When we reloaded, it was time for dinner and--wow, what a dinner! Since every aspect of the cruise was already paid for, we were able to order as much food as we wanted. I remember one meal ordering bread, two soups, a salad, two entrees and ice cream for dessert. After dinner, we headed up to the lounge for the nightly evening show, put on by the crew of the ship. There was a band and singing and dancing and it was really pretty enjoyable. Definitely better than the "human top" of our Egyptian cruise! One of the crew members played the traditional greek guitar, the Bazooki, and was really quite good. According to the British announcer, the man had just gotten back from touring with Stevie Wonder. I wouldn't exactly call Stevie's career booming, but he is definitely famous, so that must be good for something... Another favorite of the crew was the lounge singer, Floren, who reminded me of Tom Jones. And then there was the resident magician, Vladimir, who was actually quite good. And who can forget the "Global Dancers", Dasha, Sasha and Natasha--and their little friend Alex, the fruity dancer boy who always made a random appearance. We lovingly referred to him as "Global Alex" for the remainder of the week... Later, we all headed up to the dining room for a midnight snack, and then it was off to bed for a wonderful night sleep on a gently rocking sea...
After the Grotto, we headed further up the mountain to the Monastery of St. John the Theologian. The 18th century castle-like structure delivers a commanding view of the island, and from that vantage point we could see some of the small churches which literally fill the small island. There are 365 small churches, each dedicated to a different saint, which are each used on a specific day every year. Inside the museum (every church over here has to have a museum!), we saw a manuscript of the gospel of Mark, dating from the 5th century! Written on parchment with the purple ink from sea shells, the manuscript is probably the oldest I will ever see, so it was pretty amazing to view. That pretty much concluded our stop at Patmos, but one quick story before I move on. While we were in the monastery, we saw many icons all over the walls. One of the students asked if he could get one with Jesus on it and the man replied, "No, this is the island of St. John!" So, I guess the Son of God gets put on the back burner on the island of Patmos...
After we got back on the ship, we ate lunch and sailed for Turkey, where we departed and took a bus to the ancient city of Ephesus. The city reminded me of Corinth, although it was much larger and much more important to the Romans. As our guide described it, Rome was like the Washington DC of the empire and Ephesus was the New York. The city was alos one of the seven churches of Asia mentioned in Revelation and played a significant role in Paul's ministry. When Paul visited the bustling metropolis, it had 250,000 citizens, the same population as modern day San Francisco. The main attraction of the times was the infamous Temple of Artemis, which no longer exists but is remembered as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. As we walked through the streets, we saw the remains of the Ephesian agora adn evidence of many buildings that have thus far been unearthed. We also saw an extensive network of clay water pipes and a well made public restroom, demonstrating the civilized nature and power of the ancient Romans. I still am amazed at their technological skill even so long ago. When we came to the end of the street, we arrived at the famous library of Ephesus, which was two stories tall and still retains its main facade. Across the road from the library is a building that in those days was the "nicest little whore house" in Ephesus (according to the guide), and nearby we found an ancient advertisement, scrawled into the sidewalk. The ad showed a picture of feet leading to the bordello and had a symbol for money and a map of its placement at the crossroads ahead.
The best part of Ephesus came next, as we found the massive theatre mentioned in Acts 19. Built to hold 25,000 spectators, the huge theatre was the site of a large riot over Paul's teachings which almost cost him his life, as the entire town went into a frenzy defending their precious Artemis. This concluded our visit to Ephesus, but the trip meant a lot to me spiritually because of its importance in the Bible. It was wonderful to be in the theatre, specifically mentioned in scripture, because we know for a fact that Paul was there. What an amazing thing--to walk where Paul walked. As I left the town, it struck me that this was the last significant site we would visit that I could say that about. Throughout the semester we visited Corinth, Cenchrea, Macedonia, Philippi, Thessaloniki, Berea, Ephesus and Athens--All places of importance to my Christian heritage. I am so blessed!
When we headed out from Ephesus, we stopped briefly at the port town to do a little shopping in Turkey. At the time of our visit, the Turkish Lira exchanged with the dollar at approximately 1.7 million Lira per US Dollar! A highlight of the marked was a sign that read, "Genuine Fake Watches", and I have to say it is about what I expected from Turkey... Back on the Boat, we had "Greek Night" and we all dressed in blue and white and enjoyed a traditional Greek dinner. Afterward, "Global Alex" again wowed us as he demonstrated tradtional Greek dancing before we again called it a night, tired from a long day of visits.
