Ephesus and Omar
Trip Start
Jun 07, 2008
1
41
190
Trip End
Jun 28, 2009
Where I stayed
Kusadasi, Turkey
Saturday, September 27, 2008
After the Amazons, the Greeks built a city there in 1000 BC, then the Romans took it over in about 100AD. The Greeks built the Temple of Artemis, that was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Artemis is the goddess of fertility (making babies.) Alexander the Great's follower, Lysinachus, founded the city as we see it today. It was the chief port of the Aegean sea. The city played an important role after Jesus was alive, and helped spread Christianity. The amphitheatre was where Paul, a disciple of Jesus, spoke to a huge crowd, but a guy in the crowd who sold statues of Artemis shouted out against him and the crowd almost killed him, but the Romans saved him and got him out of there. But it was also a place they had gladiator fights, threw Christians and other people to the lions (there used to be lions in Turkey and they were huge), and had plays and musical performances. My favorite building in Ephesus was the library, which had at least three stories. It had statues in front for wisdom, knowledge, valor, and intelligence. Ephesus was a huge city and had over 300,000 at one point.
After Ephesus, we drove to a town on the sea and had dinner at chicken place. Lu and I watched them bread in a oven with a huge fire. We also had Turkish ice cream again, which was great.
Today we drove down the coast to get on our gulet in Gocek. On the way, we stopped at a town that is supposed to have the best meatballs in Turkey. There was a boy there who was traveling from Istanbul with his dad to go diving for a vacation. He was wearing a Fenerbahce shirt like me and we started talking to him. Then Levent said he would translate if I wanted to interview him. So I did. He was really nice and gave me a Turkish flag and I gave him one of my Pokemon cards.
When we got to Gocek, we had to say goodbye Levent. He was really a great guide and very nice to us. He is going home to his family in Istanbul tonight, but has to work again tomorrow. That is too bad because for the next nine days, it is a holiday in Turkey for the end of Ramazan. We had Turkish pizza with Levent and Riza, our driver and Levent got a drink called an Aryan, which is like a salty yogurt. Maybe we will see him again.
The gulet is really cool! It is huge - 77 feet long and 25 feet wide - with four bedrooms for us and more bedrooms for the crew. The captain's name is Shaheen, and the other crew are Luqmin and Nevraz, the chef. The gulet is a sailboat with two tall masts and it is named the Ariva 3. We sailed out to Gocek Island and we kayaked, went swimming, and tried to shoot a fish with the spear gun. Tonight we had a dinner of fish that the crew caught and fell asleep on the boat looking at the stars. Cool!!!
INTERVIEW WITH OMAR
Age 11, Istanbul, Turkey
What is your name?
Omar
How old are you?
11 years old
Who do you live with?
My sister who is six and my parents
Where do you live?
In Istanbul near the airport
Do you go to school?
Yes, I am in 5th grade now.
How do you get there?
I ride the school bus.
What is your favorite subject?
Maths
What do you want to be when you grow up?
A medical doctor
What do you do for fun?
Play soccer and Play Station. I am also on the Fenerbahce Junior Soccer team
What is your favorite food?
Turkish ravioli, which is called Manti
What are you most afraid of?
Surprises, unexpected things that happen
What would you tell all the other kids of the world?
Everyone should come to Turkey. It is a great place!
