Originally, my tour of Ephesus was due to leave the ship at 9:45am, which would have allowed for a nice opportunity to sleep in. Unfortunately, the time was changed to 8:15am, which meant yet another early morning.
Ephesus was once a city of major importance... both in early times as a place of worship to the goddess Artemis, and in later days as the final home of the Virgin Mary of the Christian faith. Today it is still an important landmark and place of pilgrimage for Christians, having been visited by two Popes and untold scores of followers.
Mary's famous house has been nicely restored, and there's a "blessed spring" nearby where visitors can drink from the waters or, more likely, bottle it up and take it home as a souvenir as I did (I've got a few plants who could really use some divine help just now)...
From there, it's a short drive to the ruins of the ancient city, with major pieces of architecture having been partially restored. The centerpiece of the entire complex is the great library, which must have been truly amazing back in the day...
The Ephesus Museum has many nice works rescued from the archaeological site, but the showcase item was a little guy packing a really big piece that puts the Delos penises from yesterday to shame...
The final stop of this very long day was to a Turkish Hand-Woven Rug Showroom, where incredibly beautiful works of rug art could be yours if you have thousands of dollars burning a hole in your pocket. They were all incredible, of course, but way out of my price range. I was more interested in the bird's nest just outside the door, where baby birds were anxiously awaiting their mother's return with dinner...
I know just how they feel, because now it's my dinner-time too.
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Holy crap, I’d be worried about some of those old stones at the top of the library breaking loose and crashing down on my head. That would be just my luck.
Gosh, Dave! During your travels, you’ve accumulated this incredible phallic photo library. But, ironically, there you are in Ephesus and not one picture of the fertility goddess, Artemis, with her many, many, many breasts? (Or are they figs?) Hmm….
those birds have huge mouths! but not as huge as the wang on that statue.
Wow, that library is truly gorgeous! I think, despite the gorgeousness of your previous stops, this is the one I’d look forward to most!
Did you see The Crisler Library at Ephesos?? I am friends with the woman who had it built…a biblical library of sorts. Cobbey Crisler was an amazing bible scholar and I worked with his wife for a non profit in Boston years ago. Since then, she had this built.
Dave, you leave the country, and look what happens!
So annoying…grumble grumble grumble. Oh, well, I guess we can all watch “Farmer Gets a Wife” instead! 🙁
Eat some ice cream tonight in honor of another Rob Thomas show cut down in its prime! An artfully swirled ice cream cone, hopefully.
Dave, your trip sounds wonderful, but I was wondering if when you filled your bottle of Devine Holy Water, did it burn when you got some on your hand????? 🙂
So, I suppose it’s no coincidence that you followed the picture of the giant phallus with the open-mouthed swallow? *heh*
Wow – that would be horrible to have a penis twice as long as you are tall. Just as long would be about right.
The library is beautiful! I hope to be able to travel like you do someday.
Ah Dave, you gotta learn the art of haggling. When I was in Turkey, I got a couple ‘silk on cotton’ rugs down from like 100 dollars to 25. Don’t ask me why I bought though.. I didn’t really want um. Dogs got good use out of um though. If you want a tip for haggling, come in real low.. and also change the accent.. 🙂 Actually better tip.. don’t bother at all. Avoid eye contact with all the ppl out selling stuff.. they get annoyin in Turkey after a while. Just keep walkin and keep the head down 🙂
the plants needing some divine help made me LOL!!
um.. nice statue. 🙂
You should totally ebay that Mary water. I mean if people will bid on Justin Timberlake’s half eaten ham sandwich, then I’m thinking you could make bank on this holy H20.
And if not then people are secular heathens.
Okay, so there’s something not-so-height-weight proportionate about that little guy’s huge penis. What’s up with that? Wouldn’t be such a bad idea, though.
See that’s the whole thing in the middle east – they’ve been fighting about who is a bigger dick for 6000 years.
HAS a bigger dick… sorry.
Mary’s house, blessed water, beautiful library, cutest baby birds ever….penis.
Why is it so easy to focus on the penis? One day we’re all going to be saying, “I learned everything I know about penises from Dave!” Then you’ll have quite the reputation to live up to ;).
Believe me, I am no expert…but I have never seen a “package” that large relative to the proportions of rest of the torso…could this be an evolutionary thing? Or maybe it some how has been caused by global warming…
: )
I have decided to be a cat (in Greece) in my next life.
Your photos have been awesome. Looks like a great trip!
That guy’s tailor really had his work cut out for him.
:: Ba dum bump ::
World’s first three-legged pants – I wonder… would they still be called a “pair” of pants?
I agree with Jeff – the library is looking a bit too shaky/fragile for my taste. Thanks for taking a photo from a safe range.
Massively engorged phalluses kind of seem to be the theme for this trip. Just sayin’.
Bet you’re not waiting for worms, though. Happy continued traveling!
See?? You leave the country, and the WB (CW) officially cancels Veronica Mars!!
Coincidence??
Architecture… I love !!!
I took baby birds in photos too ! 😉
Hosgeldin to Turkiye! Hope you’re having a lovely time. I’ve been to Ephesus, and I really loved Mary’s house too, it was so lovely and serene up there. Did you go to the village Selcuk? Selcuk is my Dad’s name, so really… we own that village. Sort of.