The last few days could not have been more beautiful in this area of western Turkey. It was hard not to take a good picture today.

We headed out a little earlier this morning to beat the “cruise crowd” to the ancient city of Ephesus. I’m glad we did, because it allowed us to have an excellent tour of the city with a minimum amount of tourists to interfere with pictures.

The city of Ephesus plays a very prominent role in the life of Paul and John. We read in Acts that Paul was there for three years and tradition strongly suggests that the Apostle John was there for a while as well. Paul wrote to the saints in Ephesus, as well as did John. Timothy, Aquilla and Priscilla, Apollos and a number of other people mentioned in the Bible spent time in this great city of Asia Minor.

Once again, we viewed amazing sites of temples and theaters. A very popular site in Ephesus is the Library of Celsus, where we took our group picture. I’m sure Mr. Jenkins will publish it on his website, ferrelljenkins.wordpress.com. The stadium we viewed and pictured was where the great uproar over Diana took place, as recorded by Luke in Acts 19. We left the main city of Ephesus and took a short drive to what remains of the Temple of Diana, which is considered one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. There is not much to view, save one reconstructed column and a few foundation stones. Paul and John would have seen this temple. We also spent a little time in the Ephesus museum, which had a new presentation on gladiators. There is a gladiator cemetery in the city of Ephesus. Also in the museum is a giant head and hand, all that is left of a giant statue of Roman Emperor Domitian.

We left Ephesus and headed to a Turkish rug shop and weaving school. Turkey is well known for the double knot, ornate rugs made of wool, cotton and silk. We were served lunch by the shop and were given a very informational presentation of the various sorts of rugs that they make and then given opportunity to purchase some. The prices of these rugs ranged from $400 to $25,000 dollars. While not many rugs were bought, there was a vendor there selling Magnum ice cream bars and he made a killing. Our tour guide told us that our tour took more pictures and ate more ice cream than any other tour group he has been with.

Our final stop today was the ancient city of Miletus. You will recall that the elders of Ephesus met Paul at Miletus while Paul was heading back to Antioch during his 3^rd missionary journey. Some has been a number of reasons given as to why Paul may have done this, but one reason may have been because the harbor of Ephesus often silted up and became inaccessible, but the harbor and Miletus, though not as popular at Ephesus was always clear. The most preserved site in Ephesus is the theater that Paul likely would have seen as he pulled into the harbor.

We returned early to our hotel so we could see the sunset over the Aegean Sea. We missed it yesterday by just a few minutes. We board the cruise ship tomorrow morning to head out on a Mediterranean cruise to see biblical islands like Patmos, where John was imprisoned, and Crete, where Titus would have labored full-time in the preaching of the gospel. I don’t know how much access I will have to the internet while we are on the ship, so if there is no post on the blog, you will know why.