Ephesus, Turkey

The History of Ephesus, originally uploaded by iwynx.

Our next stop on board the cruise…Ephesus. This is a paid excursion well worth the money. Seeing the Ephesus, the library of Celsus. It is pretty amazing and not to mention educational morning…

Would you believe it if I said this rather dry place was once next to the sea? See this map

It is a good thing that we managed to reach this place really early as we managed to be one of the earliest group to reach the site. Almost every cruise ships that docks in Kusadasi ends up bringing people to visit Ephesus..it can be rather jammed packed!

Ephesus (Hittite Apasa; Ancient Greek Ἔφεσος; Turkish Efes) was a city of ancient Anatolia. During the period known as Classical Greece it was located in Ionia, where the Cayster River (Küçük Menderes) flows into the Aegean Sea. It belonged to the Ionian League.

Ephesus was one of the seven churches of Asia cited in the Book of Revelation.^[1] The Gospel of John might have been written here.^[2] It is also the site of a large gladiator graveyard.

The city was famed for the Temple of Artemis (completed around 550 BC), which was destroyed by the Goths in 263. The emperor Constantine I rebuilt much of the city and erected a new public bath. The town was again partially destroyed by an earthquake in 614. The importance of the city as a commercial centre declined as the harbour slowly filled with silt from the river.

Today’s archaeological site lies 3 kilometers south of the Selçuk district of İzmir Province, Turkey. The ruins of Ephesus are a favorite international and local tourist attraction, partly owing to their easy accessibility from Adnan Menderes Airport and via the port of Kuşadası.

The ruins of Ephesus. The once glorious city of Anatolia. The chief difference here between those sites we been to in Greece has been that in this site, almost everything is not barricaded. In Athens, like in the Acropolis, we just cannot touch and feel the coldness of the marble of the Parthenon, etc..but here, most of the things you can feel and touch…

According to our tour guide, the romans were the first to come up with the idea of cleaniless leads to less diseases, outbreaks…and hence the first sanitary pipes…The above is one of those ancients pipes!

Remains of a great city

Marble Carving of Athena, Goddess of Victory.

The temple of Hadrain. Notice the arch in the middle, that where Medusa is carved.

The original w.c. in Ephesus! That’s how the roman did it, in the past of course. Can you imagine 20 or so men each seated on this, around a square room to do their business? I cannot imagine.

They were part of the Scholastica Baths and built in the 1C AD. They were the public toilets of the city. There was an entrance fee to use them.

In the centre, there is an uncovered pool and the toilets are aligned along the walls. The columns surrounding the pool supported a wooden ceiling. There was a drainage system under the toilets.

Perhaps, the highlight of the whole site has to be the library of Celsus. This library is one of the most beautiful structures in Ephesus. It was built in 117 A.D. It was a monumental tomb for Gaius Julius Celsus Polemaeanus, the governor of the province of Asia; from his son Galius Julius Aquila. The grave of Celsus was beneath the ground floor, across the entrance and there was a statue of Athena over it. Because Athena was the goddess of the wisdom.

The library is particularly beautiful as it built to face the morning sun. To this date, this library is still basking in the morning sun! Nice!

This is the most magnificent structure in Ephesus ancient city. The Great Theatre is located on the slope of Panayir Hill, opposite the Harbor Street, and easily seen when entering from the south entrance to Ephesus. It was first constructed in the Hellenistic Period, in the third century BC during the reign of Lysimachos, but then during the Roman Period, it was enlarged and formed its current style that is seen today.

It is the largest in Anatolia and has the capacity of 25,000 seats. The cavea has sixty six rows of seats, divided by two diazoma (walkway between seats) into three horizontal sections. There are three sections of seats. In the lower section, Marble pieces, used for restoration, and the Emperor’s Box were found. The seats with backs ,made of marble, were reserved for important people. The audience entered from the upper cavea.

Sadly, it was time to say goodbye to Ephesus…we have board the ship and cruise to Patmos in the afternoon. Kusadasi will always be fondly remembered by us because of Turkish apple tea! Why?

After shopping an hour looking for the best bargain for apple tea in the market of Kusadasi..we came to this store..

Me: How much is this apple tea?

Shop owner: It is 11 Euros

Us: (Jamm expensive!)

So we decided to walk away..the shopowner then did this!

Shop Owner: Come back, I sell you for 3 euros

Us: We took out the money to pay for the tea since the market price is about there…

Shop Owner: You want 3 euros, you come back tommorrow, I sell you for 3 euros…

Us: Wah lau!

