Today we drove to Ephesus. It was an incredible experience to be in the location where Paul spoke to (and argued with) the Ephesians. There was a silversmith named Demetrius who became irate with Paul diminishing his business. Paul was preaching about the one true God and Demetrius made silver idols of the goddess Artemis. When we went to the Ephesus museum after visiting the site, we saw a 5-6 ft tall statue of the goddess Artemis. It was surreal to see an example of the cult whose practitioners attacked Paul.
Afterwards, we sampled Turkish ice cream – it includes the spice salep which gives a melted marshmallow kind of texture to it. I doubt that the Apostle Paul ever ate it – but I loved it!
We ate lunch at a place that made Turkish rugs. We ate outside on a shaded courtyard and then got to see the women at work at the looms. They also showed us how they extracted silk thread from silk worm cocoons.
Every place we went we have received the utmost kindness and hospitality. The Turkish people are very friendly and kind. Over 98% of the population is Muslim but very accepting to people of other faiths.
Tomorrow – Istanbul!
