence and holiness in the house was incredible...people passed quietly as they viewed the chapel and house, and several of us knelt and prayed. Afterward, we bought some holy water for our prayer group, and a book that explained more about the house (and has nice photographs, which we could not take on our own), and our next site, Ephesus!
As we continued to the ancient city of Ephesus, we were shown a little castle-looking structure on top of a hilltop in the distance, which we were told was the prison in which Paul was incarcerated after attempting to preach in Ephesus. We stopped at the ruins site, and were told that only 15% of the city has been excavated...but this is hard to believe, as we saw acre after acre of an incredibly complex city, complete with public latrines, sewer system, irrigation system, wide roads, and impressive buildings. The library building and brothel were located across the street from each other, with an interesting tunnel that was discovered to run between the two...we learned that men of the city could tell their wives they were "just heading to the library"...and in a sense not lie...because they could enter the library, then sneak underneath to the house of ill-repute! My goodness... :-)
The last stop in the ruins was the huge amphitheatre or forum that held up to 25,000 people. It was here that Paul attempted to preach, and was thus arrested and imprisoned as a result. This is recounted, I believe, in the 19th chapted of Acts (check it out!). The Chorale stopped and sang one of our numbers just outside the forum before heading to our next stop.
We ended our stay in Turkey by attending a rug-making demonstration, which was (as usual) a marketing ploy arranged between Encore and the rug makers to get our business. After a semi-interesting demonstration, we were pressured by the sales folks, and 4 people in our group ended-up buying several thousand dollars-worth of Turkish rugs.
We were back to the ship for lunch, and by noon, we were on our way to the island of Patmos which was not only breathtakingly beautiful, but also full of more biblical history! This is the island to which Paul was exiled in 95 A.D., and also where he received his famous revelation from the Lord, and had a scribe record the vision in a cave. We were actually able to enter the cave and touch the writing table (carved into the cave wall), and touch the very spot where he purportedly had his vision! There is natually a shrine and chapel built around the cave now, and it took a great deal of twists and turns to wind our way down steps to reach it, but it was WELL worth it. Again, how awe-inspiring to walk in the footsteps of an apostle of Christ!
After the cave, we headed by bus to the upper-most point of the island, the monastery of St. John. This is a large Greek orthodox monastery and museum, dedicated to the apostle, and was established in the 11th century. We saw the church and monastery, as well as the impressive museum that contained artifacts from the church and island dating as far back as the 11th century...MOST fascinating. The island and surrounding water were sights to behold from the high mountain, and I got what I believe will be some great pictures to bring home. To end the port visit, our driver took us on an amazing drive down the backside of the mountain to some more residential areas of the sparsely-populated island, and we ended up back on the cruise ship by 6:30 p.m., just in time for our early seating for dinner at 7:00.
After dinner (Greek-themed, and we all wore whatever blue-and-white we could find), we attended the "Greek Night" show in the lounge/theater, and then came to the internet cafe to make this entry. What an INCREDIBLE day! Tomorrow, we visit Rhodes. More later!