Ephesus

We began our journey to the seventh church of Asia as mentioned in Revelation at the basilica of St. John the apostle. Majority of this church is still standing and is absolutely beautiful. There were flowers everywhere! In the Catholic religion each flower means something different. Roses mean are planted to honor prophets, tulips are planted to honor gods, carnations are planted to symbolize life after death, and lilies mean paradise.

Tradition also states that John was buried at this church. This church was constructed by Justinian in the 6th century. Justinian also constructed the other six churches of Asia and many other churches across the Middle Eastern area. There was a Muslim masque constructed beside the church in 1397 AD. Does that sound familiar? Remember the church at Philadelphia? Exactly.

Baptistery

John's Tomb

Muslim Masque

Next, we went to the Church of the Virgin Mary. It is a Catholic church dedicated to Mary. The Catholic religion believes that Mary transfigured and is higher than Jesus. This church was basically a shrine to Mary in the place that they believe her house was at one time.

We then went to lunch at an authentic Turkish restaurant. We sat on the floor and enjoyed spinach and cheese pancakes and ravioli with fresh sour cream. I use the term enjoyed very lightly.

We finished up our day at the ancient city of Ephesus. We were told that only twenty percent of the city had been excavated and that twenty percent was huge! I cannot even imagine how big Ephesus was at its highest point in history. This city was a very rich and luxurious city. They had the second largest library in the ancient world. Archaeologists have reconstructed the library and it is breathtaking. I imagine it was magnificent back in the day.