Great is Diana of the Ephesians!

This keyboard has a problem - the keys u, j, n and the right space bar don't work the first time - I  have to disconnect and reconnect once or twice before they start working.

It's been a big day for mass tourism in Ephesus and surrounds. Our tour started at Mary's house on top of a hill overlooking modern Selcuk and ancient Ephesus. There were two cruise ships full of overweight tourists - apparently there'd been 7 ships on one day in August. We had about 12-15 coaches in the car park. All for a tiny, non-descript, mostly reconstructed 1st century house which probably has nothing to do with Jesus' mother. But there's a tradition going back at least to the 4th century so that's something in itself I suppose.

Ephesus was next and reminded me of the Roman Forum or the worst of the crowds in Egypt. Made the whole experience basically worthless. The crowds were truly amazing - I tried to turn them to good use by squinting and imagining it was market day in the old city but there was something particularly aimless and hostile about the wanderings of these modern-day pilgrims that didn't allow that fancy to stick. I didn't find Ephesus at all inspiring - Pergamum yesterday was much better, simply because there was hardly anyone there and because the views were stunning. At lunchtime (mass-produced all-you-can-eat place, although the food wasn't bad) I read a few chapters from Acts about Paul and his time in Ephesus - 2 years in all, before he headed to Jerusalem to meet with the real leaders of the church and thence went under arrest to Rome, where he was executed, at least according to tradition. Poor old Demetrius, who saw his souvenir livelihood slipping away and tried unsuccessfully to organise a riot to get rid of these pesky followers of the way (they weren't called Christians until later). The Christian symbol here was the 8-spoked wheel, which spelt out the letters in ICTHUS, the fish. Ingenious. The cross didn't come into use until much, much later - I'm guessing closer to Constantine's time in the late 3rd century.

After lunch, we visited the museum in Selcuk and then had a brief stop to admire what's left of the temple of Diana - great is Diana of the Ephesians! So said Ozymandius but here it's grass and earth that's buried things rather than sand. If only Demetrius had known, he could've switched to silver statues of Jesus, John, Paul and Mary and made an absolute killing - his descendants certainly aren't hesitating to ply the visiting Christians with trinkets galore. Somehow, though, I think those early followers of the way wouldn't have been at all interested in such trivial rubbish - their hearts set on grander, deeper things.

Now I'm drinking my first Efes Pilsen and waiting for the bus to Bodrum, which leaves at 5pm. I'm feeling exceedingly chuffed and smug about this little keyboard - I've become quite used to it and think it's probably done away with my notebook for good. About 3 hours to Bodrum, so hopefully not too painful, followed by a 5 minute walk to the hotel - hopefully also painless thanks to my GPS.

Rooftop, Canberra Hotel, Selcuk

Quite a long slog getting here but I've made it in one piece and have seen some things on the way. I got the 11am ferry over to Canakkale and was met by the TJs driver. We picked up a group from the same tacky shop near Troy and set off for Selcuk. Hours of driving with one main interlude - a tour of Pergamum, which was excellent. So with Ephesus tomorrow and Patmos in a couple of days, this is fast becoming a Revelation Ch 1 tour. The minibus group were a mix of Aussies and NZers. One man revealed a rather bad habit of sounding forth ignorantly when the call to prayer started in Bergama whilst we were atop Pergamum. Like Big Brother he said. He questioned our well-informed and thoroughly secular guide on the way down and just didn't get that the alcohol ban last night was due to the referendum having taken place, not any religious reason. I  eventually spelled it out for him and he still didn't get it:  but who enforces it, the police or the mullah? Turkey is such a clearly, strongly secular country and no mullah or imam or any other religious leader tells anyone, anywhere what to do or not to do. His wife asked earlier if women had the vote in Turkey. Oh my God, I hope these people listen and learn whilst here. They were very obviously from NSW. Our guide had obviously voted no in the referendum and clearly thought it a question of Islamicisation. I asked him about the change to allow courts to try army personnel but he didn't give me a straight answer. I wonder what the truth is. The NSW proto-bigot lapped up the anti-Islamic sentiment jokingly expressed by our guide: when you come back in one year I'll be wearing a kaftan and have a long beard, all the women will be in burqas wearing their Armani sunglasses.

Pergamum was terrific - what a site. Atop the highest hill in the area, nearer the gods. The theatre was particularly striking on the steep slope to the west of the main settlement. Afterwards we returned to where our driver was waiting and were shown around a weaving cooperative, which has government support. 1500 women receive employment from this and produce the most amazing carpets, all well out of my price range. One silk one was priced at around 12000 Euros. Saw the silk chrysalids (can't think of correct word) and how they pull the silk threads from them - 1000 to 1500m for each little one. They gave us each a glass of local wine to try - quite new and fresh in a Beaujolais-style. Last 2 hours drive mainly around Izmir, a massive city, at high speed.

Last night I watched some news in Turkish and it seemed to consist entirely of frighteningly graphic reports of traffic accidents. One with bodies and body parts strewn everywhere, more-or-less fuzzied out. A distraught man trying to take away the covered body of his beloved, who just moments before had been full of life. Another wasn't fuzzied out at all - a car full of adults being lifted out of a river, into which their car had crashed. It must have rolled first because the roof was squashed in. The dead occupants were clearly visible, still sitting upright like nothing had happened, including one passenger with his arm hanging lifeless out the window. It was utterly disturbing and shocking - so much more so than any TAC ad campaign. I really don't want to see anything like that ever again.

Bus to Ephesus

8am bus to Ephesus this morning. Flaked it again last night - went down at 9pm to see if Gallipoli was going to be screened but there was noone there and only an annoying X-Men film running. How can people be allowed to make such poor films? I felt really tired from about 3pm onwards - not tired enough to sleep but not alert enough to concentrate on a book. Really annoying - just ended up vege-ing out, watching TV , trying fairly unsuccessfully to surf the net.