Mykonos…

Mykonos (Greek: Μύκονος) is a Greek island and a mass tourist destination, renowned for its cosmopolitan character and its intense nightlife. The island is part of the Cyclades, lying between Tinos, Siros, Paros and Naxos.

It spans an area of 105.183 km2 (41 sq mi) and rises at an elevation of 341 m (1,119 ft) at its highest point. The island is composed primarily of granite. It has little natural fresh water and relies on the desalination of sea water in order to meet its needs. There are 9,320 inhabitants (2001) most of whom live in the largest town, Mykonos, also known as Chora (i.e. the Town in Greek, a common denomination in Greece when the name of the island itself is the same as the name of the principal town), which lies on the west coast.

Tether Boat into the Island proper. We reached the island approximately at 5pm.

Arriving at Myokonos…

Houses at Mykonos -They are built into the cliff of the island. In fact, houses in most greek islands are pretty typical, white washed walls, blue window frames and doors. It is indeed very romantic seeing all these on our honeymoon indeed.

Church of St.Nicholas – The patron saint of the sea. And it is the reason why most churches on Greek Islands have blue domes…

Panagia Paraportiani- one of the most photographed church in the whole of Mykonos

Little Venice – Rows of shops and restaurants. Yes, they serve food here, live seafood, greek salad, etc. The dinning experience with an spectular view of sunset! Yes, it is expensive and very crowded. We thought we would have chance to have dinner on another island, hence we gave this a miss and decided to go see the island more before the last tether boat back to the cruise ship at 2000hrs.

The famous wind mills of Mykonos…

A man and his weeping daughter… maybe we are feeling the same…cos the beauty of Mykonos is really an once in a lifetime sort of experience, perhaps our time on the island is far too short. Yes, far too short!

The next time, if we do get back on this island, we will definitely spend a couple of days there and have dinner during sunset, club at Mykonos..never mind the big burnt pocket…yes, be warned, accommodation on Greek Islands can be shockingly expensive!

So, that’s it from us in Mykonos…Tommorrow we headed to Turkey, to the ancient city of Epheus. Stay tuned for more.

Little Venice – Mykonos

IMG_2033-Edit-11 copy, originally uploaded by iwynx.

the scenic view at mykonos.

Seafood Risotto

_MG_4960-6 copy, originally uploaded by iwynx.

My wife cooked this. I merely added the freshly cut Basil as garnish!

Jumping Bean Cafe@18th October 2008

The date 18th October 2008. Today’s the official opening of the jumping bean cafe over at Tampines West Community Center at 5, Tampines Avenue 3.

Jumping Bean Cafe@Tampines West YEC

Tuck in a quiet corner within the community, what could be a better way to announce the existence of this wonderful cafe meant for youth than a rock concert by youths?

So, today, we have managed to get 3 bands to perform to give the cafe a rousing start.

XX announcing the start of the concert@Jumping Bean… And so we were treated to a two and half hour gig by youth band like CMI, Rock # 2 and Band #3.

CMI… playing to the crowd.

Band #2

The Shannon Star…I managed to find them on myspace! Here’s their url…

Many YEC Members, namely, Joanne, Matthew,Michael, Easmond, Linda, Caroline and husband were on site to help out. And of course, myself doing the photography part. The cafe conception is largely meant for youth to test out their entrepreneurship and it is also a place where youths can come and mingle have a cuppa of cafe cappuccino, latte, etc and truly a place where they can identify with themselves.

Before I go any further, some food for thought, “A number of studies have indicated that people who drink coffee on a regular basis are up to 80% less likely to develop Parkinson’s”. Well, not something you associate with youth but you get the gist, coffee can be really good for you, so come on down to the cafe and help yourself to some gourmet coffee drinks.

C.M.I doing their final tuning before their gig starts.

The bands played to a large crowd attracted by the loud music. The atmosphere is electrifying!

What I can say? Youth these days are very different and really original indeed, not only they were able to play tunes that are made famous by bands like Maroon Five, Jason Mraz, Green Day. They were equally good in composing and playing their own music with their original lyrics to boot!

can imagine in time to come, how good they can be. Truly, the sky’s the limit.

The crowd obviously enjoying the performance!

To sum it all up, it was indeed a very successful event as the cafe manage to attract a large crowd and announce its presence in the community center in a loud way so to speak. What’s next? More frequent performances to come? Well, we got to keep the business going!

She’s enjoying her drink at the jumping bean cafe. And so should you! So, come by the cafe, get a drink and chill. More pictures can be found here.