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Friday, October 26, 2007

The Virgin Mary's House





We visited the alleged last home of the Virgin Mary. While Jesus was on the Cross, he is supposed to have told John to take care of 'his mother'. He moved to Turkey, where the St. John church was built. It is thought that Mary came with him. In the 1800's a stigmatic nun in Germany, who had never left the country had visions of the hills in the area of Turkey where she saw Mary living her last days and drinking from the local well. Two digs went to the area which were described accurately and the base of a stone house were found in the area described. It has now become a pilgrimage site for many people and the water is supposed to have brought miracles. We drank some just in case! It is a beautiful, tranquil spot, not very large which is now just a tiny chapel. Many popes have visited it and left their blessings as well. The picture of me with the wall of notes, are requests left by people for Mary. She is mentioned in the Koran, which considers Jesus a prophet, as the blessed mother of the prophet. So, many muslims visit the site and consider it holy as well.

Don't play with the Dead things!

See the 3000 year old Nike Swoosh displayed by the Goddess!



The main expensive street in Ephesus, lined with statues, mosaic tiles, shops and a public bath.



I keep telling Clara not to play with the Sarcophagi!




A turk, A canadian and A Kevin: there is hope for World Peace

brief update

We've decided to wait an extra day in Boldrum, to enjoy the sun, cheap pension, and let Clara look at jewelry!

We received our Visas to Pakistan yesterday, so now we need to figure out Iran and India and we will be on our way East. It doesn't help that Cheney and company seem to want to start bombing Iran before they are swept out the door.

We made friends with an Iraqi Kurd on the boat from the Ukraine to Istanbul. He invited us to his town in Iraq and he told us that it was plenty safe enough in Kurdistan. We've been in email contact with him, and he has since told us with the Turkish and PKK problem in the area that it is no longer safe there. That is how tenuous this area of the world is. One thing that seems to be clear here, which one doesn't get from reading the American press is that Kurdistan is a defacto country now. They have their own leaders, their own army, their own borders. Although the United States may want to try and keep this "one Iraq" policy, it seems as if this part of the world is working well towards accepting this as a reality.

How about those Sox!