Our start in Ephesus was a little slow, I was sick on the first day. While I stayed in our cute little pension Allan took the kids to the local markets and spent the day swimming in the pool.
The first thing we noticed about Turkey were all the stray animals. On our first morning we were all delighted to find goats eating out of the rubbish bin across the road. There were chickens and turkeys everywhere. In Turkey people don't really own pets, they literally just live in the streets so there are cats and dogs everywhere. The day we visited Ephesus Corban counted over 50 stray cats, there were definitely no double ups. Much to the delight of Corban and Leo during our stay we also saw plenty of donkeys and horses just walking around the streets.
We followed this up the next day with a relaxing day at a private beach that our host drove us to. Everyone was in for a shock at the lack of rules and regulations we are used to. The Czech Republic is far more relaxed with rules than New Zealand, but as far as cars and road rules in Turkey, pretty much anything goes. Our little taxi van didn't have enough seats, no problem our host grabbed a seat from inside for someone to sit on.
Unfortunately Taylor was sick on Day 3, it was her turn to stay in bed. We visited the ancient ruins of Ephesus (Taylor went the next day). There are many biblical sites in Ephesus and it is also famous for the temple of Artemis. Ephesus was one of the seven churches in Asia that are cited in the book of revelations. It also has the ruins of the first church that was dedicated to Mary, as this was the city where Mary lived after the crucifixion.
Taylor was feeling up to visiting the Basilica St John after lunch, so we all headed up the hill above our pension for a look around. The hill where the Basilica of St John is located is home to two mosques and two churches, so this was also our first visit to a mosque.
The site of the Basilica of St John's is huge and used to be in the shape of a cross with six domes. If it were still standing it would be one of the largest churches in the world. It is believed that John wrote 4 books of the bible here, and also looked after Mary.
Throughout different periods of time the Basilica has been used as both a Christian church and also a Muslim mosque. It was used up until the 14th century when it was destroyed by an earthquake.
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