Abram and I were lucky again today. Or, as we like to say, "Blessed!" The sky was a vibrantblue and the air held a crisp 65-farenheit as we strode out of our hotel. Yes, we had survived.

Both of us were anxious to begin the day. Our travel agent, Golkan, also the fiance of our travel agent Jada, was kind and informative. He picked us up in front of our hotel at 9:30AM sharp. We hopped into the Anker Travel van and began the 30 minute drive over to the ruins of Ephesus. If that fires some synapses among any of you who might be biblical scholars, you're right: this is the same Ephesus where Paul addressed the riots in the theater.

As we descended the hills into the fortress walls of the city, I couldn't help but think of the Lord of the Rings movie. The land was arrid and rocky, with hearty woods of pine, cyprus and olive trees. A dark cloud hung in the distance, adding gravity to the view. Maybe around the next corner an angry band of orcs would be waiting for us! The ragged ruins the Ephesus walls extended high around us from the Magnesian Gate, along the crest of the surrounding mountains. To the south, an inlet of the Mediterranean backed into the city. I can see why this was the most powerful commerial center of the old world.

After we had paid our 10 TYL, Golkan guided us into the ruins. He began spurting out history: too much information! Much of it was lost in between our ears as he filled us in on the ancient civilizations of Lydians, Carians, Greeks, and Romans who lived in Ephesus as long ago as 2,000 B.C. Most notably, the city was home to Artemis of Ephesus, a goddess worshiped across Europe. Her bewildering image was engraved in rocks, in friezes and in sculpture everywhere we looked. Most scultures of the goddess showed her with a funnel-shapped lower body, lions on her arms, and other animals including bees and gazelles on her dress. Her crown was layered with dancing creatures and she was adorned all over with egg-shaped breasts. Of course, it was against Artemis-worship that Paul preached in the scriptural book of Acts. He was so convincing, in fact, that many turned from goddess-worship (which also led to the demonstrations in the Ephesian theater). While much of Ephesus was, of course, in ruins, the best excavations had been transported to a local museum, where guests could gawk at stone images of Artemis, Hadrian, Domitian and other infamous Gods and emperors.

The wonder of Ephesus kept getting better as our tour continued. I probably cannot count the number of times we said "wow" as we strolled through the ancient ruins. Words cannot do it justice, nor can our meager photos. The level of technology (sewer systems, terraced housing) and artistic detail (mosaics, pillar carvings) was astounding. Approaching the center of Ephesus down the main road lined with pillars and statues of important dead people, we arrived at the ornate library structure, completed in 135 A.D. This was undoubtedly the best preserved (restored in 1978) facade in the city. Inside, the structure had a series of rectangular niches for holding scrolls and parchment books. Below the central niche was the grave chamber of Titus Julius Celsus Polemanaenus. After many photos, many at the hands of Abram's trigger-happy finger, we turned right towards the theater and the harbor street. The theater, completed during the reign of Trajan, can still today accomodate an audience of 25,000. Golkan told us stories of the theatre's lore, including recent concerts by Ray Charles and Sting. He told us that Sting's concert was so lively, in fact, that the theatre administrators decided to take more care about who they would allow to play there to prevent destruction of a national treasure.

It seemed as if the town had died overnight, filled up with dirt and only recently been discovered. But it was the harbour that eventually killed the thriving city. Over time, the changing tides of the Little Maeander, laden with sentiment, pushed the coastline further and further away. Maintaining Ephesian contact with the sea would have been a costly, and perhaps fruitless prospect. And so Ephesus was gradually deserted and left to disappear under the river's sentiment.

Abram and I left too. That night, the Anker van sped towards the airport in Izmir, a gritty industrial town that we had agreed to avoid visiting for now. We would sleep in Istanbul tonight. We're in Turkey!