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Today I had an early start, practicing at 7:30 with Ellen Dawson, whose husband, Tony, is on the men’s 60 team. I saw several of the captains from various countries in line waiting to get practice courts; the sign up wasn’t ill 9am and each team was allotted 2 30 minute slots, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. However, many other courts were open and everyone seemed to get in enough tennis.

I had an ITF meeting on procedures, then looked for another hit, since after today it’ll be hard to get on the courts. I ran into my German mixed partner from yesterday, Richard, and also Vladimir from Russia and we played doubles with someone from Lithuania, a very international group of players. We got in two sets, had a lot of fun too.

I found out this afternoon though that Mary John Lynch, the #1 player on the 80s team, traveling for the first time out of the country in 50 years, with her husband, had a freak accident on the airplane…reached under her seat, ripped open her hand and had to have stitches in it…can’t play for 2 weeks. Last year the #2 player, Lucille Kyvallos, fell on the first day and broke her elbow and had to have surgery. I really feel sad for Mary John more than anything, but at least her injury isn’t as bad as that Lucille had, but the timing sure is awful.

I had dinner later with the women’s 60 teams, Sue Bramlette, Rita Giles, Sherri Bronson and Tina Karwasky, and Bob Bramlette. Sue said they were helping Tina perfect her drop volley today; I think it’s quite fine already.

Picture day tomorrow and I’ll be posting lots of photos, which will go onto my website (carolynnichols.com) on the lower slideshow. For some reason the internet provider here is blocking access to my website. I can load it fine from my phone but not from my computer using wifi! However, I can use my phone if necessary to upload page changes, but I will also be loading lots of information to carolynnichols.wordpress.com.

Have a great night everyone, more tomorrow.

Ephesus is near Selcurk about an hour from Izmir on,  the west coast of Turkey. It’s also near a the port of Kudsaadasi where a lot of cruise ships stop…so there’s a lot of tourist groups that visit this area year round (most of whom seemed to be in Ephesus today).

Ephesus was once a port city; the harbor though silted up and was moved to its present site. The city was founded my Greeks, then taken over by Romans. At one point it was the captial of Asia Minor and its population exceeded 250,000. Its Temple of Artemis was the largest in the world and one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. St. John reputedly brought the Virgin Mary to Ephesus after the death of Christ and tradition attests that his gospel was written there.

Excavation has been going on for 150 years at Ephesus and less than 20% of the city has yet to be unearthed. I can tell you after looking at these ancient sites that Archeologists really have to be good with jigsaw puzzles…three dimensional ones that have pieces missing. So they are part detective too and part historian. And need to love it…the pay has to rely on donations.

Today we first looked at the Temple of Artemis…only a singles pillar remains. What wasn’t pillaged was destroyed in an earthquake. The site is large and so is the pillar (now topped by bird nests) and you can see how imposing the temple must have been.

Then we went to Virgin Mary’s house up in the hills where there’s a three room house reputed to be where St. John took her after Jesus was killed on the cross. It was a drive up into the hills to get there and a pretty spot. There was a line to get into the house, and it took me a while to get through, let’s just say other cultures are better at jumping lines than are Americans, about 10-20 people walked in front of me, but we all got through.

Next up was Ephesus proper and it’s a pretty amazing site. The city is large and you start by walking from the top where there were Roman baths (everyone had to bathe before being allowed into the city…since the baths were relatively expensive, it was a way of keeping the riff raff out so to speak). All the political buildings were in the upper part of the town. There was a small theater where politicians would debate and lots of shops. There was a large, open pillar lined promenade (uncovered because chariots were coming and going on the road). I am standing below next to the goddess Nike (goddess of Victory).

There was a public men’s toilet room..sort of like a club. It was lined with toilet seats, and there was a fountain in the middle of the room, music was sometimes played, there was a fee to get in and apparently a sort of Roman “men’s club”. At least the togas would sort of cover the guys…

We went into the terraced houses. There are seven  and they are being restored. They ranged from about 1000-4000 square feet, and all had center courtyards. The arrangement, terraced up an incline, helped with the plumbing, which was used to heat houses as well as provide water and dispose of it through the aqueduct system. There were mosaics on the floors, marble or paintings on the walls, indoor plumbing, and did I say lots and lots of marble. In the courtyards there were some fishtanks, used to store fish till they became dinner…better than any fridge as long as you remember to feed them.

There was a hospital and medical school, and a large library (though the facade was grander than the interior) containing thousands of scrolls. Scrolls were precious and few people had any in their homes, and they were highly perishable. There were several fountains and temples too.

There was another huge market with a courtyard in the middle, used to sell among other things, slaves.

At the bottom of Ephesus there is a huge great theater which held 25,000 people. I walked up to all but the highest seats (which were fenced off) and could hear quite clearly people at the bottom.

 

There’s another bath at the bottom of Ephesus, which I passed on the way out.

Lunch today was Gozleme, a thin crepe which I had with peynir (cheese) and I had some cis kepap, lamb shishkebab, which here is cooked in small pieces on small skewers. In the front of the restaurant you could watch the Gozleme being made in the traditional way.

I parted with my guide then and walked up through St. John’s church, which is being restored and up to the fort overlooking the city. The views were nice, of lots  of farms, mostly trees, olives, citrus and stone fruit and pomegranates. . There was a guard inside the wall of the fort and when two tourists appeared taking photos from the spire of the mosque I heard a sharp whistle and then he was over to the small mosque most likely to chew them out…and while he left his spot, another tourist went under the ropes and up the stairs he was guarding. Adventure tourists I suppose. Of course when I initially saw the couple on top of the spire I thought, how did I miss that vantage point, went back in and saw that the entrance was marked off…by a stick (no warning signs).

   

Now I’m in Istanbul and go to Ali Bey tomorrow, captains’ meetings are Sunday as are USA team photos so I’ll report more then if not sooner.

Click here for more photos.

Turkey is a long way from San Diego, let me tell you, especially when one’s routing is SAN-IAH-FRA-IST-Izmir. However, all my flights so far (I’m in Istanbul, where I had a three hour layover) went well and on time. Frankfurt is NOT my favorite airport. It’s about a mile walk from where planes from the US land to where we get to the train to take us to another terminal for European flights. Then, once you get to your gate you are put on a vastly overcrowded bus and driven several miles to the plane. Then we were left in the bus for a while until the cleaning crews finished, breathing the stuffy exhaust fumes. It was too much for my stomach (good thing I didn’t eat breakfast),and let’s just say I am happy there were airsickness bags at the ready. I slept all the way here though, and had an empty seat next to me to boot. On this 2.5 hour flight Lufthansa had a hot meal (I smelled it, though I didn’t partake).

So I arrived in Istanbul and so did my bags, shortly after I’d cleared customs. I had purchased an Evisa online and though I miss the pretty visa stamp from previous years, it was nice not to have to go through two lines to get past customs. The airport was jammed with people, but I got some Lira at an ATM (the US$ is quite strong now), checked in at domestic terminal (another good walk, but I had a cart) and now at am the Turkish Airlines Lounge. It’s nice (unlike domestic US lounges, the food is very good)  and you go though security here, then buses take you to the plane (they aren’t far away). Interestingly, the biggest signs in the domestic terminal for restaurants were for Burger King and Sbarro..it’s a small world.

Tomorrow I’m off to tour, and will add some photos as I can.