ST. PAUL'S JOURNEY, JUNE 24 RECAP:  After a delicious buffet breakfast at the Aegean Restaurant on the Celestya Olympia, we ventured into Asia Minor. We docked at Kusadasi, Turkey, which boasted a 17th century fortress at the mouth of the port. We hopped on our bus, led by Cas, our latest, fearless tour guide, & headed to the site of Ephesus, the largest Greco-Roman archaeological site in the world. There are ruins that date back to the 6th century B.C. Pretty impressive, huh? [CAVEAT:  My post may be a little disjointed. Picture me following Cas & furiously trying to take notes by hand, then trying to decipher my scribblings, abbreviations, etc., for this post. You take what you can get.] Ruins included latrines, temples, the Temple of Ephesian Artemis--one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world--many statues [mostly headless], & a theater seating 25,000. 

Our next stop was for a demonstration of Turkish rug-weaving. I was prepared to be underwhelmed, but I was not! We saw demonstrations of silk, cotton, & woolen rug-weaving. Then it was on to the exhibit room, where many amazingly colorful & intricate rugs of various sizes were displayed. All rugs were over $1,000. The most intricate rug, which cost $11,000, had been completed by 3 weavers over the course of one year. That's right! $11,000, 3-weavers, one year! Lois bought a beautiful table runner. [REMINDER! If you want to see pictures, you have to find Lois' FB page.] They served us white wine & raki [Turkish ouzo], which was my choice. And they even served us some snacks! As we drove back to Kusadasi, we passed the alleged burial site of St. John. Then it was back to the ship.

Our next destination was the Isle of Patmos, which we reached via tenders. Nikolas was our new tour guide, & like all the others, he was both knowledgeable & entertaining. We took a very strenuous hike up to the Monastery of St. John, founded in the 11th century A.D. & built on one one of the highest points of the island. It's been a continuous monastic community for 900 yrs. There were frescos dating back to the 17th century; also a small chapel with relics:  pieces of the cross, along with the skulls of St. Thomas & St. Philip. [My conservative, LCMS brain is always skeptical of relics.] After a much easier walk back downhill, we traveled to the Cave of the Revelation, also known as the Grotto of the Apocalypse. Nikolas pointed out a niche where St. John rested his head while receiving his visions, a smaller niche where he placed his hand to help get up & down, & a ledge where his biographer wrote the Book of Revelation while John dictated to him. The founder of the monastery discovered it, so, yeah. Afterwards we had a group devotion outside the grotto, where there was a beautiful view of the village & harbor. Patmos was not what we expected. We expected more of a barren, rocky island, & it was anything but. Of course, we're not sure what it was like during John's 18-month exile.