The island of Rodos is filled with 14th century castle walls left over from the Knights of St. John, who founded and protected the island. The knights came from Cyprus in order to build the medieval city, and the well fortified walls were virtually impenetrable. On a side note, our guide must have said the phrase, "ladies and gentlemen" over 100 times during the day, much to our initial amusement and later annoyance. After touring the castle walls, we stopped at a ceramic factory, where hand-made pottery is world famous for its detailed painting and creative style. Some of the students bought the hand-thrown pottery and then we got back on the bus for a drive further into the island to the town of Lindos.
Built onto the side of beautiful rugged cliffs, Lindos has a large Acropolis at the highest point which dates from the 15th century BC, which offers a spectacular view of the crystal clear sea below. As we looked down on a beautiful sandy beach, we learned that it was the small port where Paul landed when he was fleeing from his pursuers. After a short time of relaxation on the rocks, we headed back down to the small town below, where we found a grocery store with Dr. Pepper and Cherry Coke! It had been far too long...and wow, the stuff tasted just as good as I remembered. As we were heading back to the main city of Rhodes, I had a chance to read the day's newspaper, which Jeff had picked up. The front page was historic and depicted American soldiers reclining in the living room of Sadaam's presidential palace in the heart of Baghdad. Apparently the city is crumbling militarily and there seems to be no leadership at all in power in Iraq. I am so proud of my country--because of our stand for justice, the Iraqi people will be free in a matter of days...
Before getting back on the ship, we spent a couple of ours in the town walking around the shopping district, which reminded me a lot of the Plaka in Athens. I think I liked Rhodes better, though...but it may just be because the weather was so gorgeous and the atmosphere so lively. Back on the ship, we all dressed up in slacks and ties for Captain's Night, and we were all treated to a steak dinner and for dessert Flambe'--brought our in all its flaming glory. By the end of the evening, I was pooped, so I headed back to my cabin for a little rest before yet another early morning.
Mythology was very important to the ancient Minoans, who lived in peace and didn't even have fortified walls of protection, since they had no enemies. The only weapons they posessed were double-axes but were only for ceremonial purposes rather than battle. The entire civilization was wiped off the map around 1450 BC, most likely the result of a giant tidal wave which probably originated from a volcanic eruption on Santorini, the small island north of Crete. As we walked around Knossos, we saw the reconstruction done by Sir Walter Evans, a British archeologist who attempted to restore much of the lost city. The trademark columns of the city are unlike any we have seen this semester and are small at the bottom and large at the top. We also saw the famous paintings which depict the ancient Minoan sport of "bull jumping", which involves an athelete grabbing the horns of a charging bull, doing a flip over its back, and then landing on the ground behind it! It was especially meaningful to see the ancient civilization because we have studied it so extensively in Humanities 270 with Dr. Edwards. It is always cool when we get to go from textbook to the real thing.
After we got back on the ship, we ate our lunch and sailed for our last stop of the cruise: Santorini, the home of Dino Roussos and also the most beautiful of our day trips. When we neared the island we saw the jutting cliffs that make up the volcanic chain, encircling the still active volcano which pokes through the surface of the water. The buildings and houses are all perched at the top of the sheer cliffs, and their white color almost made it look like snow-capped mountains from a distance. When we neared the port and boarded the small dinghey for our trip to shore, we could tell that there were many houses built right into the side of the cliff! It was absolutely gorgeous and the weather was perfect, so it really made our trip up the mountain enjoyable. In order to get to the city above, we had to ride donkeys up a narrow and winding rocky path. It was definitely an experience to remember, and the "ass" jokes didn't stop until well after we had made the trek up the mountain!
Up top, we had an incredible view of the amazingly blue ocean and islands in the distance, and the white buildings with blue trim characteristic of these islands were very striking. We had a few hours on Santorini, and it was a very relaxing afternoon as we stopped in all of the little shops we could find and even ate a couple of gyros! The sunset was gorgeous and when it was time to go we slowly made our way back down the path, this time on foot. (we had to watch where we stepped, since the hundred or so donkeys make many trips up the mountain every single day!) The night on the boat was peaceful and yet sad at the same time as it began to hit us that the semester is finally over. It went by so fast, and there are so many new friendships and memories that I will take with me when I go back to the States. As I look back on all of the wonderful times and think forward to free travel, I am reminded of how blessed I truly am. This semester has been an experience that few will ever experience and I am so thankful every day for the chance I have had to enjoy it. Praise God!!!