Ephesus and the world at low tide

 Monday, October 2, 2023 - and the week after

We've gone exploring. How about some goat meat from the butcher? We see all kinds of things new to us. Travel is an adventure for the curious.

The reason we're in Turkey is an international conference. We fly to Izmer and catch a shuttle to the resort where it's held. Wow - it feels like vacation-land not work.

After hours, there are wonderful people to hang out with ... working on every continent.

Food is served buffet style. I won't miss the swarms of bees that suck honey from the dessert displays, but I'll miss choosing olives for breakfast. (There's a spread of cheeses and olives available at every meal.)

Even the bread at the conference center makes you smile.

The beaches are stunning. By day's end we're more in the mood for a cup of tea than swimming.

Which means the multiple pools are wasted on us.

We sit poolside one day. But no swimming for us.

It doesn't matter where you sit in this complex: every view is stunning.

The staff works hard to make sure things go smoothly.

At sundown, it's just another day in paradise.

Depending on the schedule, we eat before or after sunset.

The workshops are interesting and enlightening. After the conference ends there's an optional tour. Of course! we go to ancient Ephesus.

It's incredible to think of the families and merchants who walked down this street. Layers of history wait for discovery. Each conqueror razed the former glory and built his own edifices on top.

We hear stories of who might have lived here.

I love ducking through doorways to see what's been uncovered.

There are several theaters and convention places.

Archaeologists are digging up new stuff all the time. One person's rubble pile is another's treasure.

Long paved streets are being restored.

If you were alive in Europe or Asia then, do you think you would have visited? There was bustling trade and a huge marketplace.

The guide speculates about where Paul worked as a tentmaker ca 52-56 A.D. While in Ephesus, he mentored a young man who joined him in preaching the Good News of Jesus to the locals. Within 10 years of leaving, Paul wrote 1 Timothy, a letter of instruction for Timothy to lead the young congregation of Ephesian converts.

Random carvings remind us of the skill of craftsmen in every era.

W and I would probably have used the library.

As we leave the structure, I look at the carved ceilings with statues watching from their niches.

Just before we leave Ephesus, we peek into the 25,000 seat arena.

We look back into the stadium from the road to the former harbor. The tour guide remarks that the ocean used to be 2.5 meters (almost 8') higher. The harbor silted over and the ocean has receded a long way from this formerly busy port. We ask the tour guide about the implications for the current panic about global warming - if the ocean used to be so much higher.

Apparently, we're currently living at low tide. Then why are we being scared to death by the possibility of a catastrophic rise of a few inches in the ocean during the next century? What if the sea is returning to its former level? What if the current "crisis" is the planet's normal cycle of wet and dry, heat and cold? 

Oh oh! That theory incenses global warming scaremongers. But I grew up in the 1980s, when an impending ice age was all the rage - and the fear - among climate scientists. Now social media allows us to enjoy a whole new season of collective anxiety. Lucky us. Maybe old Ephesus is on the way to becoming a port city again.

Friday

After an early breakfast, shuttle vans take groups from the resort to the Izmer airport 45 minutes away. Some people can fly directly to European and Asian destinations. Not we.

We fly to Istanbul, wait for a few hours, and board a 14-hour flight to Seattle. Every uneventful boring flight is a marvel and a blessing. We land mid-afternoon on Pacific Coast time. In Turkey, 10 hours ahead on the clock, it is early morning. Zzzz.

Read more:

*Lay down a pledge for me with yourself; who is there that will give surety for me? Job 17:3

Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. Romans 8:34

Moravian Prayer: Christ Jesus, you are the one and only resurrected Lord who has rendered unto your people the matchless gift of salvation. Guide us as your redeemed followers to respond in the only way we are able, by offering our faith, love, and hope in every aspect of our living. Amen.