Day 10: Virgin Mary House and Ephesus

today was our last full day in turkey. i woke up even more tired than the day before. after breakfast and erica's speech on ephesus, we hopped on the bus and headed to the Virgin Mary House. this is the place that Mary spent the final years of her life. it was very small, but very moving. you could light candles for prayers, write a wish down and attach it to the wall, and drink water from the fountain. the legend is that drinking the fountain gives you happiness for the rest of your life.

after that, we drove to ephesus. i think a lot of us were building this up in our heads because everyone kept saying how much better than perge it was. the most impressive things to me were the library, which is the most well-known image of ephesus, and the fact that only 15 percent of the city has actually been excavated. there were tons of cruise passengers again, and i know that we are all getting tired of the crowds. that is one thing we will definitely not miss.

we stopped on the side of the road to take pictures of a golden statue of Mary and the fault line that supplies the fountain at the top of the hill before continuing on to lunch.

after lunch we went around the back of the restaurant to a rug place. we got to see them spin the silk from the silk worms, watch women actually make the rugs, drink free drinks, and then see an amazing rug show. they continuously roll rugs out on top of each other. after that i wanted to buy one, but the place was very high quality. the only one in my budget was natural colors. it was very beautful, but i really had my heart set on something with color. i wasn't going to spend my maximum price on something i wasn't in love with. so i left empty handed and pretty disappointed.

but once again, texas was a great point of conversation. the man who was showing me rugs and taking me from room to room asked where i was from. he got SO excited when i told him. he said that his fiance was from beaumont and that he always gets excited to meet texans. he also told me he would send me a christmas card if i bought the rug hahaha.

after we left, we went to the selcuk museum, which had a lot of ruins found at ephesus. we weren't there long, and on the way back to the hotel we stopped at the ruins of the temple of artemis, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. there is only one column left out of 127, and there was a bird's nest on top of it.

sevim told us goodbye on the ride back to the hotel. we are all so sad to see her go, and to leave turkey behind. i know i'm not the only one who wants to come back here some day. even though we were all dragging quite a bit today, the beauty of this country never ceased to amaze me.

i spent the rest of the night accidentally falling asleep on my journal at my desk and finishing up my project because i'm presenting tomorrow on the ferry from turkey to rhodes. i don't think i've mentioned it before, but i'm required to give a speech and write a paper on the topic of my choosing that has relevance to the course. i chose the seven wonders of the ancient world. maybe i'll get the chance to post something about my topic - it's been really interesting to research. and now i should have more time since i'm getting this over with fairly early!

goodnight from turkey for the last time. <3