Patmos, Greece and Kusadasi (Ephesus), Turkey
Since we had an early morning tour schedule, we were up and eating breakfast by 6:00. I was about to say that the food on the ship was getting better. However, that would be a lie. I believe the reason that I almost said the food was getting better was that we collectively lowered our expectations to meet the quality of the food served. When you are not expecting much and your expectations are met – it’s all good.
Patmos
Patmos is a small island in the Aegean Sea, located about 35 miles (56.3 kilometers) west of the city of Miletus off the coast of Asia Minor. Patmos is about ten miles long and six miles wide at its northern end, consisting of rocky volcanic hills.
In Revelation 1:9 - the last book of the Bible, the apostle John writes that he was on the island of Patmos “for preaching the word of God and speaking about Jesus.” The Roman historian Tacitus informs us that the Romans used some of the Aegean islands as places of banishment and exile during the first century. The evidence of Tacitus joined to Christian traditions from the second and third centuries about John’s banishment, support the likelihood that Patmos was a place of exile or political confinement. In a time when the Asian churches (the churches were in the cities of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea) were undergoing persecution, John wrote to them from this island. He addressed each of seven churches by means of a letter of encouragement and warning. The series of letters is followed by the author’s account of the divinely sent vision of impending judgment, which “must soon take place” (Revelation 22:6). Patmos, then, was the location from which the book of Revelation originated.
We arrived early at the port of Patmos. The island of Patmos is approximately 34 square miles with a population of 3,000. Very little rain falls there and that explains why all the buildings have flat roofs. The flat roofs aid in the collection of rain that is stored in cisterns during the winter months. We left the ship at 7:00 for our morning tour and visited the Monastery of St. John (rebuilt in the 11th century) where the original gospel manuscript is on display. We walked through the Grotto of the Apocalypse where you can see silver niches in the wall that mark the pillow and ledge used as a desk by the author of the Book of Revelations. We also saw the three-fold crack in the cave ceiling where tradition has the voice of God coming from to St. John emphasizing the honor of the Trinity. While inside, we discovered a Greek Orthodox service ongoing, with the appropriate chanting and burning of incense.
Patmos
Patmos is a small island in the Aegean Sea, located about 35 miles (56.3 kilometers) west of the city of Miletus off the coast of Asia Minor. Patmos is about ten miles long and six miles wide at its northern end, consisting of rocky volcanic hills.
In Revelation 1:9 - the last book of the Bible, the apostle John writes that he was on the island of Patmos “for preaching the word of God and speaking about Jesus.” The Roman historian Tacitus informs us that the Romans used some of the Aegean islands as places of banishment and exile during the first century. The evidence of Tacitus joined to Christian traditions from the second and third centuries about John’s banishment, support the likelihood that Patmos was a place of exile or political confinement. In a time when the Asian churches (the churches were in the cities of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea) were undergoing persecution, John wrote to them from this island. He addressed each of seven churches by means of a letter of encouragement and warning. The series of letters is followed by the author’s account of the divinely sent vision of impending judgment, which “must soon take place” (Revelation 22:6). Patmos, then, was the location from which the book of Revelation originated.
We arrived early at the port of Patmos. The island of Patmos is approximately 34 square miles with a population of 3,000. Very little rain falls there and that explains why all the buildings have flat roofs. The flat roofs aid in the collection of rain that is stored in cisterns during the winter months. We left the ship at 7:00 for our morning tour and visited the Monastery of St. John (rebuilt in the 11th century) where the original gospel manuscript is on display. We walked through the Grotto of the Apocalypse where you can see silver niches in the wall that mark the pillow and ledge used as a desk by the author of the Book of Revelations. We also saw the three-fold crack in the cave ceiling where tradition has the voice of God coming from to St. John emphasizing the honor of the Trinity. While inside, we discovered a Greek Orthodox service ongoing, with the appropriate chanting and burning of incense.
Inside the museum at the Monastery of St. John were several interesting artifacts: 33 pages of the Book of Mark from the 5th century, several paintings from the 1500s, mosaics from the 11th century, the entire Book of Job as a parchment manuscript from the 7th century, a gold and silver gilded crown weighing 2.5 kilos from the 7th century, an assortment of other old art works, paintings, manuscripts, crosses, cups and old robes.Pastor Rick led devotions outside the Monastery of St. John where he read several versus from Revelations – chapters 1, 12, 19, 21 and 22. Cathy Cole led us in a song ‘How Great is our God’ and devotions ended with prayer. There was a spiritual side to this trip that simply doesn’t come across on paper – it was awesome.
Kusadasi (Ephesus)
We returned to the ship at 10:00 and set sail for the city of Kusadasi, Turkey and traveled by bus to Ancient Ephesus. You Bible scholars already know that is where St. Paul addressed his Letter to the Ephesians. We arrived in Kusadasi a few minutes before 2:00 pm.
We left the ship, boarded our tour bus with our tour guide George and headed for our first stop which was a quick visit to Mt. Koressos, the site of the House of the Virgin Mary. Tradition has it that this is where Mary resided after the crucifixion and is believed to have spent her last days. During the bus ride to Mt. Koressos, George informed us that the country of Turkey has a population of approximately 75 million. The population is mostly Muslim but it is a secular country. Turkey exports approximately $1 billion of marble, enjoys $20 billion from tourism and has about 80 million olive trees. The price of gasoline is $8 per gallon. After the quick stop at Mt. Koressos, we boarded the bus and headed to Ephesus.
In case you were wondering, the temperature in Turkey can soar in the middle of June. I was vaguely aware that our tour guide (George) never mentioned the rising temperature – even though he was walking around with a yellow umbrella to block the sun. His story was that the yellow umbrella would make it easier for us to follow him through the crowd. That may have been a side benefit but keeping cool had to be the primary reason. We continued on to the ancient city of Ephesus (about 30 minutes from Kusadasi) for a walking tour of one of the most magnificent excavated cities in the world. For those of you that have never been to Ephesus, it’s important to point out that the city is built on the slope of a hill. The plan was for us to begin our walking tour of Ephesus at the top of the hill and walk the 1.5 miles down to the bottom. Personally, I was glad to be walking downhill during the hottest part of the day. However, my greatest concern was for the older people in the group. J
The most impressive buildings in Ephesus were the Odeon (concert hall), the Fountain of Trajan, the steam-heated Baths of Scolastika, the Temple of Hardrian and the latrians, the Library of Celsus and the Great Theatre of Ephesus where Paul preached. The Library of Celsus was the 3rd most famous library in the ancient world – home to between 12,000–15,000 scrolls. It is difficult to describe how massive these buildings are– how were they ever built?
Ephesus was built by Alexander the Great about 2,300 years ago. Additional building was completed by the Romans 2,000 years ago. Approximately 1/10 of the city has been excavated and it is considered the 2nd best (behind Pompeii) excavation in the world. Our 1.5 mile downhill walk was on a marble road that dates back to 200 BC with the excavated sites on either side of the road - absolutely incredible. Within the city limits of ancient Ephesus is a 24, 000 seat amphitheater that dates to 200 BC too. It’s an intact theater and performers such as Ray Charles, Diana Ross, Elton John and Yanni have played there.
At the bottom of the hill we boarded the bus to continue the tour. Between the end of the excavated Ephesus at the bottom of the hill and the parking lot where the bus was parked, we were fortunate to experience Turkish version of ‘Let’s Make A Deal.’ Hundreds of vendors selling their wares swarmed us as we ran the gauntlet back to the bus. We were warned that this would happen so we all kept our eyes on the bus and ran for our lives – those Turkish vendors are fast.
We were bussed back to the port city of Kusadasi and dropped off at a very high-end rug shop. They sat us in a big room and shop owner explained about how rugs are made, how the quality differs and what you can expect to pay if you choose to buy a rug. The highlight of the demonstration was a large silk rug that took a lady six years to finish. The rug appeared to be of different colors depending on the angle at which you viewed the rug – at a cost of only $48,000. They served apple tea which tasted like very good apple cider. As you may have guessed, there were no takers for the rugs. As soon as the presentation was over, everyone but our family hurried out of the room. We were simply enjoying the nice air-conditioned room but our Turkish rug merchants interpreted our slowness as interest. We had to listen to another sales pitch – had we only known, we would have sprinted out of the room. From the rug shop we walked the ½ mile back to the ship.
We made it back to the ship a little after 6 pm. We cleaned up and headed for the dining room for dinner at 7 pm. We ate with Veronica, Brittany and Irene – all group members. Cathy and Shannon ordered pork chops with potatoes and vegetables. I ordered a sea food pasta dish. Once again, the lowered expectations equaled the quality of the food – it was all good. J
Since this was the last night of the cruise, we toured the ship one last time, bought the ship’s photographer’s CD with 300 digital pictures of the Greek Islands, and headed to our cabins. We had to pack our suitcases and place them outside the cabin door by midnight so that they could be gathered and off loaded. Cathy was convinced that she needed to get up early so she set the alarm for 4:45. We went to bed around 10:30 but really didn’t sleep well. We were headed back to the Port of Piraeus in Athens, Greece.
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